(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister

I don't think there's any great hidden meaning to these lyrics. He's in love with the girl selling the candy floss (spun sugar) at the fair. She hates her job. He keeps going back for more to get her attention. So much so that his hands are sticky and he feels sick..... "I've paid For fifteen or more But my guts Can't take many more My hands are stuck To my jeans And she knows she knows What this must mean"

Hey, medonkey: you're dead on.

It's not that I knew before I read your post and just happen to agree, but what you read is clearly right.

About the common comments: I agree that many songs are about drugs (and I disagree with the people who claim that so many of the songs are actually blaming misery on drugs and generally making dope look shabby like some kind of public service announcement).

HOWEVER, not every song is about drugs!

How much more clearly could it be?!?!? "I'm in love with the candy floss girl"!!!!

Let's go step by step: 1)Her hair Soft drifted snow Death white I'd like to know Why she hates All that she does But she gives it all that she's got

Until the sky turns green The grass is several shades of blue Every member of parliament trips on glue

Until the sky turns green And the grass is several shades of blue Every member of parliament trips on glue

It takes all these things and all that time Till my sugar spun sister's happy With this love of mine It'll take all these things and oh much more

----OK, so he's got a girl who happens to be depressed and she just doesn't appreciate anything she does. Still, she does excellent things, and pours herself into what she does, e.g. loving him. She just doesn't realize how great she is and how great the things she does is. She also, however, apparently doesn't recognize his love, or feel satisfied with it.

We can all imagine this type of character: intense, and depressed, and as part of the depression, this person doesn't realize how well and intensely they do things, for example love. (This, of course, tends to sabotage and cast a shadow on the well-ness of their deeds and their love.) This depressed character also doesn't appreciate the singer's love -- so he waits till she's happy with his love -- it'll take all these things and so much more. What kinds of things? Things like the sky turning green, the grass turning blue, and parliament getting high (or slipping? on glue -- all impossible, or improbable things. The point is, he doesn't think he'll ever please her, and he expresses this by saying that she'll be happy when he manages to accomplish impossible feats. (Or maybe it's not about him accomplishing them, it's more like "she'll be happy when pigs fly out of my ass", but it's not that it's his job to get the pigs up in his ass and train them to fly? Savvy? This point doesn't matter anyways. )

The point of this first section: She'll never be happy with his love, and the lover knows this.

2)I've paid For fifteen or more But my guts Can't take many more My hands are stuck To my jeans And she knows she knows What this must mean

--OK, this is just mundane: he's bought a bunch of the candy floss (I guess this is what we call "cotton candy" in the US [the Roses are Brits]) and he's getting a stomach ache and doesn't think he'll eat anymore. (I'm not sure why he's bought so much at one time... but maybe it's just to impress her, or he's fumbled and bought the wrong amount because he's focused on her, or nervous, or love struck (i.e. dumb struck, and literally dumb).

And his fingers are stuck to his jeans, and she knows what this means: it means he's been eating so damn much candy his fingers are sticky -- and he's still there in front of her at the "candy floss" (i.e. cotton candy) booth. What does she know that means? She knows that means he's enamored with her: he's sitting around eating what she's selling, just so he can be near her.

3)She wakes up with the sun She asked me what is all the fuss As she gave me more than she thought she should She wakes up with the sun I think what have I done As I gave her more than I thought I would, ohhh

At takes all these things and all that time Till my sugar spun sister's happy With this love of mine

Yeah yeah yeah That candy floss girl The sticky fingered boy Oh that sister of mine Yeah

---In part 3, it's apparent he's bedded her: he's with her when she wakes up early.

And he just knows it takes a lot to gain and keep her love -- eating sh*t loads of candy, etc.

Makes sense, no? At first, I thought sugar was meant to evoke some other white powder, and "spun" was indicative of that powder being a stimulant, which would fit with the dance-y Madchester thing the Roses had going -- but clearly this is a simple love song about a girl who sells candy at a fair.

A good old love song about falling in love with the girl on the job, selling something sweet. And it's not about sugar walls or the kind of candy a prostitute sells -- it's about a real girl selling cotton candy and a man pursuing her!

Who's with me and medonkey?

"This is about a prostitute - 'I'd love to know why she hates all that she does but she gives it all that she's got'. I don't think she is literally meant to be a sister, so much as a close friend, or just a whore he feels a bond for, maybe a bit of both - 'I think what have I done? As she gave me more than she thought she should'. 'Every member of Parliament sniffs on glue' is maybe some sort of reference to the hypocrisy of those who damn prostitutes and the like, but secretly indulge in behaviour they publicly damn."

ian brown wouldn't shag a prostitue, he's a dirty man but not that dirty!

I find most Roses lyrics have a William Blake influence, although could easily be over cooking it there. I'm not too sure of their influences all round- anyone know what some of their influences were? But his one for mine seems to be warning of the emptiness of that sort of 'giddy' adolescent love, that sweet kind of love that is horribly chaste and ashamed. Blake wrote' Little mary bell had a fairy in a nut, And long john browne had a devil in his gut, Long john browne loved little mary bell, and the fairy dragged the devil into the nut shell'. It goes on, but it is a tale about the dangers of seeing love as a sin, as something hollow (like a fairy in a nut), or like 'candy floss'. It also could read as a criticism of the way the hippie movement went, where there became an almost forced love through drugs, as though that was a free ticket instead of actually feeling it- "It takes all these things and all that time Till my sugar spun sister's happy With this love of mine" It's empty, and the sister can't be fooled.

its about sex, gettin turned on with a girl attention to detail, falling for her, but not understanding why she hates a lot of things in her life, she can never be satisfied, - until the sky turns green, this wont happen, the love wont happen, theythey can never be totally satisfied, in harmony, ... she mite also be a hooker, but this ma meanin - TRUSSLER

funny I always thought it was about drugs. ah well.

I think its about drugs..Ectasy,Cocaine whatever..Hes using the 'girl' as a metaphor for drugs..

If you really read the lyrics you will see all kinds of references to drugs

'Soft drifted snow Death white'

Sounds like cocaine

'I've paid For fifteen or more But my guts Can't take many more My hands are stuck To my jeans And she knows she knows What this must mean'

Sounds like Heroin,'My guts cant take it anymore' - Heroin makes you physically sick..

'My hands are stuck to my jeans' - Heroin makes you numb

'Until the sky turns green And the grass is several shades of blue Every member of parliament trips on glue'

Sounds like a trip to me

Just my thoughts :)

I know this is a many years old thread but "(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister" is one of my favorite songs of all time and it just came up for me today in a very serendipitous way out of a life experience which is exactly like the one in this song.

I completely disagree that the song is literal, and about a girl who works at the fair, selling cotton candy. Has NOBODY ever heard of METAPHOR?

I do agree that the girl is supposed to be someone who has a hard time being happy, and hates many things about her life, but nonetheless she gives it all that she's got in every area of her life.

This reason, and the fact that she is super sweet as candy, make people be irresistibly drawn to her, including the boy singing the song.

The problem is, theirs is a "star crossed love" and there is a reason she should not be with him. She allows herself to be with him anyhow, knowing it's wrong, so she hates all that she does, but she gives it all that she's got anyhow....

He equally knows it's wrong, yet he can't stop himself. She's just too sweet to resist, so he keeps going back for more and more, even though it's making him sick in his gut, because there's a reason it's not the right thing for them to be doing.. But he can't help himself because she is too sweet and irresistable, and he can't help but want to make her happy.

Yes it does sound like they are not successful at resisting the temptation, and they spend the night together. Then she tries to brush it all off pretending that it's not a big deal as represented by the line "she wakes up with the sun and asked me what is all the fuss." The fact that they shouldn't be together is also evidenced by the lyrics "as she gave me more than she thought she should."

He also knows they shouldn't be together, but he wasn't able to help himself and now he's responding with the realization of "My God what have I done, as I gave her more than I thought I would."

Theirs is classic starcrossed lovers song. It'll take all these things in oh much more before his sugar spun sister can be happy with this love. What it will take is the resolution to whatever is the reason that they really shouldn't be together and that they shouldn't have given each other so much.

I believe the real evidence that theirs is an impossible love lies in the chorus.

"Until the sky turns green, and the grass is several shades of blue, every member of Parliament trips on glue"

I agree with those who say this has nothing to do with drugs.

What it's saying is sugar spun sister cannot be happy with his love until the impossible happens, because theirs is an irreconcilable starcrossed love. So before they would really to be able to work it out, the sky will have to turn green, the grass will have to turn several shades of blue and Parliament will be entirely made up of drug addicts tripping on glue.

In other words it's NEVER going to be possible for her to be happy with his love because of whatever irreconcilable reason is in the way.

Sadly I've lived this song more than once, and know firsthand the pain of loving somebody you can't be with. Maybe I'm just seeing my own story in the song, but I definitely don't think it's literally about a guy who can't stop flirting with the cotton candy girl at the fair. The Stone Roses have never been that trite and banal. Nor is it about drugs; the reference to all of Parliament tripping on glue is strictly used as a metaphor that the impossible will have to happen before she'll be able to be happy with his love....

My $.50 worth.

I think it's literally about Ian Brown's sister who doesn't like any of the girls he's been with.