Add It Up

"Add It Up" is a song by American rock band Violent Femmes, released on their 1983 debut album Violent Femmes.

It contains the lyrics:

Why can't I get just one screw
Believe me I'd know what to do
But something won't let me make love to you
Why can't I get just one fuck
Why can't I get just one fuck
I guess it's got something to do with luck
But I waited my whole life for just one

Band member Gordon Gano commented:

I was in my bedroom—that's where I wrote it—feeling frustrated. I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. It just happened to feel good lyrically ... and it still does.^[1]

The song title was used as the name for the compilation album by the group, Add It Up (1981–1993).

Some radio stations substitute a guitar note for the swear word for airplay.

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• Ethan Hawke's character in the 1994 film Reality Bites plays a cover of "Add It Up" with his band Hey That's My Bike.
• The song is featured in the soundtrack of the 2004 skateboarding video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2.^[2]
• The song was covered on a cello and piano, as are several other Violent Femmes songs, in the 2007 film Rocket Science.
• Canadian singer Shawn Mendes performed a cover of the song during the season 3 premiere of The 100.^[3][4][5] A music video for the cover was released by The CW.^[5] Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie responded positively to the rendition through the band's official Facebook page, saying "It’s a testament to the universality expressed in [the song] that it can be resurrected with a different result even after 35 years and still sound current."^[6]

• "Add It Up – an Interview with the Elder Statesmen of Disaffected Youth, the Violent Femmes"

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