Prostitutes, like taxis, closing-down bars, and garbage trucks, are the background setting for the events in the song, but there's no indication that the addressee is a prostitute (nor a taxi, etc.).
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.
@rikdad I think you nailed it. She's not a hooker, but to him she acted just like one by the way she stole his heart and treated him.
@rikdad I think you nailed it. She's not a hooker, but to him she acted just like one by the way she stole his heart and treated him.
A couple other notes:
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"
>
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,...
-- 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.
i>
His imagery finishes with a final, dual reflection on the situation: she's gone, and the music has ended ('there's nothing left')
i>
"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"
@rikdad nailed it. DS wrote elegant songs and I don’t think the lyrics are as straightforward as some people believe. I agree with interpretation that she’s not a hooker but to him she acted like one. She “tricked“ him again, and this last one was a good one (“ I don’t know how it happened - it was faster than the guy cut the flick“) I always interpreted that she left him for somebody whom she’ll probably end up doing the same to.
@rikdad nailed it. DS wrote elegant songs and I don’t think the lyrics are as straightforward as some people believe. I agree with interpretation that she’s not a hooker but to him she acted like one. She “tricked“ him again, and this last one was a good one (“ I don’t know how it happened - it was faster than the guy cut the flick“) I always interpreted that she left him for somebody whom she’ll probably end up doing the same to.
The night scene is chaotic but the city is beautiful and full of promise,...
The night scene is chaotic but the city is beautiful and full of promise, just not for the sad night people (“we’re standing outside of this wonderland looking so bereaved and so bereft”) At the end of the night they are all missing the fulfillment they went out to find. The singer is one of them. He ends as melancholic and unfulfilled as the rest of them.
Prostitutes, like taxis, closing-down bars, and garbage trucks, are the background setting for the events in the song, but there's no indication that the addressee is a prostitute (nor a taxi, etc.).
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.
@rikdad I think you nailed it. She's not a hooker, but to him she acted just like one by the way she stole his heart and treated him.
@rikdad I think you nailed it. She's not a hooker, but to him she acted just like one by the way she stole his heart and treated him.
A couple other notes:
A couple other notes:
>
"You played robbery with insolence And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane"
>
"You played robbery with insolence And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane"
-- He's sad / bemoaning this situation,...
-- 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
>
"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.
i>
His imagery finishes with a final, dual reflection on the situation: she's gone, and the music has ended ('there's nothing left')
i>
"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"
@rikdad nailed it. DS wrote elegant songs and I don’t think the lyrics are as straightforward as some people believe. I agree with interpretation that she’s not a hooker but to him she acted like one. She “tricked“ him again, and this last one was a good one (“ I don’t know how it happened - it was faster than the guy cut the flick“) I always interpreted that she left him for somebody whom she’ll probably end up doing the same to.
@rikdad nailed it. DS wrote elegant songs and I don’t think the lyrics are as straightforward as some people believe. I agree with interpretation that she’s not a hooker but to him she acted like one. She “tricked“ him again, and this last one was a good one (“ I don’t know how it happened - it was faster than the guy cut the flick“) I always interpreted that she left him for somebody whom she’ll probably end up doing the same to.
The night scene is chaotic but the city is beautiful and full of promise,...
The night scene is chaotic but the city is beautiful and full of promise, just not for the sad night people (“we’re standing outside of this wonderland looking so bereaved and so bereft”) At the end of the night they are all missing the fulfillment they went out to find. The singer is one of them. He ends as melancholic and unfulfilled as the rest of them.