38 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Lady Godiva's Operation Lyrics
Lady Godiva here dressed so demurely
Pats the head of another curly haired boy, just another toy
Sick with silence she weps sincerely
saying word that have oh so clearly been said
so long ago
Draperies wrapped gently 'round her shoulder
Life has made her that much bolder now
that she's found out how
Dressed in silk, latin lace and envy
Pride and joy of the latest penny faire
pretty passing care
Hair today now dipped in the water
Making love to every poor daughter's son
isn't it fun
Now today propping grace with envy
Lady Godiva peers to see if anyone's there
and hasn't a care
Doctor is coming the nurse thinks SWEETLY
Turning on the machines that NEATLY pump air
the body lies bare
Shaved and hairless what once was SCREAMING
now lies silent and almost SLEEPING
the brain must have gone away
Straped securly to the white table
ether caused the body to wither and writhe
underneath the white light
Doctor arrives with knife and baggage
sees the growth as just so much cabbage
that now
must be cut away
Now come the moment of Great! Great! Decision!
The doctor is making his first incision
One goes here--one goes there
The ether tube's leaking says someone who's sloppy
the patient it seems is not so well sleeping
The screams echo up the hall
Don't panic someone give him pentathol instantly
Doctor removes his blade
cagily slow from the brain
By my count of ten--
the head won't move
I love how the song starts out very sweet and gentle, and then suddenly Lou comes in with his loud, half-sung words ruining the whole mood of the song. Haha, that cracks me up every time.
Yes! Love that!
Yes! Love that!
This is what the song means. The dude wants a sex-change operation. But his parents really hate him, they think he's crazy to want that. So they slyly pay the doctor to give him a LOBOTOMY instead. Imagine his chagrin! The climate was extremely hostile to such operations in the Sixties, not at all like now.
@kassie1124 Now it could be that the Doctor gave him a sex-change first. Then his parents sprung their surprise on him, and the Doctor followed this up with an unexpected lobotomy. The guy emphatically was not down with this unexpected development, but he was in no condition to complain about it afterwards. The Doctor was a maniac, something went wrong. Not only did he make no complaint, he never moved his head again. His parents wheeled him, uh, HER, around in a wheelchair with an odd smile on their faces. They had done their parental duty! The Doctor probably got...
@kassie1124 Now it could be that the Doctor gave him a sex-change first. Then his parents sprung their surprise on him, and the Doctor followed this up with an unexpected lobotomy. The guy emphatically was not down with this unexpected development, but he was in no condition to complain about it afterwards. The Doctor was a maniac, something went wrong. Not only did he make no complaint, he never moved his head again. His parents wheeled him, uh, HER, around in a wheelchair with an odd smile on their faces. They had done their parental duty! The Doctor probably got into big trouble, he got a little too avid in his brain-cutting. Maybe he was a Homophobe! Aha! It was the Sixties, after all!
Interesting song. It does sound like a lobotomy. Pentathol (sodium pentathol, actually) is also used as a thruth serum, as its a fast acting barbiturate.
Lady godiva was censored heavily by her husband and to protest, rode the streets of her city naked on horseback. This could be what she was penalized with; a labotomy, or a murder.
That's what I've imagined. Lady Godiva of the song is such a libertine that she's given a labotomy to keep her "in her place". The ether leaks, she wakes, her screams echo on the walls and a gruesome portrait of a botched operation is painted.
That's what I've imagined. Lady Godiva of the song is such a libertine that she's given a labotomy to keep her "in her place". The ether leaks, she wakes, her screams echo on the walls and a gruesome portrait of a botched operation is painted.
Drag Queen gets a lobotomy, simple as that. The screaming definitely makes it sound like an involuntary operation.
Familial betrayal and hatred of the different. Your family is angry that that the neighbors are laughing about their son who wants his stuff cut off. So they tell the Doctor to chop up his brain too, so he won't date men after the operation. But they don't know that the Doctor secretly hates gays with a livid fury, and they wouldn't have much cared if they had known. The Doctor spitefully paralyzes his neck as well. He is sued for malpractice, but he is happy. The creature in the wheelchair says nothing any more, but it's face is a frozen rictus of fury over its Betrayal!
The journey of a strange operation.
sounds like a lobotomy
Hmm. The VU mostly wrote about people they knew. Could this be an abortion? is it about an operation at all?
I can't say why, particularly, but this has to be one of my Favorite VU songs.
A great song, easily the most underrated and lesser known of the VU. Not totally sure what the operation being referred to is though...