(Come on)

Does she walk? Does she talk?
Does she come complete?
My homeroom, homeroom angel
Always pulled me from my seat

She was pure like snowflakes
No one could ever stain
The memory of my angel
Could never cause me pain

Years go by I'm lookin' through a girly magazine
And there's my homeroom angel on the pages in-between

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
My angel is the centerfold
Angel is the centerfold

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
Angel is the centerfold

Slipped me notes under the desk
While I was thinkin' about her dress
I was shy I turned away
Before she caught my eye

I was shakin' in my shoes
Whenever she flashed those baby-blues
Something had a hold on me
When angel passed close by

Those soft and fuzzy sweaters
Too magical to touch
To see her in that negligee
Is really just too much

My blood runs cold
Yeah, my memory has just been sold
My angel is the centerfold
Angel is the centerfold

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
(Oh yeah)
Angel is the centerfold

Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na

(Now listen)
It's okay I understand
This ain't no never-neverland
I hope that when this issue's gone
I'll see you when your clothes are on

Take your car, yes we will
We'll take your car and drive it
We'll take it to a motel room
And take 'em off in private

A part of me has just been ripped
The pages from my mind are stripped
Oh no, I can't deny it
Oh yeah, I guess I gotta buy it

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
My angel is the centerfold
Angel is the centerfold

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
My Angel in the centerfold

Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
(Alright, alright)
(One, two, three, four)

Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
My angel is the centerfold
Angel is the centerfold

My blood runs cold (oh yeah)
My memory has just been sold
Angel is the centerfold
Angel is the centerfold

Na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na, na-na-na-na

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Lyrics submitted by the4starish

Centerfold Lyrics as written by Seth Justman

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Centerfold song meanings

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20 Comments

+2
General CommentThere's a clever reveal in this song that gets overlooked, since you'll really only catch it the first time you hear it.

He talks about seeing the girl in the magazine, how it makes him feel, etc, etc. It's only at the end that he reveals he's been standing in a store staring at a porno mag all this time... he's looked at it for so long, he's "gotta buy it" or the clerk is going to get upset.
D. Dodge Silveron November 11, 2019 Link
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+1
General CommentHow cool would that be if it actually happened.
DrFeelgood03on June 29, 2003 Link
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0
General CommentGreat song. I agree. One of my favorites by J. Geils Band.. They got great rythems in their music, very genious as well, musically. Excellent lyrics too.

Specifically about this song, I wonder if it's true. It'd be funny if it was. Imagine seeing a girl you know in a playboy or something? A girl who I went to school with, I found a photo of her with her pants down, with two other girls.
Scandalon January 22, 2005 Link
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New England rockers are singing about a New England girl who also went on to become famous: Marilyn Chambers, who went from the 99 and 44/100% pure Ivory Soap box model to porn actress in "Behind the Green Door". Lyrics -- She was pure like snowflakes, no one could ever stain... is the key give away
gio1057176on August 01, 2014
0
General CommentSICKKKKESST SONGG.

old school. funnest song to just randomly play. played it once at school. fun timeees..

nah nah nah nahhh na nahhh.

:)
savvy?on August 02, 2007 Link
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0
General Commentok, im not an idiot, but i cant figure out the meaning of this song, as good as it is. If it's about sex which im gonna guess that by looking at the other posts here, dont bother explaining it to me cause i'll never figure it out. oh, and by the way,

NAAAHHH NAAAHHH NAH NAH NAH NAH, NAAHH NAAHH NAH NAHNAHNAH NAH NAH :D
sidoravichon October 12, 2011 Link
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0
My InterpretationThe song is about him finding his girlfriend (or a girl he has a crush on) in one of his "girly magazines" (playboy) and now when he sees her, he can only picture her as she was in his magazine.
Whovian12on April 25, 2012 Link
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0
General CommentHate to be a "Debbie Downer" here, but this is one of the few 80s songs that I don't like. The tune is okay, but as a woman I don't relate to the lyrics at all. This song is definitely more of a guy thing.

Or maybe not. I read a tweet from a guy on Twitter this morning who also dislikes this song. The tweet said "Oi! J Geils Band! Your angel can do what she wants with her body. Stop objectifying her you selfish, whiny butt-hurt prick."

Despite my dislike of the song, I'm curious about how the J. Geils Band came up with the lyrics. Maybe one of them really did have a crush on a girl who later appeared in a centerfold. Who knows, maybe this happened to one of their groupies.
Booboobabieson July 31, 2015 Link
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@Booboobabies

@Booboobabies I have always felt that way about this song, despite the fact that I actually do kind of like it. The idea you're thinking of is Freud's maddona-whore complex, which implies that men can't be sexually attracted to women who are respectable and can't respect women who are sexual. (It's also the origin of the virgin/whore dichotomy -- basically the idea that being sexual and being good are mutually exclusive). The narrator of the song doesn't seem to see anything wrong with looking through "girly magazines" but how dare this woman who appeared in the magazine tarnish his memory by being one of those girls he sexualizes. Or, if you want to simplify it even more, it's the idea that women exist to be on display for men -- either as something to be jacked off to or to be held up on a mental pedestal as one of the untouchable good ones.
SeaAntelopeon August 10, 2016

@Booboobabies Personally, I don't find it sexist so much as just the way that guys think when they're coming of age. The narrator has a crush on a girl in his homeroom class and can't get up the nerve to talk to this girls he idealizes ("She was pure like snowflakes / No one could ever stain / The memory of my angel / Could never cause me pain"). He misses his opportunity and later finds her sexualized and commoditized in a magazine like Playboy, causing this painful fall from grace for her in his mind ("Those soft and fuzzy sweaters / Too magical to touch / To see her in that negligee / Is really just too much"). Later on, he accepts the world for what it is and arrives at a more balanced middle ground, where she's both sexual and a human being that he doesn't want to share with a crowd ("It's okay I understand / This ain't no never-never land / I hope that when this issue's gone / I'll see you when your clothes are on // Take your car, yes we will / We'll take your car and drive it / We'll take it to a motel room / And take 'em off in private.") So he still wants to sleep with her, but he doesn't want her to be everybody's plaything, the way she is as the centerfold in the magazine. That seems like a pretty human response to a common experience in life (not seeing a former classmate in Playboy, but idolizing someone and then finding out later they were human and flawed and accepting the reality instead of continuing to hold them out as an ideal of perfection).
farmerjohnon March 22, 2018
0
General Commentthis is one of the better songs of the sucky hair band 80's, i was there..maybe you love being a Debbie Downer
sdz896542on August 11, 2016 Link
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0
General CommentI thought lyrics said

and then there's my home angel in the pages in the queen
MikeLuttonon January 10, 2017 Link
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0
General CommentThis song is about Marilyn Chambers. She was on the Ivory Snow box and also a XXX Porn Star and Playboy centerfold model.
Funny bunnyon March 15, 2019 Link
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Centerfold

The J. Geils Band

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