The song is about prostitution. "The Man" was her pimp. She left working for her pimp to hook on her own and found what, for a hooker, was a better life. Most other interpretations of this song cannot explain "Pumped a lot of pain". A. A hard working hooker is going to be in some pain from being pumped so often. A guy using a hooker is looking to relieve some kind of pain so this lyric has a double meaning, she is also pumping the John and his pain. "Cleaned a lot of plates" is about oral sex. A woman's labial lips when together look like a stack of plates so 'licking the plates clean' lets us know this hooker has branched out with her new found freedom and good life and is now doing women as well. "Big Wheel" is her John and his rhythmic humping is how the Wheel keeps on turning. So now we see clearly how "Proud Mary" is indeed her pussy which she is quite proud of and it's "burning" from so much sex. "Rolling" has long been slang for sexual intercourse. B. At the end she is trying to recruit more girls without money to become hookers. They will not have to worry, plenty of people on the river will give them money for sex.
Hitching a ride on the river queen is interesting. Fit in with everything else here it just seems to be saying that her lot really improved when she set up shop as a whore on a river showboat instead of just drifting around as a street hooker. But there is a way this could have been kind of a dig, with wild foreshadowing. *C.
*A: It's not 'pane and you don't pump propane anyway. Kudos to osubuckeye420 for thinking this could have been about pumping iron but he didn't tie it all together.
*B: Think "roll in the hay" among other things.
*C: If you know this band you know several things are true. They were from San Francisco, but pretended they weren't from San Francisco. Among themselves they were about the bitchiest band ever. The songwriter's brother, and also a bandmate, died of AIDS. So .... was he trying to take a little jab at someone by saying he hooked up to a River Queen? I don't know if the writer took it up the a.., I don't know if the guys in the band did. In the 60s and 70s you couldn't have had a career if the public knew. But in a song about prostitution maybe he was working in a message to the underground that yeah, some of the band went both ways or maybe they were just pure gay.
ok, indulge me for a minute... Bit of a geek alert going your way.
ok, indulge me for a minute... Bit of a geek alert going your way.
Try this at home. For those of you who think with the left hand side of the brain (do a test online if you aren't sure - generally you are quite good at maths, taking words literally and being a bit of a bore, no offense intended) listen to this song and then do things associated with the right hand side of the mind (e.g. watch a film, a play or chat up a chick).
Try this at home. For those of you who think with the left hand side of the brain (do a test online if you aren't sure - generally you are quite good at maths, taking words literally and being a bit of a bore, no offense intended) listen to this song and then do things associated with the right hand side of the mind (e.g. watch a film, a play or chat up a chick).
It doesn't even sound like "pain", I only ever heard "tane" on the recording. Maybe you were listening to a really bad mp3?
It doesn't even sound like "pain", I only ever heard "tane" on the recording. Maybe you were listening to a really bad mp3?
You could I suppose interepret "tane" in your meaning as a slightly coloquialised version of "tang" or "poontang".
You could I suppose interepret "tane" in your meaning as a slightly coloquialised version of "tang" or "poontang".
It was a highly entertaining interpretation, thanks for the laughs, but sheesh!!
It reminded me of "Don Juan D'Marco" with Johnny Depp where he's doing the psych test telling the shrink what he sees in those big ink smudges on flash cards.
It was a highly entertaining interpretation, thanks for the laughs, but sheesh!!
It reminded me of "Don Juan D'Marco" with Johnny Depp where he's doing the psych test telling the shrink what he sees in those big ink smudges on flash cards.
I more or less agree with Jack from Hawaii. I thought it was about prostitution as well. With one correction.
I more or less agree with Jack from Hawaii. I thought it was about prostitution as well. With one correction.
I always thought the line Tina Turner sings is slang:
"I pumped a lot of 'tang down in New Orleans"
...as in poontang.
Does it take a woman to spell this out...?
Oh well, Google it.
I always thought the line Tina Turner sings is slang:
"I pumped a lot of 'tang down in New Orleans"
...as in poontang.
Does it take a woman to spell this out...?
Oh well, Google it.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack....http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack....http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack...Hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 if the link doesnt work google proud mary song wiki and its like the 2nd or 3rd link down the list.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack...Hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 if the link doesnt work google proud mary song wiki and its like the 2nd or 3rd link down the list.
Proud Mary refers to a woman's genitals.
The song is about prostitution. "The Man" was her pimp. She left working for her pimp to hook on her own and found what, for a hooker, was a better life. Most other interpretations of this song cannot explain "Pumped a lot of pain". A. A hard working hooker is going to be in some pain from being pumped so often. A guy using a hooker is looking to relieve some kind of pain so this lyric has a double meaning, she is also pumping the John and his pain. "Cleaned a lot of plates" is about oral sex. A woman's labial lips when together look like a stack of plates so 'licking the plates clean' lets us know this hooker has branched out with her new found freedom and good life and is now doing women as well. "Big Wheel" is her John and his rhythmic humping is how the Wheel keeps on turning. So now we see clearly how "Proud Mary" is indeed her pussy which she is quite proud of and it's "burning" from so much sex. "Rolling" has long been slang for sexual intercourse. B. At the end she is trying to recruit more girls without money to become hookers. They will not have to worry, plenty of people on the river will give them money for sex.
Hitching a ride on the river queen is interesting. Fit in with everything else here it just seems to be saying that her lot really improved when she set up shop as a whore on a river showboat instead of just drifting around as a street hooker. But there is a way this could have been kind of a dig, with wild foreshadowing. *C.
*A: It's not 'pane and you don't pump propane anyway. Kudos to osubuckeye420 for thinking this could have been about pumping iron but he didn't tie it all together.
*B: Think "roll in the hay" among other things.
*C: If you know this band you know several things are true. They were from San Francisco, but pretended they weren't from San Francisco. Among themselves they were about the bitchiest band ever. The songwriter's brother, and also a bandmate, died of AIDS. So .... was he trying to take a little jab at someone by saying he hooked up to a River Queen? I don't know if the writer took it up the a.., I don't know if the guys in the band did. In the 60s and 70s you couldn't have had a career if the public knew. But in a song about prostitution maybe he was working in a message to the underground that yeah, some of the band went both ways or maybe they were just pure gay.
Dammit. Hawaiijack, you've got to be right! That's so obvious. How the hell were all so stupid as to think it was about a riverboat!!
Dammit. Hawaiijack, you've got to be right! That's so obvious. How the hell were all so stupid as to think it was about a riverboat!!
ok, indulge me for a minute... Bit of a geek alert going your way.
ok, indulge me for a minute... Bit of a geek alert going your way.
Try this at home. For those of you who think with the left hand side of the brain (do a test online if you aren't sure - generally you are quite good at maths, taking words literally and being a bit of a bore, no offense intended) listen to this song and then do things associated with the right hand side of the mind (e.g. watch a film, a play or chat up a chick).
Try this at home. For those of you who think with the left hand side of the brain (do a test online if you aren't sure - generally you are quite good at maths, taking words literally and being a bit of a bore, no offense intended) listen to this song and then do things associated with the right hand side of the mind (e.g. watch a film, a play or chat up a chick).
The results are pretty amazing!!
The results are pretty amazing!!
Oh and the song is pretty good too! Took me ages to figure out what it was called, until a drunken karoake night somewhere in Toronto!!
Oh and the song is pretty good too! Took me ages to figure out what it was called, until a drunken karoake night somewhere in Toronto!!
It doesn't even sound like "pain", I only ever heard "tane" on the recording. Maybe you were listening to a really bad mp3?
It doesn't even sound like "pain", I only ever heard "tane" on the recording. Maybe you were listening to a really bad mp3?
You could I suppose interepret "tane" in your meaning as a slightly coloquialised version of "tang" or "poontang".
You could I suppose interepret "tane" in your meaning as a slightly coloquialised version of "tang" or "poontang".
It was a highly entertaining interpretation, thanks for the laughs, but sheesh!! It reminded me of "Don Juan D'Marco" with Johnny Depp where he's doing the psych test telling the shrink what he sees in those big ink smudges on flash cards.
It was a highly entertaining interpretation, thanks for the laughs, but sheesh!! It reminded me of "Don Juan D'Marco" with Johnny Depp where he's doing the psych test telling the shrink what he sees in those big ink smudges on flash cards.
I more or less agree with Jack from Hawaii. I thought it was about prostitution as well. With one correction.
I more or less agree with Jack from Hawaii. I thought it was about prostitution as well. With one correction.
I always thought the line Tina Turner sings is slang: "I pumped a lot of 'tang down in New Orleans" ...as in poontang. Does it take a woman to spell this out...? Oh well, Google it.
I always thought the line Tina Turner sings is slang: "I pumped a lot of 'tang down in New Orleans" ...as in poontang. Does it take a woman to spell this out...? Oh well, Google it.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack....http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack....http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack...Hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 if the link doesnt work google proud mary song wiki and its like the 2nd or 3rd link down the list.
@HawaiiJack WOW how did you come accross that meaning? I hope this link i provide will help clarify the true meaning for you Jack...Hope this helps lol. The song is about a slave woman and a riverboat. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=500 if the link doesnt work google proud mary song wiki and its like the 2nd or 3rd link down the list.
@HawaiiJack sorry Jack you might need to copy paste the link because clicking the link doesnt work got no idea why that happens?
@HawaiiJack sorry Jack you might need to copy paste the link because clicking the link doesnt work got no idea why that happens?
@HawaiiJack What BS "pane" is propane. If you worked for the propane company you "pumped a lot of pane"
@HawaiiJack What BS "pane" is propane. If you worked for the propane company you "pumped a lot of pane"