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52 Girls Lyrics

Effie, Madge and Mabel and Biddie
See them on the beach
Or in New York City
Tina, Louise and Hazel and Mavis
Can you name, name, name, name them today
Can you name, name, name, name them today

Wanda and Janet and Ronnie and Reba-o-o-o
These are the girls of the USA
The principal girls of the USA
Can you name, name, name, name them today
Can you name, name, name, name them today

O-o-o Kate, Kate and Cindy and Crystal and Candy
Mercedes and Joan, Betty and Brenda
Suzie and Anita and Phoebe and Jack Jackie-o
These are the girls of the USA
The principal girls of the USA

Can you name, name, name, name them today
Can you name, name, name, name them today
Can you name, name, name, name.
Song Info
Submitted by
ice On Jul 04, 2002
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Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

I'm not quite sure what this song means, though it sounds vaguely political to me. The vocals in this song are incredibly intersting to me because you basically can't understand most anything except "these are the girls of the USA." I find it fascinating that they used somewhat unusual names and stretched them out as they sang them so that they could basically be any word or name the lsitener chooses to hear. Great song

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

I bet if any of us went back to the headlines of when the song was written that we would find all of these women in the news.

They say that these are the principal girls of the USA. I don't know many but I am thinking that Jackie-O of course is Jaqueline Kennedy. Phoebe might be Phoebe Snow a major recording artist who had major hits back then. Gloria could be Gloria Steinam a major feminist. I think that the lyric for Tina, Louise is most likely TinaLouise, the actress who was a major tv presence playing Ginger on "Gilligan's Island". Anita might be Anita Bryant, the former Miss America that spoke out against Gay Rights.

Also, the song says that they were on the beach and in New York. Again, I bet the news from L.A. and N.Y. would give a clue to whom these women are. The last line of can you name them today was probably a challenge to people who had no idea to what was going on in current events.

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

Don'y you think "Kate and Cindy" is probably referring to Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, you know, the ones singing the song?

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

Yeah, Kate and Cindy has to be a reference to themselves which makes me think that the song could be about principal girls in the band's life, who influenced them. But I also thought it could be people in the news from then also. In all, it's a great song. As for the different version of the song, it just changes it entirely.

Not Valid
Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

I get this song. It's about how in American culture we tend to think little of the women who accomplished things in our History. As stated earlier Jackie-O is Jaqueline Kennedy, that was the only one I knew. Now if you said George or Junior automatically we think Bush.

And the question is "can we name them today?" The answer is obviously no. No we can't because women really don't get the fame and notoriety that we men get and there is something wrong with that.

It is easy to see this connection because it's a femal band mostly. Female lead singers.

RJ

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

I cannot understand one word in this song, but I love it

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

i know its well hard to understand the lyrics but fuck! i love this song is so perfct... in my band we are so influenced by this fucking band specially our singer frances...

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

I think the key to the meaning of this song is the title. This are 52 - girls. B52 was the name of a plane, but the music group B52 was not directly named after the plane, but after a special hairstyle looking like a beehive. And this hairstyle was also called B52 or short 52 hairstyle because the front/axis of the plane looked like a beehive too. The two girls of the group name themsleves in the song because they had this beehive hairstyle and i guess the rest of the 18 girls (including Jackie -O) named had it too.

@VicMac

This is the most likely explanation to me. The band are more likely to write a song about Women that rocked the beehive than any of the other suggestions here, IMO.

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

The 52 is a reference to the band name but also the amount of cards in a deck, specifically the nude girl cards of the 60s/70s. The names listed are ladies that had big hair/great style. Ronnie Spector, Wanda Jackson, Jackie - O, Tammi Wynette, Mavis Staples, etc Kate & Cindy are in the band of course

Cover art for 52 Girls lyrics by B-52's, The

A little bit of Monica in my life, a little bit of Erika by my side, but I wish that they could all be California girls, girls girls on the sunset strip.

Nonsensical lyrics, but the music and vocal stylings are..effective. I cannot explain the B-52's, but accept and love them for what they are.