Cooper wrote this song with Desmond Child, which is one of the more effective ways to produce a hit. A decade earlier, Child wrote "I Was Made For Lovin' You" with members of Kiss, which opened the door for outside writers in Rock bands. His next gig was Bon Jovi, resulting in their breakout hits "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Livin' On A Prayer."
In this song, Cooper sings about a girl who is bad for him, but he can't resist her charms. There is an element of masochism in the song, as Alice sings, "I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name." The song tied "School's Out" for Cooper's highest chart placing in the US.
"Poison" was Cooper's first music video to get rotation on MTV. He broke new ground in 1975 when he turned the stage show for his Welcome To My Nightmare tour into a full movie, which laid the foundation for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video - both clips were narrated by Vincent Price. With "Poison," Cooper tapped into the MTV audience for the first time and became far more relevant to the younger generation, who got the joke when he showed up in the movie Wayne's World in 1992.
Lyrics
Your cruel device,
Your blood like ice.
One look could kill,
My pain, your thrill.
I wanna love you, but I better not touch (don't touch)
I wanna hold you, but my senses tell me to stop
I wanna kiss you, but I want it too much (too much)
I wanna taste you, but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't wanna break these chains.
Your mouth, so hot
Your web, I'm caught
Your skin, so wet
Black lace on sweat
I hear you calling and it's needles and pins (and pins)
I wanna hurt you just to hear you screaming my name
Don't wanna touch you, but you're under my skin (deep in)
I wanna kiss you, but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't wanna break these chains
Poison
One look (one look) could kill (could kill),
My pain, your thrill.
I wanna love you, but I better not touch (don't touch)
I wanna hold you, but my senses tell me to stop
I wanna kiss you, but I want it too much (too much)
I wanna taste you, but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't wanna break these chains
Poison
I wanna love you, but I better not touch (don't touch)
I wanna hold you, but my senses tell me to stop
I wanna kiss you, but I want it too much (too much)
I wanna taste you, but your lips are venomous poison
Well, I don't wanna break these chains
Poison
Running deep inside my veins
Burning deep inside my veins
Poison
I don't wanna break these chains
Poison
I don't wanna break these chains