"Jezebel" as written by and Martin Gore....
They call you Jezebel
Whenever we walk in
You're going straight to hell
For wanton acts of sin, they say
And that I'll have to pay
But I need you just this way
They call you Jezebel
For what you like to wear
You're morally unwell
They say you never care for me
But what the fail to see is that your games are the key
Open their eyes to the beauty
Open their hearts to the fun
Open their minds to the idea that you don't own someone
They call you Jezebel
Whenever men walk by
They say that they can tell
The longing in your eyes is real
And how you really feel
But they can't see your appeal
Jezebel
Whenever we walk in
You're going straight to hell
For wanton acts of sin, they say
And that I'll have to pay
But I need you just this way
They call you Jezebel
For what you like to wear
You're morally unwell
They say you never care for me
But what the fail to see is that your games are the key
Open their eyes to the beauty
Open their hearts to the fun
Open their minds to the idea that you don't own someone
They call you Jezebel
Whenever men walk by
They say that they can tell
The longing in your eyes is real
And how you really feel
But they can't see your appeal
Jezebel
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The song can be a bit ambiguous where it can be about this man that only sees the beautiful qualities in this prostitute or simply a woman who has a notorious reputation.
something a lot of people dont know is that, according to one of the entries in daryl bamontes devotional/exotic tour diary, martin gore used to do drag. it says in the entry that he went by the drag name brandy
i believe the person he is speaking to is not a separate person - no, not a sex worker or nothing like every single interpretation before mine says (get back to me when yall have an original thought for once) - but rather, he is speaking to his drag persona, brandy. im new to drag myself (im a baby lesbian) but the gist of it is that when you do drag, youre not simply trying to look like a gender other than your own; youre putting on a character. youre being someone else entirely, hence why drag kings and queens have drag names. its an alter ego of sorts. this explains why he might write about brandy as if she were a completely different person altogether: because, in essence, she sort of is
it has also come to my attention that the other interpretations of this song claim that he is "in love" with the person he is speaking to. while i do agree that he must care for them a lot (lyrics like "i need you just this way," "they say you never care for me," "but they cant see your appeal"), i dont think his feelings towards them are necessarily romantic in nature. if my interpretation is true, that he is speaking to his drag persona, then his bond with this person runs deeper than any romantic or sexual feelings one person could have for another. brandy is a part of him, literally, and that means he shares her thoughts, feelings, and memories (well, depending on how much he was drinking certain nights i guess). that is an indescribably close bond, so id say hed sure as hell care a lot about her, yknow?
i had more written but then i got tired of writing this so i deleted it. anyway this isnt fucking gospel and i absolutely could be wrong about my interpretation but sall good everyone on this website is a dumbass anyway so who cares. anyway martin gore is such an icon and i would kill a man for him. martin gore said gay rights !
xcentric is probably spot on with the prostitute analogy
Its about a guy that adores this prostitute, cause he sort of feels identified with her, in a profane way. The fact that he cant have her is comparable with what he says about her: you dont own some-one. And when he mentions that they cant see her appeal, he believes he is the only one to do it. She is not ashamed of what she is.