Island Girl

Elton John

I see your teeth flash, Jamaican honey so sweet
Down where Lexington cross 47th Street
Oh she's a big girl, she's standing six-foot three
Turning tricks for the dudes in the big city

Island girl
What you wanting with the white man's world?
Island girl
Black boy want you in his island world

He want to take you from the racket boss
He want to save you, but the cause is lost
Island girl, island girl, island girl
Tell me what you wanting with the white man's world

Well she's black as coal, but she burn like a fire
And she wrap herself around you like a well-worn tire
You feel her nail scratch your back just like a rake, oh oh
He one more gone, he one more John who make the mistake

Island girl
What you wanting with the white man's world?
Island girl
Black boy want you in his island world

He want to take you from the racket boss
He want to save you, but the cause is lost
Island girl, island girl, island girl
Tell me what you wanting with the white man's world

Island girl
What you wanting with the white man's world?
Island girl
Black boy want you in his island world

He want to take you from the racket boss
He want to save you, but the cause is lost
Island girl, island girl, island girl
Tell me what you wanting with the white man's
Tell me what you wanting with the white man's
Tell me what you wanting with the white man's


Lyrics submitted by Novartza

Island Girl Lyrics as written by Elton John Bernie Taupin

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Island Girl song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

7 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    Memory
    You guys. Guys. The lyric is straightforward but if you listen to the soundscape you will hear the twinge of irony. This is one of his most rockin' albums...let's not sully it, ya?
    jacob10874on October 23, 2016   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Any song about a hooker is an instant classic as far as I'm concerned ;)
    DJacques75on May 24, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Is this song really about a prostitute? Can anyone confirm this? Haha
    PlanetJADEwardxon January 05, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I believe that this song is about a woman who comes from Jamaica and finds out her only way to make a living is to prostitute herself. Meanwhile there are a lot of men back in Jamaica that would love to take her for a wife. However, she's stuck in her prostitution life wherever she's gone. JMO
    SteelyDanon January 05, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I also want to add that the final line sounds like she kills her Johns after they have sex with her.
    SteelyDanon January 05, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    The song is about a male transsexual prostitute.
    anthony670on April 21, 2015   Link
  • -2
    General Comment
    obviously reginald just did not like anyone who isn't white [preferably European] and this was a veiled way of staying 'stay right where you are'
    exobscuraon July 21, 2019   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Zombie
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference. "Another head hangs lowly Child is slowly taken And the violence caused such silence Who are we mistaken - Another mother's breaking Heart is taking over" Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead. "But you see it's not me It's not my family" References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.
Album art
Blank Space
Taylor Swift
This song is Swift's response to the negative reputation the media has given her. "I can make the bad guys good for a weekend" - the bad guys are the paparazzi to Swift, but are good to the "player" since association with Swift immediately gives publicity. Any publicity is good publicity and Swift knows this. "You can tell me when it's over" - the tabloids rumor relationships are over before the couple announces it officially. With this song Swift is portraying the way she is portrayed by the media. It is a sarcastic jab at how she views herself and how her "ex-lovers" only wanted to be with her to increase their fame. I applaud the brilliance in writing about how you always write about relationships. It is expected so Swift is giving the media what they want and profiting off the attention.
Album art
Me and Johnny
Matt Paxton
Moyet later described how her song "Goodbye 70's" had been inspired by her disillusionment with how the late-1970s punk scene had turned out, saying, "'Goodbye 70's' is about punk and not caring how you were dressed, and then I discovered that so many of my friends that I'd thought it all really meant something to just saw it as another trend... That's what 'Goodbye 70's' was all about, about how sour the whole thing became."
Album art
Mad Hatter
Avenged Sevenfold
Matt Shadows their lead singer says the song was written as per request from the developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Watching the initial trailers for the game & looking at production sketches reminded him of the 'S-Town' podcast & its main protagonist, John B. McLemore. Matt also comments specifically on the lyrics: "I decided that the lyrics would shadow McLemore's life." In 2012, antiquarian horologist John B. McLemore sent an email to the staff of the show 'This American Life' asking them to investigate an alleged murder in his hometown of Woodstock, Alabama, a place McLemore claimed to despise. After a year of exchanging emails & several months of conversation with McLemore, producer Brian Reed traveled to Woodstock to investigate. Reed investigated the crime & eventually found that no such murder took place, though he struck up a friendship with the depressed but colorful character of McLemore. He recorded conversations with McLemore & other people in Woodstock. McLemore killed himself by drinking potassium cyanide on June 22, 2015 while the podcast was still in production. In the narrative of the podcast, this occurs at the end of the second episode; subsequent episodes deal with the fallout from McLemore's death while exploring more of McLemore's life & character.
Album art
MAZZA
slowthai & A$AP Rocky
This track is the first official collaboration between the rappers. It was produced by SAMO, slowthai himself & Kwes Darko. The track was released on January 5, 2021, in anticipation of his latest studio album titled "TYRON".