# Songs about the Oldest Profession **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312 "2013-05-02T15:07:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/101 "2013-05-06T00:58:13Z")
Yeah, it’s a chair. You just keep thinking that. ---
**Author:** ![MsJinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MsJinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsJinx)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/102 "2013-05-06T03:03:51Z")
Glad Rag Doll - from the 20s. On the Diana Krall cd. Unless all flappers were considered to be prostitutes. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/103 "2013-05-06T09:38:34Z")
> [@](#): > > That is really stretching it. The quote is a reference to my suggestion that Goodbye Yellow Brick Road qualifies. Here’s the lyrics. [http://www.songmeanings.net/m/songs/view/1959/](http://www.songmeanings.net/m/songs/view/1959/) Country boy swept up in the high life, realises he’s just being used as a decoration to be shared around in exchange for being given the tidbits of wealth, decides to reclaim his dignity and go home. Pretty obvious, I would have thought. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/104 "2013-05-06T14:50:23Z")
The Irish Folk song [Dicey Reilly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txiv61s7eyw), complete here with Ronnie Drew’s introduction that makes it very clear what the profession of the lady in question was. Also, [The Monto](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wny_0pi4hR4), about Dublin’s red light district, also with an introduction. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/105 "2013-05-06T14:57:13Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > From the classic country division: > [Streets of Baltimore, Bobby Bare](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNDn6vpGlQM) I’m pretty sure when this song talks about her walking the streets, it is literal, in that she enjoys the late night city life far more than her long-suffering husband. > [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > “Queen of the Silver Dollar” by Emmylou Harris. Again, I think that’s about a woman who enjoys nightlife (including the men she meets), although not the mornings after, rather than a prostitute. Unless you think a woman who sleeps with a man who buys her drinks is a whore… ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/106 "2013-05-06T17:50:05Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > I’m pretty sure when this song talks about her walking the streets, it is literal, in that she enjoys the late night city life far more than her long-suffering husband. In an old article about Harlan Howard (who cowrote the song) it mentioned it was about prostitution. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/107 "2013-05-06T18:36:40Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > In an old article about Harlan Howard (who cowrote the song) it mentioned it was about prostitution. Do you have a link to the article? I’ve done a quick search and I can’t find anything. It’s not obvious from the lyrics, even granted that it wouldn’t be explicit given the time it was written. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/108 "2013-05-06T18:51:54Z")
“Alice” by Mott the Hoople: “And when a stranger said she sucked, she just smiled, believed in luck, as she climbed into his truck to make a buck.” “Jennifer Jones” by Wild Man Fischer: “She used to be a small-time hooker, she only charged, like, $25 a throw…” “A Country Gentleman’s Wife”, by Alan Hull, is sort of about a “kept man”: it ends up with “For one square meal of every day, an unlimited supply of booze, and any old country gentleman’s wife can do anything they choose.” ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/109 "2013-05-06T20:34:21Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Do you have a link to the article? I’ve done a quick search and I can’t find anything. It’s not obvious from the lyrics, even granted that it wouldn’t be explicit given the time it was written. Actually I realized it wasn’t from an article; it was from a book called “Three Chords and the Truth” written in 1997 that had a chapter about Howard. Unfortunately, Google Books has only a snippet preview. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/110 "2013-05-06T21:13:18Z")
Isn’t the entire opera “Carmen” about a whore? OK, OK, a woman of easy virtue? ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/111 "2013-05-06T21:21:42Z")
[Glitter and Be Gay](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVsLMxam21I) from Candide, although Cunegonde was definitely an expensive mistress rather than a ha’penny streetwalker. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/112 "2013-05-06T21:22:50Z")
Oh yeah, and the Beggar Woman’s Waltz from Sweeney Todd. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312/113 "2013-05-06T22:42:16Z")
The Tango Ballad from Threepenny opera. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-the-oldest-profession/657312.md?page=5)