HSCN lyric - solved

[iaredatsun]

There is a vernacular in BDSM circles regarding wooden women.

I haven't heard of it in that specific context but I think 'woodenness' as a metaphor for sexual unresponsiveness extends beyond BDSM circles. If Reed borrowed it from that world's vernacular he may have also intended to play on the meaning.

I like the way that even though the song may have a deliberate sexual reading (and I always assumed that it did) that it can be read in another more innocent way ? an innocence that is also reflected in the sound of the song.

I'd love to hear what Reed has to say on it.

[bob338]

could it be another song about the Black Angel? i remember reading in one of these VU books that BADS was about a friend of the bands yacht...

bob

[Sheila Klein]

What can be both an it and a she and wooden? A boat.

Perhaps it was the same one as the "great big clipper ship" from "Heroin".

--Phil M.

[gibson343]

What can be both an it and a she and wooden? A boat.

Perhaps it was the same one as the "great big clipper ship" from "Heroin".

--Phil M.

Yes and the theme of the ship carries over to Heroine, on the Blue Mask,

"The heroine (Sylvia,at the time) stood up on the deck
The ship (Lou) was out of control"

Heroin made him feel like a man, captain of his own ship.
Now Sylvia is his new Heroine, taking over.

At any rate here she comes now,now she is better than wood, she is blood and skin now, now.

[Sheila Klein]

I wonder if the skipper's name was Ferryboat Bill.

[calaminehello]

I think it's about a sexually unresponsive woman. Hence "oh, if she ever comes now now...", and also being "made out of wood" - ie, rather stiff and static.

I always thought so too but the first line always nagged me:

Ohh, it looks so good...

What can be both an it and a she and wooden? A boat.

so it's settled.

HSCN is about a ferryboat skipper on heroin mistaking the clipper ship "black angel" for a woman, and having sex with the boat.



oh you glorious manhattan porthole!

[sm7609]

I think it's about a sexually unresponsive woman. Hence "oh, if she ever comes now now...", and also being "made out of wood" - ie, rather stiff and static.

Bingo!