Last of the English Roses

The thing he's mumbling in French at the end is supposed to be a quote from 'Our Lady of the Flowers' by Jean Genet, which is one of Peter's favourite books. I remember him talking in an interview about the way the song seems to be written about a girl, but then in the video, it turns out that The Last of the English Roses is actually a boy. That could be inspired by the book, as it explains the story of a man who is usually referred to in the feminine and Our Lady of the Flowers is in fact a boy as well.

Amazing song, lyrics are pretty obvious, a schoolboy crush. In an interview on "The Late Late Show" Peter says it's about a girl he fancied at school called Aisleyne Hitchcock if I heard correctly..

What do those Rodneys,Stanleys,Winstons,Enochs mean? I've been searching all around the internet and can't find the answer……

Doherty talking about the meaning behind the lyric "With your famous Auntie Arthur's trousers on":

"[My uncle] had this pair of trousers that where at the bottom of my Nan’s wardrobe for ages and I, when I used to go and stay with her in summers in Liverpool, I’d root about, and I found them; and I wore them! I thought I was the bollocks in those trousers! There was a kebab shop.. ..and these trousers, I thought they'd give me magic powers, I was about 15 and I was a bit drunk and the fella said, "Sorry mate, we're closed mate", and I said; "Fuckin’ closed? Give me a fuckin' kebab!" and he chased me up the street with a skewer, but the trousers didn't give in. They were horrible!"

The lyric "she knows her Rodneys from her Stanleys" could be a reference to sit-coms 'Only Fools and Horses' and 'Porridge,' or to footballers Stanley Bowles and Rodney Marsh. "And her Winstons from her Enochs" refers to English politicians Winston Churchill and Enoch Powell, and possibly to footballers Enoch Showunmi and Gary Winston Lineker. At the end of the song, Doherty recites, in French, lines from Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet.

Apparently the song is about some girl he went to school with .... i forget her name. Look on youtube for Peter Doherty with Patrick Kenny ... though it coulda been the most recent one with Johnathan Ross, I forget because I watched two back to back. Dont expect much from the interview, typical drugs Kate Moss and his Dad.

i think it is about a boy as some of the things they are doing is quite masculine like having pints and getting slapped by slappers (girls) and it takes place in a time of adolesence, when pete might have had some confused sexaul thoughts about a friend

Bottom line is that he is praising a girl who he has a huge crush on for being in touch with everything from coolness and style to history and soccer. The last of the English rose suggests that she is a dying breed of the complete woman in England- Kind of a "they don't make em like they used to" mentality.

I must say that his references, although some juvenile, are quite deep. This only adds to the fact that she is the perfect idea of a beautiful, intelectual woman in the day and age of texting and overall dumbness of the world as it was and as it is.

Great Song Pete!

The obvious and mainstream interpretation is that it is about a female crush.

However, consider the fact that it could be about a male:

• Auntie Arthurs trousers, implies confusion
• The gay kiss at the end of the official video speaks also in volume
• The subject person of the song "She almost spilled her lager / Toasting girls of great beauty" It does state she, but this can be argued as a feminisation of the individual
• Would an "English Rose" be likely to drink a pint? Shows a degree of ambiguity.
• "Coming out, coming alive", said faintly, as if to hide this being said. A moment of contemplation?
• The French at the end of the song is from "Our Lady of the Flowers" (Jean Genet, 1943). Written from prison, it follows Divine, the protagonist, who is a drag queen. There are large sections of homosexuality in the story.

Just a thought, one of controversy, but one backed up with a valid argument.