Odalisque

  ACTUALLY, an odalisque is not a naked reclining woman, nor is it a sultan's concubine as Knowthyself says.  An Odalisque is a concubine or harem woman's MAID.  Odalisques were often slaves, given as gifts, and frequently virgins.  An odalisque could become a concubine if the woman who oversaw the harem (yes, a harem had a woman overseer--a middleperson between the harem and the sultan) thought the odalisque might please the sultan.  Then, if the sultan was interested, he would deflower the odalisque, then fire her (unless he knocked her up), for now she was a professional concubine.  THe odalisque had little or no say in ANY of it.  

 SO: This song is about an odalisque who has been singled out to be shagged by the sultan, but not wanting prostitution to be her fate, she runs.  Then we have what I believe is the story of her mother (the "lazy lady") who had no clue how to raise a child, and ultimately pimped and/or sold the girl into odalisque-hood.  We then return to Odalisque's present terrible situation, where she has been caught and is raped by the sultan, who now wants her more than ever because she dared to run.  I happen to love the line "Such a filthy dimming shine/The way you kick and scream."  It means that to the sultan she is desirable "shines" because she dared resist, so now he feels the need to reassert his dominance.  BUT he knows all this psychobabble, as does he know that as soon as he's had her, he'll be bored with her and see her as another dirty whore.  Hence, it's a "filthy dimming shine."