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Fri 29 Jul, 2005 06:41 am
Highly respected song writing team Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote this song for Frank Sinatra, the lyrics of which have never made sense to me. I'm assuming that the term "tramp" means the same in America as it does in Britain that she is an easy lay, certainly not a lady.My comments in red.
she gets too hungry for dinner at eight
so what?
She loves the theater, but doesn't come late
why would she want to miss the start?
She'd never bother, with people she'd hate
who would?
Won't dish the dirt, with the rest of those girls
That's why the lady is a tramp
why does that make her a tramp?
Doesn't like crap games, with barons and earls
Won't go to harlem, in ermine and pearls
perhaps the idea of being mugged doesn't appeal to her
Won't dish the dirt, with the rest of those girls
That's why the lady is a tramp
She loves the free, fresh wind in her hair
Life without care
who doesn't?
She's broke, but it's o'k
She hates california, it's cold and it's damp
no it isn't it's dry and it's hot
That's why the lady is a tramp
Doesn't like dice games, with sharpies and frauds
why would she want to gamble with known fraudsters?
Won't go to harlem, in lincolns or fords
perhaps she's heard that white women get car jacked?
Won't dish the dirt, with the rest of those broads
That's why the lady is a tramp
sounds like a sensible girl to me, so why is she a tramp?
It's the other ladies who are calling her a tramp because she doesn't do all the fashionable things as come late to the theatre, go up to Harlem in diamonds and furs... she's not a tramp, they just call her one.
J
My take.....
She not a tramp in that she's an easy lay, but is called a tramp by snooty society people because she doesn't conform to what they deem proper behavior.
The hoity toity eat dinner late, thinking it's "continental"
They arrive late at parties and theater to make an "entrance"
A lot of people socialize with people they hate, right or wrong (keep your friends close and your enemies closer)
A woman who won't gossip with the other gals will get ostrasized.
Harlem went through a period when it was dangerous.
In the past, it's been a hot spot for clubbing for the rich, and today, people like Bill Clinton rent office space there.
She marches to the beat of her own drummer, and that bothers some people.
I think the term means tramp as in lower class, like Chai said. Like the tramp in "Lady and the Tramp".
Gotta love this line:"She's broke, but it's OKE"
panzade wrote:Gotta love this line:"She's broke, but it's OKE"
on one ella fitzgerald recording she holds the "oke" a little longer than normal and blends it right in with the word hates (emmitting the she) and it makes the broke / oke rhyme but still sort of sounds like she says okay as well
that lady was no tramp
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