Songs about the Oldest Profession

I’ve been listening to Broadway a lot on my SiriusXM, and started noting there are quite a few songs about prostitutes. Some include:

The triumphant “My Body” from The Life
The dark and depressing “Lovely Ladies” from Les Miserables.

In rock, there’s “The House of the Rising Son” by the Animals (the song is older, and was originally written for a woman singer, giving it a different meaning).

What else?

Roxanne, by The Police

Iron Maiden had an ongoing story line:

Charlotte the Harlot
22 Acacia Avenue
Hooks In You

Maggie Mae, Rod Stewart is supposedly about a prostitute.

Bonnie Raitt’s “Louise.”

Wow, I actually know an answer to a question in a song thread! :cool:

Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls”.

Rio by Duran Duran

look, if it wasn’t me it would be someone else. Deal with it.

“Fire Down Below” Bob Seger

“Fancy” by Reba McIntyre.

Kathusalem. It’s in The Dirty Song Book - oh, and here, g’bless the web - along with others that mention or feature prostitutes.

“Whores,” Jane’s Addiction

Top 10 Songs About Prostitutes:

  1. Lady Marmalade
  2. Bad Girls
  3. Sweet Georgia Brown
  4. Killer Queen
  5. Island Girl
  6. Hot Child in the City
  7. Charlotte the Harlot
  8. Call Me
  9. On Broadway
  10. All the Young Girls Love Alice

Going back farther is the Andrew Sisters" “Rum and Coca-Cola.”

And I see “Greensleeves” may originally have been about a prostitute: “One possible interpretation of the lyrics is that Lady Green Sleeves was a promiscuous young woman and perhaps a prostitute. At the time, the word ‘green’ had sexual connotations, most notably in the phrase ‘a green gown’, a reference to the way that grass stains might be seen on a woman’s dress if she had engaged in sexual intercourse out of doors.”

La Grange by ZZ Top

Wrong Way, by Sublime.

Hang On Sloopy (Extended version only) by the McCoys

Tecumsah Valley - Townes van Zandt

Candle in the Wind

Cole Porter’s Love for Sale

I got one, Three Wooden Crosses by Randy Travis

Simon and Garfunkle’s The Boxer

Asking only workman’s wages
I come looking for a job
But I get no offers,
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there