Divinyls, I Touch Myself | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 148^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “I Touch Myself” by Divinyls.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 148^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2025), we recollect and reflect on “I Touch Myself” performed by Divinyls.  

“I love myself / I want you to love me,” Christina Amphlett (1959 – 2013), the lead singer of the Australian rock band Divinyls, sings in the first verse of “I Touch Myself”. Amphlett continues, “When I’m feelin’ down / I want you above me.” Oh, snap! “I Touch Myself” is the second track from Divinyls’ self-titled, gold-certified 1991 album. Amphlett, Billy Steinberg, Mark McEntee, and Tom Kelly penned “I Touch Myself.” Amphlett, McEntee, and David Tickle produced it.  A pop hit, “Touch” peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

“I Touch Myself” begins with an enigmatic instrumental intro. The intro establishes a great build-up that sets the tone for this fun, risqué classic.  The melodies are tuneful from the beginning.  Interestingly, the song is written in F major.  That said, the verses treat C as the key center.  This adds to the distinctness of the sound (the B-flat in F major’s key signature would be a lowered 7^th in C). Amphlett’s vocals are distinct, marvelously capturing self-pleasure and a strong desire for him.  The sexual innuendo is spot on.  “You’re the one who makes me come running,” she sings in the second verse, and adds, “You’re the sun who makes me shine.”  In the third verse, she informs us, “I get down on my knees / I’d do anything for you.” Oh, that spotless innuendo!  Of course, the section to beat is the ultra-memorable chorus, firmly planted in F major without complications:

“I don’t want anybody else

When I think about you, I touch myself, oh-oh”

No explanation necessary there.  She’s done it, I’ve done it, you’ve done it… “I Touch Myself” is one of the great, inescapable gems of the 1990s.  Divinyls dropped a pleasure-filled, un-touchable classic!