1
Saturday night I was downtown
Working for the FBI
Sitting in a nest of bad men
Whiskey bottles piling high
Bootlegging boozer on the west side
Full of people who are doing wrong
Just about to call up the D.A. man
When I heard this woman singing a song
A pair of forty fives made me open my eyes
My temperature started to rise
She was a long cool woman in a black dress
Just a 5'9" beautiful 'n' tall
Just one look I was a bad mess
'Cause that long cool woman had it all
I saw her heading to the table
Well, a tall walking big black cat
Charlie said, I hope that you're able, boy
'Cause I'm telling you she knows where it's at
Well, suddenly we hear the sirens
And everybody started to run
Jumping under doors and tables
Well, I heard somebody shooting a gun
Well, the D.A. was pumping my left hand
She was holding my right
Well, I told her, don't get scared
'Cause you're gonna be spared
I've gotta be forgiven if I wanna spend my living
With a long cool woman in a black dress
Just a 5'9" beautiful 'n' tall
Well with just one look I was a bad mess
'Cause that long cool woman had it all
Had it all, had it all, had it all
Had it all, had it all, had it all (she had it all)
Working for the FBI
Sitting in a nest of bad men
Whiskey bottles piling high
Bootlegging boozer on the west side
Full of people who are doing wrong
Just about to call up the D.A. man
When I heard this woman singing a song
A pair of forty fives made me open my eyes
My temperature started to rise
She was a long cool woman in a black dress
Just a 5'9" beautiful 'n' tall
Just one look I was a bad mess
'Cause that long cool woman had it all
I saw her heading to the table
Well, a tall walking big black cat
Charlie said, I hope that you're able, boy
'Cause I'm telling you she knows where it's at
Well, suddenly we hear the sirens
And everybody started to run
Jumping under doors and tables
Well, I heard somebody shooting a gun
Well, the D.A. was pumping my left hand
She was holding my right
Well, I told her, don't get scared
'Cause you're gonna be spared
I've gotta be forgiven if I wanna spend my living
With a long cool woman in a black dress
Just a 5'9" beautiful 'n' tall
Well with just one look I was a bad mess
'Cause that long cool woman had it all
Had it all, had it all, had it all
Had it all, had it all, had it all (she had it all)
Lyrics submitted by zulunet, edited by stressengineer
Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress) Lyrics as written by Roger Frederick Cook Alan Clarke
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song is NOT about a 20's speakeasy. It is about very specific bust that happened in NYC in the village at a mob owned club. They were trying to get a RICO bust. The "Long cool woman" was a transgendered black girl that at that time was referred to as a "drag queen". His line about "spend a living" meant his income (all of his paycheck) and the line "she had it all" referred to her very voluptuous breasts and a penis! Just a bit of weird history that comes from NYC! Scotty
@scottyboyd Uh, nope...not even close.
@scottyboyd Actually "YUPPERS!" cos I know exactly which bust it was about and who the drag queen with the "pair of 45's" was!<br /> Again as I said back then "drag queen' was a term for both transvestites (cross dressers) and transexuals. And a large part of transitioning back then was to use your body to earn the cash to pay for all the treatments and surgeries, so most FtM would get VERY large breast implants to be dancers to make the bucks!<br /> Scotty<br /> BTW, I am a retired federal investigator that covered the drug scene a great deal in those days!
@scottyboyd I've no reason to doubt your knowledge of the event you describe, not that I can confirm it either, but I don't see any evidence that it's related to this song.
@scottyboyd Wrong, here it is straight from one of the writers: tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/story-behind-the-song/2018/09/14/hollies-long-cool-woman-black-dress-story-behind-song/1258604002/
@scottyboyd .. Hollies saw plenty in the sixties. I always thought the 'had it all', was a reference to her as being the total package. No idea about her being transexual or not.