The song playing on the radio as we ended our commute to work yesterday morning included the refrain, “Hey, pretty thing, let me light your candle, ’cause, momma, I’m sure hard to handle.”
Yet another pop song that refers to a woman as a thing. *sigh* Why’s he say “thing,” and not “woman?” Leaving aside the misogyny of calling women “things” for just a moment, wouldn’t it scan better if it was “woman?” The cadence of “hey, pretty woman” keeps on bopping along, but “Hey, pretty thing” comes to a screeching halt at the end. And, as a bonus, you wouldn’t be referring to a human being as a “thing.” Just saying.
“Let me light your candle” is a euphemism for sex I hadn’t heard before. The mental image is confusing. Wouldn’t he be the one with the candle? It would make more sense to me if he said, “Hey, pretty woman, won’t you light my candle?” It would still be crude and obvious, as pick-up lines go, but the image would be a lot less clunky.
Is he saying he’s “hard to handle” because he’s a bad boy, or because he’s got a boner? As a double entendre, it seems kind of obvious, now that I think about it. Maybe every double entendre that seemed clever was really kind of obvious.
This Is Drivel 