Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ?

[Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir) ?] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is a French phrase that has become well-known in the English-speaking world through popular songs. It means "Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" and is perhaps best known from the song "Lady Marmalade," written by the songwriting team of Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan and first popularized in 1975 by the group Labelle featuring Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. The song was covered in 1998 by All Saints, and again in 2001 by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink as a single for the Moulin Rouge! film soundtrack. This phrase also appears in Tennessee Williams's 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire. David Frizzell and Shelly West recorded a country music song in the 1980s called "Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi" that was unrelated to "Lady Marmalade".

The origins of the phrase in English, however, can be traced back to a poem by E. E. Cummings published in 1922 and known by its first line "little ladies more", which contains the phrase "[voulez-vous coucher avec moi ?] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)" twice.

Grammar

The phrase has sometimes been taken as awkward French because of its formality—[Voulez-vous…] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) uses the formal pronoun vous, indicating some kind of distance between the protagonists, which may not seem consistent with sexual activity nowadays. One would expect lovers to be using the informal pronoun [tu] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), making the phrase Veux-tu coucher avec moi (ce soir) ?", a sentence that still may sound awkward to French native speakers ("Tu veux coucher avec moi (ce soir) ?" or "On couche ensemble (ce soir) ?" would indeed sound much more natural).

However, the usage of the polite form [voulez-vous] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) may be consistent with high-class prostitution. Both "Lady Marmalade" and the poem allude to prostitution. In addition, using "vous" implies that the participants have just (or not yet) met, and forms an interesting juxtaposition with the intimacy of sex.

Alternatively, [vous] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) can be simply a plural form, indicating multiple sex partners. (French uses the same form for denoting both plurality and politeness; see T-V distinction.)

Due to the more widespread usage of [se coucher] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), a reflexive form of [coucher] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), the phrase is frequently misinterpreted as grammatically incorrect. [Se coucher] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) refers only to the act of going to bed, whereas [coucher] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) means lovemaking explicitly. Thus, the "corrected" form of the phrase, "[Voulez-vous vous coucher avec moi ?] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)" actually means "Do you want to go to bed with me?" and contains none of the sexual connotations of the original.

In popular culture

• The phrase is whispered by Tablo of Epik High during "Guh Mi Jool" on the album Remapping the Human Soul

• The phrase is in the chorus of the song "Lady Marmalade".

• The phrase is alluded to in the chorus of the song "Voulez-Vous" written by Abba and performed in Mamma Mia the musical.

• The phrase is also in the song, "It's Me Bitches" (Remix) by Lil' Wayne, R-Kelly, and Swizz Beatz.

• The lyrics can also be found on the track "Get Out Of My House" by Dead or Alive, on their album Nude

• The phrase is also on the track "Nasty Naughty Boy" by Christina Aguilera, on her album Back to Basics.

• The phrase is also in the lyrics of the song by Café Tacuba called "El Baile y El Salón", which appears on their album Re.

• The first single of the German duo S.E.X. Appeal is named "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi"

• This phrase is used in the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" by Eric Cartman taunting Clyde Donovan. It is used after Cartman asks Clyde if he is French, to which Clyde declines.

• This phrase is used in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Love at First Fight" by Will Smith. Vivian Banks tells Will about a girl from her college class, Kayla Samuels, who is coming to dinner. She tells him that Kayla is a very interesting girl. She's captain of the Math Team and President of the French Club. Will replies, "Well there you have it, we'd have nothing to talk about. I ain't no good at math, and I can't speak no French." Geoffrey then introduces Kayla. Will, who after seeing her is very attracted to her, comes to her, grabs her hand, and says the phrase.

• The phrase is used by the ostensible villain of the film Better Off Dead.

• The phrase is also in the song "Doctor Monroe" by Casey Dienel.

• The phrase is part of the song "Voulez-Vous Danser" by Ace of Base, on their album Sign, released in 1993.

• The phrase is also part of the chorus in the song "Hungry For Love" by Bad Boys Blue.

• The phrase appears in the Spanish-language song "El Baile y El Salon" by Cafe Tacuba.

• Chris Tucker says the phrase as he makes out with a French girl (Genvieve) in Rush Hour 3.

• Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls says it in the season 3, episode 9. Guests at her parents' Thanksgiving dinner include a French couple; the husband asks Lorelai if she speaks any French, and Lorelai says she only knows "voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir", shocking her father who does not know the song (although the French woman does recognize it).

• Louise Brooks (played by Kathryn Drysdale) from Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps says it in the season 1, episode 3 ("Bone With the Wind") to a gay man.

• Serena van der Woodsen sings it to no one in particular in the series Gossip Girl book You Know You Love Me.

• The phrase is whispered after the first chorus of Girl Rock by Tablo from Epik High.

• In the episode of the TV series Charmed, "Siren's Song", Piper says this phrase to Leo as they are returned to normal at the end of the series.

• In the episode of Friends, "The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break", Monica says she knows a little French to her interpreter date, being "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir ?" Monica is surprised to learn its meaning and exclaims, "Oh my God! No wonder I get such great service at Cafe Maurice!"

• This is a key phrase of the song "Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi" by Russian band Aquarium.
• This phrase is part of the chorus of the song "Swoon Unit" by the group Digable Planets.

• The artist Arling & Cameron recorded a song titled "Voulez-Vous," in which the phrase is sampled throughout the song.

• In the book Lust from Robin Wasserman's Seven Deadly Sins series, principal character Kaia Sellers writes the phrase on a French quiz in order to seduce her handsome French teacher. The two go on to have an illicit affair.

• The exact phrasing used in Lady Marmalade is repeated at the end of the song L'homme by Boy Crisis/

• The phrase is used in 'It's Delicious' by 3 Steps Ahead at the beginning of the song and after the chorus.