This 1971 one-hit-wonder is notable for several reasons:
1. It marks the birth of Glam Rock.
Chelita Secunda, the wife of Marc Bolan's manager, impulsively put the glitter on Marc's cheek one night. Yes, whole movements are often born in casual, nondescript moments.
2. The song is an excellent example
of how a complex rhythm is able to make us accept even the stupidest of words.
“Anything too stupid to be spoken, is sung.” – Voltaire
You remember last week's Monday Morning Memo, right?
3. Marc Bolan often referred to cars in his lyrics,
though he never learned to drive one. He was killed while riding as a passenger in a car on September 16, 1977. His funeral was attended by Rod Stewart, Elton John and David Bowie.
4. In the first stanza we're introduced to “the teeth of the hydra.”
In mythology, the Hydra of Lerna was a nine-headed serpent killed by Hercules as one of his Twelve Labors. But Marc Bolan was most likely referring to a 1963 movie, Jason and the Argonauts, in which the teeth of the hydra are scattered on the ground by Aeëtes, Jason's enemy. The hydra's teeth sprout into armed skeletons who pursue and battle Jason in a famous four minute, stop-motion sequence that took Columbia pictures four and a half months to produce.
THESE ARE THE LYRICS:
Well, you're dirty and sweet
Clad in black, don't look back, and I love you
You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah
Well, you're slim and you're weak
You got the teeth of the hydra upon you
You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Well, you're built like a car
You got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're built like a car, oh yeah
Well, you're an untamed youth
That's the truth, with your cloak full of eagles
You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl
Refrain
Well, you're windy and wild
You got the blues in your shoes and your stockings
You're windy and wild, oh yeah
Well, you're built like a car
You got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl
Refrain
Well, you're dirty and sweet
Clad in black, don't look back, and I love you
You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah
Well you dance when you walk
So let's dance, take a chance, understand me
You're dirty, sweet and you're my girl
Refrain
Damn those hydra teeth!