# Hey Joe, wanna give it a go? Songs about whores **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134 "2004-01-01T17:02:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@joro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joro)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/41 "2004-01-02T01:26:24Z")
She’s got the jack…AC/DC… Centerfold…J.Geils…(iffy) Brown Sugar…Rolling Stones… Hey Joe…Jimi Hendrix (I know…a stretch…but she did cheat on him…besides…it’s a kick ass tune… ) 😃 Drink You Off My Mind…joro… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![joro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@joro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joro)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/42 "2004-01-02T01:28:02Z")
She’s got the jack…AC/DC… Centerfold…J.Geils…(iffy) Brown Sugar…Rolling Stones… Honky Tonk Woman…Rolling Stones Hey Joe…Jimi Hendrix (I know…a stretch…but she did cheat on him…besides…it’s a kick ass tune… ) 😃 Drink You Off My Mind…joro… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/43 "2004-01-02T01:29:12Z")
Definitely not “Centerfold”. She’s a nude model, not a prostitute. ---
**Author:** ![joro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@joro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joro)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/44 "2004-01-02T01:29:44Z")
damn…you can’t edit posts here… damn… ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/45 "2004-01-02T02:38:21Z")
I have to disagree with both “Ruby Tuesday” and “Brown Sugar”, both classic Stones songs. Ruby Tuesday is about a groupie who left the scene suddenly. From the lyrics I would guess she was a bit of a “free-spirited” flake, but then again it was the 60s… The band missed her, and wrote a song about her. I’ve read that they never found out what became of her. Brown Sugar is about the sexualization of the young slave girls by their British masters/owners, and was meant to show something of the hypocrisy of the British by their claims to be so proper and above the black race they enslaved, but at the same time using them to channel their more animalistic sexual urges towards. I understand that most people missed the irony of that one, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/46 "2004-01-02T02:41:15Z")
“Sweet Painted Lady” by Elton John “You’re So Static” by Elton John “American Band” by Grand Funk is about groupies… ---
**Author:** ![Stinkum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Stinkum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinkum)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/47 "2004-01-02T02:42:28Z")
“Sweet Painted Lady” by Elton John from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/48 "2004-01-02T02:43:03Z")
_Crossed Eyed Mary_ **Jethro Tull** ---
**Author:** ![koawala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@koawala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koawala)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/49 "2004-01-02T02:43:49Z")
Charlotte the Harlot 22 Acacia Avenue both by Iron Maiden, both about the same woman. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/50 "2004-01-02T02:47:46Z")
Elton John’s “Island Girl” Aerosmith’s “Uncle Salty” (No, Salty isn’t a hooker, but he told the narrator the story of a young street urchin who became a prostitute) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/51 "2004-01-02T06:39:28Z")
Raised on Robbery by Joni Mitchell "I’m a pretty good cook, sitting on my groceries, "Come home with me honey, I’m not asking for a full length mink Family Man by Mike Oldfield ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/52 "2004-01-02T06:40:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > **_Lady Madonna_ by the Beatles may be about a prostitute (e.g., “Wonder how you manage to make ends meet?”).** I’ve been wrong before, but I’m pretty sure that song is just about an unwed mother. It’s meant to draw an ironic parallel between the mother of Christ and poor mothers whose religion forbids birth control. Or so I always thought. My entry is “Roberta” by Billy Joel. “Roberta, you say you know me. But I see only what you’re paid to show me.” “Roberta, I really need you. But I’m afraid that my small change won’t See you through.” ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/53 "2004-01-02T08:17:19Z")
Dr Hook and the Medicine Show Penicillin Penny She’s Penicillin Penny And ever since the day she came, They say she’s had so many She gives them all numbers, not names. I always called her hon’, But she calls me one-thousand-and-one, And Penicillin Penny Starts to boogie when the day is done ---
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/54 "2004-01-02T08:36:57Z")
I have to take issue with “Venus in Furs.” Nowhere in that song is it implied that the sexual relations between the two characters is part of a business relationship. People can have submission and domination games without it being something that must be paid for. This is a stretch, because, since I just defended kinky sex against association with prostitution (not that I mean to disparage either pasttime), I probably shouldn’t associate stripping with prostitution. Anyway, Ani Difranco’s “Letter to a John” involves a monetary transaction in exchange for pleasure given in a lapdance. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/55 "2004-01-02T19:28:06Z")
“Patrick Street” (traditional), about a sailor who gets robbed by a whore so thoroughly that he has to go back to his ship wearing nothing but her jumper. Any relevant songs from **Threepenny Opera**? ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/56 "2004-01-02T19:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by A wizard song for thee \* > \*\*I have to take issue with “Venus in Furs.” Nowhere in that song is it implied that the sexual relations between the two characters is part of a business relationship. People can have submission and domination games without it being something that must be paid for. > \*\* Agreed. The song is actually based on the book Venus in Furs, by Leopold Von Sacher Masoch. In the novel, the dominatrix is Severin’s sadistic lover, not his whore. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/57 "2004-01-02T19:59:29Z")
Jack and Jill went up the hill, each with a buck and a quarter. Jill came down with two fifty. What a whore. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/58 "2004-01-02T20:16:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > \*\*Any relevant songs from **Threepenny Opera**? \*\* IIRC, (and it’s been a while) Solomon Song, and the Tango ballad. Also, if we’re using musicals - “The Life” was about hookers, so most of the songs were too. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/59 "2004-01-02T22:24:20Z")
“Bell Bottomed Trousers” isn’t explicitly about prostitution, until you get to the lyric about “Here’s five pounds for the damage that I done.” I like sea chanteys. Sue me. Arr. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134/60 "2004-01-02T23:48:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GIGObuster \* > \*\*_Minnie the Moocher_. by Cab Calloway \*\* Minnie wasn’t a prostitute–she was a red-hot hoochie-coocher! [Here’s](http://ingeb.org/songs/shewaspo.html) a great Victorian music-hall song; must be bellowed in a Cockney accent: It’s the same the whole world over, It’s the poor what gets the blame, It’s the rich what gets the pleasure, Isn’t it a blooming shame? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-joe-wanna-give-it-a-go-songs-about-whores/222134.md?page=4)