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Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who find the money when you pay the rent
Did you think that money was heaven sent
Friday night arrives without a suitcase
Sunday morning creeping like a nun
Monday's child has learned to tie his bootlegs
See how they run
Lady Madonna, baby at your breast
Wonders how you manage to feed the rest
Pa pa pa pa,
See how they run
Lady Madonna lying on the bed
Listen to the music playing in your head
Tuesday afternoon is never ending
Wednesday morning papers didn't come
Thursday night you stocking needed mending
See how they run
Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who find the money when you pay the rent
Did you think that money was heaven sent
Friday night arrives without a suitcase
Sunday morning creeping like a nun
Monday's child has learned to tie his bootlegs
See how they run
Lady Madonna, baby at your breast
Wonders how you manage to feed the rest
Pa pa pa pa,
See how they run
Lady Madonna lying on the bed
Listen to the music playing in your head
Tuesday afternoon is never ending
Wednesday morning papers didn't come
Thursday night you stocking needed mending
See how they run
Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
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Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who find the money when you pay the rent She has no idea the money comes from
Did you think that money was heaven sent the tax payers
Friday night arrives without a suitcase Another boy friend who is not going to stay
Sunday morning creeping like a nun Going to church on sundays for more hand-out
Monday's child has learned to tie his Her older children are getting street smart
bootlegs
See how they run they runing from the cops
Lady Madonna, baby at your breast
Wonders how you manage to feed the rest she has no idea who is going to take care of
Pa pa pa pa... her kids.
See how they run
Lady Madonna lying on the bed This is the saturday, she is partying with the new
Listen to the music playing in your head boy friend, lying in the bed, listening to the music,
while she is giving head
Tuesday afternoon is never ending She is out of money, waiting inpatiently for her
check
Wednesday morning papers didn't come The welfare check did not show up
Thursday night you stocking needed No money, she has to do with what she has.
mending
See how they run
Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
The "lying on the bed/Listen to the music playing in your head" line, I always pictured her with a migraine, just taking some time out to rest when the baby finally goes to sleep for a while.
And "Friday night arrives without a suitcase" - I always loved the personalisation of the days of the week which come fast and relentlessly with a new set of obligations. I don't really take that line literally - I think it just gives a sense of people expecting her to care for them and sort all their problems out, like a guest who turns up without any stuff.
The lyrics are so evocative, both abstract and sometimes specific (the stockings with a run... and no, having laddered stockings has nothing to do with prostitution and a lot to do with being poor and having to wear the same pair day in, day out). I think this song is a real work of art! And I love the jaunty tune.
I've heard my mom describe this song as "feministic". I'm not sure I agree but we both see the poor single mother, Lady Madonna, shining through. Call it blasphemous, but Notre Dame (Our Lady, Virgin Mary, what have you), reminds me of poor women taking care of a family.
I don't think the bridges have anything to do with prostitution. The lines in the bridges are all just references to the protagonist's feelings of frustration, fatigue, and abandonment. The papers don't come. The children are growing up and getting into trouble. A guest who arrives without a suitcase is one you have to provide everything for.
And yet she still manages to slog ahead.
The story was largely pieced together by fans from the lyrics of several Beatles songs. The most common narrative includes the following pieces of evidence: "He didn't notice that the lights had changed" ("A Day in the Life") because he was busy watching the pretty girl on the pavement (the eponymous meter maid of "Lovely Rita") after narrowly missing her dressed in blue (she's said to be the blur on the back of Abbey Road) jaywalking ("Blue Jay Way"). He then crashed into a lamp-post (a car crash sound is heard in "Revolution 9" and "A Day in the Life"). He was pronounced dead on a "Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins" ("She's Leaving Home"), and nobody found out this because the news was withheld: "Wednesday morning papers didn't come" ("Lady Madonna"). A funeral procession was held days later (as supposedly implied in the Abbey Road album cover). Adding fuel to the legend is the ending of "Strawberry Fields Forever." Some believed John said "I buried Paul" in a slow deep voice over the final refrain. He later refuted that, stating that he said "cranberry sauce."
According to believers, McCartney was replaced with the winner of a McCartney look-alike contest. The name of this look-alike has been recorded as William Shears Campbell, Billy Shears (the name of the fictitious leader of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), William Sheppard (based on the inspiration for the song "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"), or some combination of the names.
There is no evidence of any sort of car crash in which McCartney was involved, although during the first week of January 1967, McCartney's custom-made Mini Cooper was wrecked by a friend on the M1 Motorway outside London. McCartney was involved in a moped crash on December 26, 1965, which resulted in a chipped tooth and the scar on his lip that can be seen on promotional videos for the "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" single, made shortly after the crash, in May 1966. According to McCartney, his desire to hide the scar on his lip was the impetus to grow a moustache; at about the same time the other three Beatles grew moustaches as well—in time for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
so here is what i found on that hoax for the ppl that have lloked into this paul is dead thing so i hope u take the time to read this so u can relize THAT IT WAS A HOAX AND IT WAS A LONG TIME AGO...ty
and just catholicism in general "creeping like a nun"
nuns don't really creep.
i never considered prosititution. although that would make sense.
Foster kids would "arrive without a suitcase", and the families that support them tend to not have enough money to go around. Who pays the rent? Not always the 'mother'. Also, they often have their own kids they are raising. (thus the baby at her breast makes sense) Often these families rely on others to find rent money and such, and consider it 'heaven sent'. Maybe she runs an orphanage.
"Friday night arrives without a suitcase" - this could mean a child that arrived on friday (which wouldn't make sense for prostitution), or imply that there is no way out on Friday night.
"Lady Madonna lying on the bed, Listen to the music playing in your head." can also imply prostitution. However, it can also imply it's overwhelming to have to deal with so many kids. Sometimes single mothers or foster/orphanage owners have to get away - but they can't because they can't leave the kids alone. So they escape in their head... But just because she's lying in a bed, doesn't mean she's having sex.
But of course they are calling her "lady" madonna, which does imply prostitution.
Finally, one point no one seemed to notice....
They leave out Saturday.
"Friday night arrives without a suitcase
Sunday morning creeping like nun"
Now, why would she be creeping like a nun on Sunday morning?
Maybe she ran away Friday night (no suitcase for this short 'business trip'). Saturday is completely missed (though they did have a place to put it - "Lady Madonna lying on the bed, Listen to the music playing in your head.") And then Sunday morning she comes creeping back and good and nunlike. Maybe it is about a single mother prostitute.
The great thing about the beatles is that for a lot of their works, they implied and never told. Even in their interviews. They want to leave everything to interpretation. Let it be what you want it to be to you, let it mean something completely different to someone else. Not sure we'll ever know the true meaning to most of them. Ever hear Glass Onion?