The phrase Big in Japan is not literal. It means that when you are different from the others - better looking - then you are popular: "Big in Japan"
The Zoo may well be the drug hangout referenced in another comment, but the song is not about two lovers trying to come off drugs. It's about a male prostitute who is very popular - and he's hanging out where his tricks usually pick him up.
"Pay!" Then I'll sleep by your side." He's a prostitute, he'll sleep with a man for money.
He knows what he does is not for love:
"I had no illusions
That I'd ever find a glimpse
Of summer's heatwaves in your eyes
You did what you did to me
Now it's history, I see "
The sex was "done" to him, he was not made love to. It was a trick.
The singer is not sure if he likes what he does, but it's his life.
Marion gold may have said it was about people coming off drugs in an interview in the 80's when it came out, but that is because the subject of male prostitution as a song topic would have been objectionable to most, so he put a spin on it to make it more palatable.
The phrase Big in Japan is not literal. It means that when you are different from the others - better looking - then you are popular: "Big in Japan"
The Zoo may well be the drug hangout referenced in another comment, but the song is not about two lovers trying to come off drugs. It's about a male prostitute who is very popular - and he's hanging out where his tricks usually pick him up.
"Pay!" Then I'll sleep by your side." He's a prostitute, he'll sleep with a man for money.
He knows what he does is not for love:
"I had no illusions That I'd ever find a glimpse Of summer's heatwaves in your eyes You did what you did to me Now it's history, I see "
The sex was "done" to him, he was not made love to. It was a trick.
The singer is not sure if he likes what he does, but it's his life.
Marion gold may have said it was about people coming off drugs in an interview in the 80's when it came out, but that is because the subject of male prostitution as a song topic would have been objectionable to most, so he put a spin on it to make it more palatable.