Sweet Painted Lady

Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
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  • I'm back on dry land once again
    Opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain
    We're all hunting honey with money to burn
    Just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned

    If the boys all behave themselves here
    Well, there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear
    You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight
    Oh, the prices I charge here will see you alright

    So, she lays down beside me again
    My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
    Many have used her and many still do
    There's a place in the world for a woman like you

    Oh, sweet painted lady
    Seems it's always been the same
    Getting paid for being laid
    Guess that's the name of the game

    Oh, sweet painted lady
    Seems it's always been the same
    Getting paid for being laid
    Guess that's the name of the game, oh

    Forget us we'll have gone very soon
    Just forget we ever slept in your rooms
    And we'll leave the smell of the sea in your beds
    Where love's just a job and nothing is said

    So she lays down beside me again
    My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
    Many have used her and many still do
    There's a place in the world for a woman like you

    Oh, sweet painted lady
    Seems it's always been the same
    Getting paid for being laid
    Guess that's the name of the game

    Oh, sweet painted lady
    Seems it's always been the same
    Getting paid for being laid
    Guess that's the name of the game, oh Writer/s: Bernie Taupin, Elton John
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

  • Hey Bulldog from UkA bit of Sexy Sadie melody near the end of this song?
  • Seventhmist from 7th HeavenThis came out around the same time as Looking Glass's "Brandy" and I always thought of it as the darker side of the same genre.
    Maybe the sailor Brandy loved found it easier to turn her down because he was sampling the fares of a sweet painted lady.
  • AnonymousI think it’s a beautifully worded song, maybe an ode to where someone has been. It’s melancholy in the sense of loneliness it tells.
  • Dan from UsaGreat song! Listening to it right now
  • Chezchez from New York, NyElton and Bernie, I'm listening to this song after many many years and i still get the same feeling as i did the very first time i heard it. The both of you are pure genius, i love you both now even more than i did in the early 70's. Bless you both! xoxoxoxoxo -chezchez, Bronx NY
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