All the late night bargains have been struck
Between the satin beaus and their belles
Prehistoric garbage trucks
Have the city to themselves
Echoes roars dinosaurs
They're all doing the monster mash
And most of the taxis, most of the whores
Are only taking calls for cash
I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
Well now my door was standing open
Security were laid back and lax
But it was only my heart that got broken
You must have had a pass key made out of wax
You played robbery with insolence
And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane
And you never did have the intelligence to use
The twelve keys hanging off from my chain
I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
Now it's past last call for alcohol
Past recall has been here and gone
The landlord he finally paid us all
The satin jazzmen have put away their horns
And we're standing outside of this wonderland
Looking so bereaved and so bereft
Like a bowery bum when he finally understands
The bottle's empty and there's nothing left
I don't know how it happened
It was faster than the eye could flick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
Between the satin beaus and their belles
Prehistoric garbage trucks
Have the city to themselves
Echoes roars dinosaurs
They're all doing the monster mash
And most of the taxis, most of the whores
Are only taking calls for cash
I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
Well now my door was standing open
Security were laid back and lax
But it was only my heart that got broken
You must have had a pass key made out of wax
You played robbery with insolence
And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane
And you never did have the intelligence to use
The twelve keys hanging off from my chain
I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
Now it's past last call for alcohol
Past recall has been here and gone
The landlord he finally paid us all
The satin jazzmen have put away their horns
And we're standing outside of this wonderland
Looking so bereaved and so bereft
Like a bowery bum when he finally understands
The bottle's empty and there's nothing left
I don't know how it happened
It was faster than the eye could flick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
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A musician has had his heart broken by someone he loved; she is not a prostitute, but he likens her to one (see below). And he feels part of the late-night city where nobody is really getting what they want. Everything is dirty, everything for pay.
There are numerous ambiguous terms with one musical meaning and one other: "monster mash" (a novelty song from 1962 and the way the garbage trucks consume trash), bars (portions of a song and drinking establishments), keys (what open a lock, and the key in which a song is played). As a musician, he sees things in terms of music. Also, the double meanings set up the significance of the more important one in the title.
She robs him of his heart (with insolence) not of his money (the literal keys she could have used, but didn't, to break into his home).
And so, broken-hearted, he does liken her to a prostitute, with the ambiguous term in the title. He "hands it to her" (gives her credit for her success in leading him on) and her latest "trick" (her behavior that fooled him, as well as the next man she will be with – by calling him a "trick", he's calling her a whore).
Perhaps unimportant, but I always felt that this was about New York, not London. There's a reference to a Bowery bum, and that's a street in New York, although it's only in a simile. Perhaps the city doesn't matter, but the late closing hour for bars in New York separates the night folk and the rest of the world more completely than in London, making it a little more desperate, and a bit more prone to making those who end the night feeling lost.
A couple other notes:
+ This is her *latest* trick... meaning that she's done this before. There is perhaps an undercurrent of self-loathing in the sense of "How stupid am I to let her do this to me again?"
+ This song is full of musical imagery:
"You played robbery with insolence
And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane"
-- He's sad / bemoaning this situation, so he plays The Blues about Lover's Lane
-- ...in twelve bars - 12 bar blues is the most famous / common blues progression
"And you never did have the intelligence to use
The twelve keys hanging off from my chain"
-- The insult says that if she had been smart, she could have taken much more.
-- The twelve keys - there are exactly 12 musical keys that music can be played in
-- Hanging off of my chain - he is shackled to the life of a musician
+ The last segment is a reflection on the situation:
"Now it's past last call for alcohol
Past recall has been here and gone
The landlord he finally paid us all
The satin jazzmen have put away their horns"
+ After last call, the customers leave and the band waits to get paid (by the landlord). Past recall are his reflections while performing; a musician leaves a part of himself and his experiences behind on the stage with each performance. He characterizes the band as 'the satin jazzmen' who are now finished for the night.
+ His imagery finishes with a final, dual reflection on the situation: she's gone, and the music has ended ('there's nothing left')
"And we're standing outside of this wonderland
Looking so bereaved and so bereft
Like a bowery bum when he finally understands
The bottle's empty and there's nothing left"
A couple other notes:
+ This is her *latest* trick... meaning that she's done this before. There is perhaps an undercurrent of self-loathing in the sense of "How stupid am I to let her do this to me again?"
+ This song is full of musical imagery:
"You played robbery with insolence
And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane"
-- He's sad / bemoaning this situation, so he plays The Blues about Lover's Lane
-- ...in twelve bars - 12 bar blues is the most famous / common blues progression
"And you never did have the intelligence to use
The twelve keys hanging off from my chain"
-- The insult says that if she had been smart, she could have taken much more.
-- The twelve keys - there are exactly 12 musical keys that music can be played in
-- Hanging off of my chain - he is shackled to the life of a musician
+ The last segment is a reflection on the situation:
"Now it's past last call for alcohol
Past recall has been here and gone
The landlord he finally paid us all
The satin jazzmen have put away their horns"
+ After last call, the customers leave and the band waits to get paid (by the landlord). Past recall are his reflections while performing; a musician leaves a part of himself and his experiences behind on the stage with each performance. He characterizes the band as 'the satin jazzmen' who are now finished for the night.
+ His imagery finishes with a final, dual reflection on the situation: she's gone, and the music has ended ('there's nothing left')
"And we're standing outside of this wonderland
Looking so bereaved and so bereft
Like a bowery bum when he finally understands
The bottle's empty and there's nothing left"
But again, I was young - and naive then :-)