I feel compelled to share my thoughts on this song. Since hearing it when it first came out, I never had any trouble understanding its meaning. The song has two main influences. 1. The title obviously comes from the Broadway musical "Annie Get Your Gun," about the life of Annie Oakley who was a sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. The songs from the play were re-recorded by Doris Day in 1963. This album would have been in the band members parent’s record collections and they would have been thoroughly familiar with it as kids. 2. The album by heart "Dreamboat Annie" released in 1975, a few years before the release of the Squeeze song. The album cover was a photo of Ann and Nancy Wilson, which would have inspired any teenage boy to write a song. Which was Ann and which was Nancy? It didn't really matter. The Squeeze song is about a guitar playing Annie and her relationship with the singer.
The topic of the medical exam is unclear, it might be an unwanted pregnancy or a feared cancer diagnosis. In any case, the fear is over, she has a new outlook on life and starts by celebrating. “She whistles nonsense tunes,” like the songs from “Annie Get Your Gun.” “She's found a chord that she can strum,” - she learns to play guitar like Nancy Wilson from Heart. “ Her paints all over town,” comes from the expression “painting the town red,” which means drinking from bar to bar. “She's gone electric, that's unexpected,” again refers to Nancy Wilson. It was very unusual for a woman to play electric guitar at that time. “Don't pull that trigger. Don't shoot that singer,” refers to another song from the play, “You Can't Get a Man With a Gun.” The final verse starting “he's not into miracles,” is acceptance that a relationship with Nancy Wilson is not possible and this is all just a fantasy. “Pull the other one” means he feels if he can't have Nancy, he'll take Ann. But this is also fantasy.
I feel compelled to share my thoughts on this song. Since hearing it when it first came out, I never had any trouble understanding its meaning. The song has two main influences. 1. The title obviously comes from the Broadway musical "Annie Get Your Gun," about the life of Annie Oakley who was a sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. The songs from the play were re-recorded by Doris Day in 1963. This album would have been in the band members parent’s record collections and they would have been thoroughly familiar with it as kids. 2. The album by heart "Dreamboat Annie" released in 1975, a few years before the release of the Squeeze song. The album cover was a photo of Ann and Nancy Wilson, which would have inspired any teenage boy to write a song. Which was Ann and which was Nancy? It didn't really matter. The Squeeze song is about a guitar playing Annie and her relationship with the singer.
The topic of the medical exam is unclear, it might be an unwanted pregnancy or a feared cancer diagnosis. In any case, the fear is over, she has a new outlook on life and starts by celebrating. “She whistles nonsense tunes,” like the songs from “Annie Get Your Gun.” “She's found a chord that she can strum,” - she learns to play guitar like Nancy Wilson from Heart. “ Her paints all over town,” comes from the expression “painting the town red,” which means drinking from bar to bar. “She's gone electric, that's unexpected,” again refers to Nancy Wilson. It was very unusual for a woman to play electric guitar at that time. “Don't pull that trigger. Don't shoot that singer,” refers to another song from the play, “You Can't Get a Man With a Gun.” The final verse starting “he's not into miracles,” is acceptance that a relationship with Nancy Wilson is not possible and this is all just a fantasy. “Pull the other one” means he feels if he can't have Nancy, he'll take Ann. But this is also fantasy.
So that's my take on the song.