The oldest profession. Ladies of the evening. Prostitutes, Whores. Whatever you wanna call 'em. How many songs can you name about them?
“X Offender” - Blondie
“Walk on the Wild Side” - Lou Reed
just to name a couple…
“Love for Sale” written by Cole Porter.
“Dirty Women,” by Black Sabbath.
Just thought of this as I hit Submit: wasn’t “Roxanne” by the Police and/or Sting about a prostitute? I never really listened to the lyrics that closely, but I got the impression it was a song about a prostitute in a red dress . . .
“Roxanne, you don’t have to put on the red light, those days are over, you don’t have to sell your body to the night.” The red light is a symbol that there is a prostitute in the house … there is a lyric in the song about a dress, but it isn’t (necessarily) a red dress.
Another one is “Wild Thing” by Tone Loc.
Oh, duh, from the title of the OP:
“Lady Marmalade” - LaBelle
As for “Roxanne”, I think she is a prostitute, but Sting is trying to convince her to stop. I’m guessing he was a customer of hers who fell in love with her.
Simon and Garfunkles “The Boxer” has a line about “a come on from the whores on seventh avenue” and how he does declare that there were times he was so lonesome he took comfort there.
Donna Summer’s Bad Girls.
Give This Girl A Hand Rodgers-Hart
A nightclub hostess is one of those dames
Whose natural father was old Jesse James.
You may be a doctor, a lawyer or a yegg man
But when the hostess grabs you, you’re a butter and egg man.
She will proudly bring to you
Little girls who sing to you,
Who won’t mean a thing to you. Well,
They must have champagne
And some more chow mein
When the hostess starts to yell:
Oh, won’t you
And the best prostitute song of all time
Girls On The Avenue by Richard Clapton
Girls on the avenue, Know how to get you in
Casting out signs like drinks from a hat
All the miss lonely hearts
Ooh, they look awful hard
And sometimes they seem as fragile as glass
But don’t you slip
Don’t you slip in love with the girls on the avenue
Friday night, we see the girls on the avenue
Like a child at big store windows, you feel confused
So many girls on the avenue-ue
Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah
Don’t you slip, don’t you slip
In love with the girls on the avenue
Well worth finding - a bloody classic.
“Hot Child in the City” byt Nick gilder
“House of the Rising Sun”, though the Animal’s version makes it a little less obvious, changing “ruin of many a poor girl/God I know I’m one” to “ruin of many a poor boy/God I know I’m one” for instance
Good call according to these bozos.
Minnie the Moocher. by Cab Calloway
Rum and Coca Cola. Mother and daughter working for the Yankee Dollar.
Walkin’ All Night by Little Feat.
“Wrong way” by sublime and not sure if it counts as about a prostitute but that Primus song “Is it Luck” has an encounter with one in it
“Angeline” by P.J. Harvey.
The only one that I can think of that hasn’t been mentioned is “Tenderloin” by Rancid.
The Ramones’ 53rd and 3rd is Dee Dee’s tale about male prostitution.
Jon
If I had Maggie in the wood
I’d do her all the good I could
If I had Maggie in the wood
I’d keep her there til mornin’
I gave Maggie half a crown
Maggie pulled her knickers down
Spread herself on down the ground
And rolled about til mornin’
Can’t believe I’m the first to mention “Fancy”, by Bobbie Gentry.