The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
She's independent
She's a modern woman
She needs no prompting
On her should 'n' shouldn't
It's always bosses
Who wish that she wouldn't
Files in the cabinet so neatly numerical
Makes all the clients so neatly alphabetical
Turn of twenty one
She's looking at the map
Looking at her watch
Bags on the rack
It seems like she's there at the top
There for her service
Comfy red Granada
Up to the midlands
With a taped Sinatra
Plans all the hotels
And the airplane charters
Found under covers with some representative
The deal is effected but still only tentative
Shorthands a letter
Heading on the paper
Slimline her lunch break
Will it ever make her
Slender and modern
So all the men will take her
Back to the mirror in the empress hotel
Where the businessman smiles and the object is sell
She's a modern woman
She needs no prompting
On her should 'n' shouldn't
It's always bosses
Who wish that she wouldn't
Files in the cabinet so neatly numerical
Makes all the clients so neatly alphabetical
Turn of twenty one
She's looking at the map
Looking at her watch
Bags on the rack
It seems like she's there at the top
There for her service
Comfy red Granada
Up to the midlands
With a taped Sinatra
Plans all the hotels
And the airplane charters
Found under covers with some representative
The deal is effected but still only tentative
Shorthands a letter
Heading on the paper
Slimline her lunch break
Will it ever make her
Slender and modern
So all the men will take her
Back to the mirror in the empress hotel
Where the businessman smiles and the object is sell
Lyrics submitted by NAwlinsContrarian
There at the Top Lyrics as written by Glenn Martin Tilbrook Christopher Henry Difford
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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By the use of "shorthands a letter" I get the feel of this being in the 50s. I mean, who was shorthanding in the 80s? Also, the sinatra reference. Interesting, the song is a picture of a mid century woman working her way to the top by sleeping with men.
@sandra1156 could be writing shorthand as "code" (passing notes in secret??)<br /> <br /> I wrote shorthand (my own form) for uni notes, but don't think I ever wrote a letter to someone in it (they probably wouldn't have been able to understand most of it)
Here's another song from Argybargy with a nice tune but dark subject-matter. So is she actually a call-girl, or merely crossing the line by using sex as a business tool? I tend to think she's a call-girl. "Slender and modern so all the men will take her"? Sounds like it to me, especially because she was "[f]ound under covers with some representative". Why she went "[b]ack to the mirror in the Empress Hotel" presumably was to get herself in condition "so all the men will take her". So if she's not a call-girl, who are these "clients" for whom she's doing this stuff, and what is her trade?
I don't think she's a call girl. I think she's a businesswoman sleeping her way up the ladder. It "seems like" she's there at the top, but in reality she has to watch her diet and keep herself pretty in order to keep selling. From outward appearances she seems to have it all together, but privately she's a sellout and a whore. I think the song meaning is that sometimes things aren't as great as they seem and it might appear someone has it all, but in reality they're paying a heavy price and their success wont last forever.