I've listened to this song and I've noticed there's a second meaning besides the one everyone knows it for. Seeing as Bernie is a painter, this would actually make a lot of sense.
I always thought that Sweet Painted Lady could also be about a woman who an artist paints on to canvas and how she's sold to buyers at auction houses. How the artist sells away what he/she has created.
"Opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain
We're all hunting honey with money to burn
Just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned"
Opportunity awaits the artist as they sell the painting and the buyers are all vying for it ("with money to burn").
"If the boys all behave themselves here
Well there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear
You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight
Oh the prices I charge here will see you alright"
The "boys" could refer to the buyers at the auction house and their dodgy deals in the past. The pretty young ladies could be a metaphor for the paintings being sold. "You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight" as in the painting won't have to be stored away in a gutter and can be sold. And the prices could be just that-- the prices the buyers pay.
"So she lays down beside me again
My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
Many have used her and many still do
There's a place in the world for a woman like you"
"The one with no name" as in the painting doesn't have a name and the artist lays beside her as the painting is hung in his/her room. Many have used the canvas and many still continue to. And art is still around, so there's a place in the world for paintings.
"Oh sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid (to paper in art)
Guess that's the name of the game"
The way paintings have sold have always been the same, always been sold to people in auction places, etc... The artist gets paid for painting the lady to a canvas and the buyers then buy it and "that's the name of the game".
I've listened to this song and I've noticed there's a second meaning besides the one everyone knows it for. Seeing as Bernie is a painter, this would actually make a lot of sense.
I always thought that Sweet Painted Lady could also be about a woman who an artist paints on to canvas and how she's sold to buyers at auction houses. How the artist sells away what he/she has created.
"Opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain We're all hunting honey with money to burn Just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned"
Opportunity awaits the artist as they sell the painting and the buyers are all vying for it ("with money to burn").
"If the boys all behave themselves here Well there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight Oh the prices I charge here will see you alright"
The "boys" could refer to the buyers at the auction house and their dodgy deals in the past. The pretty young ladies could be a metaphor for the paintings being sold. "You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight" as in the painting won't have to be stored away in a gutter and can be sold. And the prices could be just that-- the prices the buyers pay.
"So she lays down beside me again My sweet painted lady, the one with no name Many have used her and many still do There's a place in the world for a woman like you"
"The one with no name" as in the painting doesn't have a name and the artist lays beside her as the painting is hung in his/her room. Many have used the canvas and many still continue to. And art is still around, so there's a place in the world for paintings.
"Oh sweet painted lady Seems it's always been the same Getting paid for being laid (to paper in art) Guess that's the name of the game"
The way paintings have sold have always been the same, always been sold to people in auction places, etc... The artist gets paid for painting the lady to a canvas and the buyers then buy it and "that's the name of the game".
Anyways, my interpretation.
Now that's a stretch. Nice try. No hidden meaning here, which there seldom is with Bernie.
Now that's a stretch. Nice try. No hidden meaning here, which there seldom is with Bernie.