In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Deborah was a Catholic girl
She held out till the bitter end
Carla was a different type
She's the one who put it in
Mary was a black girl
I was afraid of a girl like that
Suzen painted pictures
Sitting down like a Buddha sat
Reno was a nameless girl
A geographic memory
Cathy was a Jesus freak
She liked that kind of misery
Vicki had a special way
Of turning sex into a song
Kamala, who couldn't sing,
Kept the beat and kept it strong
Zilla was an archetype
The voodoo queen, the queen of wrath
Joan thought men were second best
To masturbating in a bath
Sherry was a feminist
She really had that gift of gab
Kathleen's point of view was this
Take whatever you can grab
Seattle was another girl
Who left her mark upon the map
Karen liked to tie me up
And left me hanging by a strap
Jeannie had a nightclub walk
That made grown men feel underage
Mariella, who had a son
Said I must go, but finally stayed
Gloria, the last taboo
Was shattered by her tongue one night
Mimi brought the taboo back
And held it up before the light
Marilyn, who knew no shame
Was never ever satisfied
Julie came and went so fast
She didn't even say goodbye
Rhonda had a house in Venice
Lived on brown rice and cocaine
Patty had a house in Houston
Shot cough syrup in her veins
Linda thought her life was empty
Filled it up with alcohol
Katherine was much too pretty
She didn't do that shit at all
Uh-uh, not Kathrine
Pauline thought that love was simple
Turn it on and turn it off
Jean-marie was complicated
Like some French filmmaker's plot
Gina was the perfect lady
Always had her stockings straight
Jackie was a rich punk rocker
Silver spoon and a paper plate
Sarah was a modern dancer
Lean pristine transparency
Janet wrote bad poetry
In a crazy kind of urgency
Tanya Turkish liked to fuck
While wearing leather biker boots
Brenda's strange obsession
Was for certain vegetables and fruit
Rowena was an artist's daughter
The deeper image shook her up
Dee Dee's mother left her father
Took his money and his truck
Debbie Rae had no such problems
Perfect Norman Rockwell home
Nina, 16, had a baby
Left her parents, lived alone
Bobbi joined a New Wave band
Changed her name to Bobbi Sox
Eloise, who played guitar
Sang songs about whales and cops
Terri didn't give a shit
Was just a nihilist
Ronnie was much more my style
Cause she wrote songs just like this
Jezebel went forty days
Drinking nothing but Perrier
Dinah drove her Chevrolet
Into the San Francisco Bay
Judy came from Ohio
She's a Scientologist
Amaranta, here's a kiss
I chose you to end this list
She held out till the bitter end
Carla was a different type
She's the one who put it in
Mary was a black girl
I was afraid of a girl like that
Suzen painted pictures
Sitting down like a Buddha sat
Reno was a nameless girl
A geographic memory
Cathy was a Jesus freak
She liked that kind of misery
Vicki had a special way
Of turning sex into a song
Kamala, who couldn't sing,
Kept the beat and kept it strong
Zilla was an archetype
The voodoo queen, the queen of wrath
Joan thought men were second best
To masturbating in a bath
Sherry was a feminist
She really had that gift of gab
Kathleen's point of view was this
Take whatever you can grab
Seattle was another girl
Who left her mark upon the map
Karen liked to tie me up
And left me hanging by a strap
Jeannie had a nightclub walk
That made grown men feel underage
Mariella, who had a son
Said I must go, but finally stayed
Gloria, the last taboo
Was shattered by her tongue one night
Mimi brought the taboo back
And held it up before the light
Marilyn, who knew no shame
Was never ever satisfied
Julie came and went so fast
She didn't even say goodbye
Rhonda had a house in Venice
Lived on brown rice and cocaine
Patty had a house in Houston
Shot cough syrup in her veins
Linda thought her life was empty
Filled it up with alcohol
Katherine was much too pretty
She didn't do that shit at all
Uh-uh, not Kathrine
Pauline thought that love was simple
Turn it on and turn it off
Jean-marie was complicated
Like some French filmmaker's plot
Gina was the perfect lady
Always had her stockings straight
Jackie was a rich punk rocker
Silver spoon and a paper plate
Sarah was a modern dancer
Lean pristine transparency
Janet wrote bad poetry
In a crazy kind of urgency
Tanya Turkish liked to fuck
While wearing leather biker boots
Brenda's strange obsession
Was for certain vegetables and fruit
Rowena was an artist's daughter
The deeper image shook her up
Dee Dee's mother left her father
Took his money and his truck
Debbie Rae had no such problems
Perfect Norman Rockwell home
Nina, 16, had a baby
Left her parents, lived alone
Bobbi joined a New Wave band
Changed her name to Bobbi Sox
Eloise, who played guitar
Sang songs about whales and cops
Terri didn't give a shit
Was just a nihilist
Ronnie was much more my style
Cause she wrote songs just like this
Jezebel went forty days
Drinking nothing but Perrier
Dinah drove her Chevrolet
Into the San Francisco Bay
Judy came from Ohio
She's a Scientologist
Amaranta, here's a kiss
I chose you to end this list
Lyrics submitted by ramthar, edited by MistahBungle
88 Lines About 44 Women Lyrics as written by Douglas Guthrie David Kaufman
Lyrics © CITYBEAT MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Lyric Corrections:
Reno was a NAMLESS girl, a geographic Memory
Zilla was an archetype, the voodoo queen, the queen of WRATH
Patty had a house in Houston, shot COUGH syrup in her veins.
Eloise who played guitar, she sang songs about whales and COCKS.
RONNIE was much more my style, she wrote songs just like this.
It's totally possible there are > 1 recordings with slight variations in lyrics.<br /> <br /> C'est tout.
<br />
@julyteen Yes, I didn’t think “nameless” could be correct when he actually SINGS her name, Reno, lol
@wildwill <br /> <br /> "NAMELESS" is correct. He doesn't know her name. Therefore, he refers to her by the GEOGRAPHICAL location (Reno) that he knows her from.
I've never known this song to be confused for a TMBG song, but as long as I've known it, it was The Nails. A great piece of work, really. I have the Nails' album (or, I did: It may have taken a long walk in a friends pocket), and I can say that this was their best piece on the album. I'm sure many of us can identify with a least a few of these women.
Which of these women do you wanna fuck?
Catherine, Vicky, Jackie, and Tonya all sound like my type.
I love this song, its so fun. It took me over five years till i finally found out who did it (by then it was only the 3rd time i'd heard it). I wonder if these are each girls who the band members fucked (hey, maybe even groupies-though not likely cuz this was on their debut album
Mary Ellen-milf
Julie came and went so fast, she didn't even say goodbye.
2 lines. Note the 'Comma'
It's just formatted wrong
Love this song, however, when i first downloaded (legally of course) it said it was by They Might Be Giants, oh well still a good song.
When I downloaded this song, it also came up with TMBG as the artist. :S
Good song though. He's described so many different personalities quite well. Most not even stereotyped. It's very fun.
"Mary was a black girl and I was afraid of a girl like that"
WTF?!!
@Adored_Pumpkinhead This line "black girl", is about a girl that is into "black magic" or "witch craft." Which would explain why he was "afraid of a girl like that."
@Adored_Pumpkinhead this song’s from the early 80s, a verybdifferent time, when, if you lived in the suburbs, and were white, there was a pretty good chance that the contact you’d have with people of other ethnicities was very fleeting and superficial. It’s possibly hard to understand now, but to a suburban white kid in the 80s, dating a black girl might have seemed exotic. <br /> <br /> Hope that helps.<br /> <br />
Good comments by all ... they had another decent song (a remake) called "Let it All Hang Out"....quality tune that ranks up there with the Butthole Surfers song "Pepper". Love all kinds of music (except classical), so this song is very good.
I just want to point out that the fourth name on this list is spelled incorrectly, or at least, I don't know of anyone named Susan who spells their name like that. The correct (and traditional) spelling is, in fact, SUSAN. Unless the band was referring to former model and businesswoman (not to mention flight attendant) Suzen Johnson. However, the scandal where she seduced ex-football player and commentator Frank Gifford would not happen until 1997, more than a decade after this song was released and made a hit.
In other words, this song also served as inspiration in my last completed (and yet to be published) novel, "The Wanderers," a dystopian work set in the Republic of Dallenlea, which consisted of all of Canada, the state of Alaska, and the lower 48 states of the USA. Inspired by line number 36, I created a group of young women called Ninas, who are assigned to have babies for couples where, for the most part, the man cannot conceive a child for his wife. Whenever couple wants to have a child, they are assigned a Wanderer (a small handful of men, population-wise, who still have healthy reproductive systems that can produce sperm following a nuclear disaster and refusal to heed instructions) to have a baby with. If the husband does not trust the Wanderer to be with his wife, he is assigned a Nina to have to baby for the couple; neither the Wanderer nor the Nina can claim the baby for themselves. In reference to the line itself, Ninas are not allowed to live with their parents and must live by themselves until they are married (arranged marriage at a selected age, as they are forbidden to form romantic relationships with and/or marry Wanderers.)
Alright, who are the Nails??... Is this some sort of synonym for They Might Be Giants, or did they cover the song, or what?.. This song is definately on the CD of they might be giants, Oh well.