The ‘taffeta booth’ is the giveaway. Taffeta was the clothing of prostitutes in England for centuries and is often used by Shakespeare with that implication. Take, for example, Falstaff's "fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta". Pushing the boat out a bit, Our Lady of Fatima is a Portuguese Catholic reference to the Virgin Mary. What we seem to have is a classic Madonna/Whore paradox - the sacred (God given powers) and the profane (a shop that sells flowers). For five dollars (money for sex) you think you have something beautiful (a holy flower). Just don’t ask what she’s thinking (your questions are hushed and few things revealed). It’s a shop. The flower wasn’t free.
@Seesaw67
I think you're reading way too much into this
The illustration included with this song in the original songbook pictured Fatima as a black, inner-city nun.
@Seesaw67
I think you're reading way too much into this
The illustration included with this song in the original songbook pictured Fatima as a black, inner-city nun.
The ‘taffeta booth’ is the giveaway. Taffeta was the clothing of prostitutes in England for centuries and is often used by Shakespeare with that implication. Take, for example, Falstaff's "fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta". Pushing the boat out a bit, Our Lady of Fatima is a Portuguese Catholic reference to the Virgin Mary. What we seem to have is a classic Madonna/Whore paradox - the sacred (God given powers) and the profane (a shop that sells flowers). For five dollars (money for sex) you think you have something beautiful (a holy flower). Just don’t ask what she’s thinking (your questions are hushed and few things revealed). It’s a shop. The flower wasn’t free.
@Seesaw67 I think you're reading way too much into this The illustration included with this song in the original songbook pictured Fatima as a black, inner-city nun.
@Seesaw67 I think you're reading way too much into this The illustration included with this song in the original songbook pictured Fatima as a black, inner-city nun.