A pretty girl is like a minstrel show It makes you laugh
It makes you cry You go It just isn't the same on radio
It's all about the makeup and the dancing and the Oh,
a pretty girl is like a violent crime If you do it wrong
you could do time but if you do it right it is sublime
I'm so in love with you, girl, It's like I'm on the moon
I can't really breathe, but I feel lighter A melody is like
a pretty girl Who cares if it's the dumbest in the world
It's all about the way that it unfurls A pretty girl is like
a pretty girl


Lyrics submitted by Anne Arbour

A Pretty Girl Is Like Lyrics as written by Stephin Raymond Merritt

Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING

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A Pretty Girl Is Like... song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    I like the last line. Sort of a dig at all the overwrought metaphors that tend to plague love songs. Once again Stephin shows his knack for subverting and mocking pop music cliches while simultaneously embracing them.

    chairmanroflmaoon January 30, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "a pretty girl is like a violent crime If you do it wrong you could do time " great lol :)

    shockdelicaon January 03, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Only the Magnetic Fields could bounce from a heartwrenching song like I Thought You Were My Boyfriend to... this. I love it, and it makes me giggle every time.

    dragonflyeyeson March 03, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Only the Magnetic Fields could bounce from a heartwrenching song like I Thought You Were My Boyfriend to... this. I love it, and it makes me giggle every time.

    dragonflyeyeson March 03, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "A melody is like a pretty girl Who cares if it's the dumbest in the world"

    Very funny, Stephin Merritt.

    freethegoldfishon October 19, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I first heard Irving Berlin's "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" during my awkward preteen years. The superficial flavor of the song kind of disturbed me. "Am I pretty enough to say in someone's head all day?" That's why I love this song.

    aubreymcfateon July 04, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Truth

    Sapphire xon July 09, 2015   Link

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