Editing Whitesnake (section)

=== Lyrics ===
Coverdale has stated that lyrically all of his songs are love songs at their core.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4fap4A8D_0 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/M4fap4A8D_0| archive-date=2021-10-30| title= Whitesnake '87 Track by Track – Give Me All Your Love | publisher=Whitesnake TV | via=YouTube | date=6 November 2017 | access-date=12 February 2021 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> He has described them as diaries of particular times in his life.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://downloadfestival.co.uk/news-features/interview-whitesnakes-david-coverdale-flesh-and-blood/ | title= Interview: Whitesnake's David Coverdale "I'm the Edith Piaf of rock – I have no regrets" | website=Download Festival | date=7 May 2019 | access-date=27 February 2021 }}</ref> Nearly all of Whitesnake's studio albums feature one or more songs with "love" in the title. Coverdale has maintained that this hasn't been a conscious decision, rather he considers love his primary source of inspiration.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://loudwire.com/whitesnakes-david-coverdale-meditation-love-ritchie-blackmore/ | title= Whitesnake's David Coverdale: Meditation, Love + Ritchie Blackmore | website=Loudwire | first=Joe | last=Divita | date=3 April 2019 | access-date=27 February 2021 }}</ref> He has also attributed some of Whitesnake's longevity to the lyrics' "human themes", whether physical or emotional.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/david-coverdale-attributes-some-of-whitesnakes-success-to-lyrics-about-human-themes/ | title= David Coverdale Attributes Some Of Whitesnake's Success To Lyrics About 'Human Themes' | website=Blabbermouth.net | date=31 October 2020 | access-date=12 February 2021 }}</ref>

Whitesnake and main lyricist Coverdale have been heavily criticised by the music press for their excessive use of [[double entendre]]s and [[sexual innuendo]]s, most egregiously on tracks such as "Slide It In", "Slow an' Easy" and "Spit It Out".<ref name="Sexcess"/><ref name="Englishman">{{cite magazine |last=Dome |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Dome |date=17 August {{ndash}} 4 September 1990 |title= An Englishman Abroad |magazine=[[Raw (music magazine)|Raw]] |issue=52 |pages=18{{ndash}}21 |publisher=EMAP Publishing Limited | location=London, England}}</ref> Such criticism began in the late 1970s and was further inflamed with the ''[[Lovehunter]]'' (1979) [[List of controversial album art|cover art]].<ref name="ClassicRock23">{{cite magazine |last=Ling |first=Dave |date=29 October 2023 |title="We are bathing in innuendo": Whitesnake's Lovehunter artwork was knee-jerk response to their critics, but the album itself was a game-changer |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/whitesnake-lovehunter |magazine=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]] |access-date=17 November 2023}}</ref> Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden and Jon Lord have expressed some discomfort over the band's lyrical content.<ref name="BBCSpecial"/> Coverdale has reiterated that some of his lyrics are meant to provoke laughter more than anything else, stating: "If I look at sex as an observer [...] there's humour also as well as the serious nitty-gritty stuff and I like to write about this as well." He also added that many of his songs are [[tongue-in-cheek]] and inspired by his own experiences, not uncommon to other people as well.<ref>{{cite interview |last1=Coverdale |first1=David |subject-link1=David Coverdale |interviewer=Anders Tengner |title=An Interview with David Coverdale |work=Metaljournalen |year=1984 |publisher=Sveriges Television }}</ref> The lyrics along with his stage personality "solidified an image of Coverdale: the [[preening]], tight-trousered [[lothario]]", according to ''[[The Guardian]]'''s Michael Hann, who also noted that although often ridiculed by the media, by 2015 "there's a certain affection for his magnificently preposterous persona".<ref name="TheG15">{{Cite news|last=Hann|first=Michael|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/22/david-coverdale-whitesnake-the-purple-album-deep-purple|work=[[The Guardian]]|title=David Coverdale: 'I amplify who I am 10 times when I'm on stage'|date=22 April 2015|access-date=13 November 2023}}</ref>

Coverdale has repeatedly denied any accusations of [[misogyny]] or [[sexism]].<ref name="RNZ2020">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018735397/whitesnake-singer-david-coverdale-there-s-not-a-misogynist-bone-in-my-body |title=Whitesnake singer David Coverdale: 'There's not a misogynist bone in my body' |date=23 February 2020 |access-date=24 February 2021 |website=[[RNZ]] }}</ref> ''[[PopMatters]]'' noted in 2003 that Coverdale "comes from a bygone era", while songs like "Slide it In" and "Slow an' Easy" show not only "the blues aspect of Whitesnake", but also "the tongue in cheek humor that Coverdale is so fond of".<ref name="PopM03"/> Marsden also conceded that while many of Coverdale's lyrics are not entirely [[Political correctness|politically correct]] in a contemporary setting, they were written "completely tongue-in-cheek" and are more a product of a bygone era.<ref name="LouderLovehunter"/> Music journalist Malcolm Dome compared some of Whitesnake's more suggestive lyrics to a ''[[Carry On (franchise)|Carry On]]'' film with their tongue-in-cheek sensibilities, also noting how in his opinion Coverdale has written songs with "some real depth and lyrical awareness" like "Sailing Ships" and "Love Ain't No Stranger".<ref name="Englishman"/>