A question about "The lady is a tramp" by F. Sinatra
With reference to the song "The lady is a tramp" by Frank Sinatra:
She gets too hungry, for dinner at eight
She loves the theater, but doesn't come late
She'd never bother, with people she'd hate
That's why the lady is a tramp
Doesn't like crap games, with barons and earls
Won't go to Harlem, in ermine and pearls
Won't dish the dirt, with the rest of those girls
That's why the lady is a tramp
According to the definition from the M-W online dictionary (see: ), it seems to me that the basic meanings that I could select in this context are the following ones:
- #1 a vagrant
- #2 a foot traveler
- #3 a woman of loose morals
Even in this case, I wonder if the word could still be read some way in connection with #3 (say: "a woman who has sex often with many different partners").
If so, do you know if this purpose was planned or, say, it could be noticed just "by chance"?
Thank you very much for any help about the above!
Top answer
Hi, Interesting question. The song was originally performed as part of a show called 'Babes in Arms' in 1937, towards the end of the Great Depression when 'hobos' (ie 'tramps') were still prominent in popular culture. The introduction to the song makes it clear that the singer is a vagrant/tramp/hobo.
- Hi, Interesting question.
- The song was originally performed as part of a show called 'Babes in Arms' in 1937, towards the end of the Great Depression when 'hobos' (ie 'tramps') were still prominent in popular culture.
- The introduction to the song makes it clear that the singer is a vagrant/tramp/hobo.
- I've wined and dined on Mulligan stew And never wished for turkey As I hitched and hiked and grifted , too, From Maine to Albuquerque 'Mulligan stew' was basically a stew into which tramps put any kind of food they could get.
- Tramps were experts at travelling by hitching/hiking, and at extracting money from people by using their wits (grifting).
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Interesting question.
The song was originally performed as part of a show called 'Babes in Arms' in 1937, towards the end of the Great Depression when 'hobos' (ie 'tramps') were still prominent in popular culture.
The introduction to the song makes it clear that the singer is a vagrant/tramp/hobo.
I've wined and dined on Mulligan stew
And n
0Thank you very much for your detailed reply! Very useful and interesting indeed.
By the way, I have also found a "similar" meaning (at least it seems so to me) in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_and_the_Tramp
In this movie, Tramp is actually a dog that rescues Lady (a
00My preception of this song has always been that it was (in part) a compliment to the Tramp. It seems that the things that Sinatra lists as things she won't do are infact things that people of social standing outside of popularity would commit. It seems like shes purposfully doing these things rather than being
0I saw a film clip some years ago,and the lady definitely was a tramp,a hobo,who slept in a tent.
0Tramp in today's language would be ****/ has no class. A low class woman.
She doesn't do what society, especially upper class society is telling her to do, she is more down to earth. That's why she is a tramp. She doesn't follow procedure likes to be free and easy and doesn't care a wit about what they will say. That is the most insluting to society women. That you don't care what t
0Seems to me the song is not about the lady but about the people who judge the lady and their snotty attitude. That intonation is lost by certain singers but seems clear in the lyrics.
0
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