Readers recommend: songs about prostitution – results

From Tina Turner to the Twilight Sad, RR regular takeitawayGuru picks the playlist from last week’s topic

Last week’s readers recommend topic drew out some recurring themes that song writers have drawn their inspiration from: prostitution is a lonely profession; it’s scary and cold ‘walking the streets’; many don’t want to be there; many are forced or driven to it by circumstance; many a ‘punter’ falls in love only to be thwarted by death or simple rejection; it is often an emotionless transaction, boiling down to a “service” for payment; one of the greatest fears for the “women of the night” is age and losing their looks.

The lyrics have therefore played an important part in my selection for inclusion in the A-list. Some of the songs are well known and one a long-time favourite of mine – but as ever RR contributors have introduced me to some fabulous new material.

So how do you tell if a prostitute is open for business? Well according to Gov’t Mule you ask them to leave a light on.

Lola leave your light on

I said Lola leave your red light on

Marillion’s Lady Nina caters to your every fantasy:

One night you’ll play Elizabeth Taylor

The next night you’re Marilyn Monroe

Forever kissing frogs that think they’re princes

Oh, Lady Nina, where did all the romance go?

Even Bruce Springsteen has got to pay – although the Boss didn’t enjoy it:

She brought me another whisky

Said “here’s to the best you ever had

We laughed and made a toast

It wasn’t the best I ever had

Not even close.

It’s a transaction, that’s all, and all about payment for The Zuton’s Freak:

It’s a hundred pounds an hour

Or two hundred for the day

I’ll take cash or credit card

I don’t mind how you pay

Or that nomination that cropped up time and time again; Roxanne from Alex Arctic Monkey’s When The Sun Goes Down:

Don’t do major credit cards

I doubt she does receipts

It‘s all not quite legitimate

No matter how much you charge, there’s always someone wanting a cut, as the Beautiful South reflect:

And before you do just what you do

Here’s one thought for you to chew

The men who run the business that you sell

They screw you too

The Jam acknowledge that you can’t stay young forever:

And you started looking much older

And your fashion sense is second rate like your perfume

But to you in your little dream world

You’re still the queen of the butterfly collectors

Jonathan Byrd’s Diana Jones ran her ‘business’ from the Do Drop Inn:

Diana ran the Do Drop inn wily as a mountain cat

Kept a room behind the bar for any man who needed that

Tina Turner’s Private Dancer typifies the lack of emotion and anonymity:

Well the men come in these places

And the men are all the same

You don’t look at their faces

And you don’t ask their names

You don’t think of them as human

You don’t think of them at all

You keep your mind on the money

Keeping your eyes on the wall

Or as in this wonderful acoustic number from The Twilight Sad:

You are the bearer of a womb without love

You could of [sic] had it all

Jobriath knows that it’s tough walking the streets:

Walk, walk, walk the streets all day,

I walk, walk, walk the streets all night,

I walk, walk, walk with my feet on fire

My love for hire.

The Crusaders (feat. Randy Crawford) know all about the toll of street life:

Street life, you can run away from time

Street life, for a nickel, for a dime

Street life, but you better not get old

Street life, or you’re gonna feel the cold

Finally Karine Polwart seeks to escape this trap.

Show me a road that’s not this hard

The Playlist

Gov’t Mule – Lola, Leave Your Light On (deathsignal)

Marillion – Lady Nina (middxman)

Bruce Springsteen - Reno (llamalpaca)

The Zutons - Freak (DsD)

Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down (SilesianReg)

The Beautiful South - 36D (Miguel2014)

The Jam - The Butterfly Collector (Shoegazer)

Jonathan Byrd - Diana Jones (suzi)

Tina Turner - Private Dancer (llamalpaca)

The Twilight Sad - I Became a Prostitute (Acoustic) (DsD)

Jobriath - Wildfire-in-Memphis (Michael Macauley)

The Crusaders (feat Randy Crawford) - Street Life (exiledlondoner)

Karine Polwart - Maybe There’s a Road (OxfordBiker)

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