Slit Skirts Lyrics

Performed by Pete Townshend

I was just thirty-four years old and I was still wandering in a haze
I was wondering why everyone I met seemed like they were
Lost in a maze

I don't know why I thought I should have some kind of
Divine right to the blues
It's sympathy not tears people need when they're the
Front page sad news.

The incense burned away and the stench began to rise
And lovers now estranged avoided catching each others' eyes

And girls who lost their children cursed the men who fit the coil
And men not fit for marriage took their refuge in the oil
No one respects the flame quite like the fool who's badly burned
From all this you'd imagine that there must be something learned

Slit skirts, Jeanie never wears those slit skirts
I don't ever wear no ripped shirts
Can't pretend that growing older never hurts.

Knee pants, Jeanie never wears no knee pants
Have to be so drunk to try a new dance
So afraid of every new romance

Slit skirts, slit skirt
Jeanie isn't wearing those slit skirts, slit skirt
She wouldn't dare in those slit skirts, slit skirt
Wouldn't be seen dead in no slit skirt

Slit skirts, slit skirt
Jeanie isn't wearing those slit skirts, slit skirt
She wouldn't dare in those slit skirts, slit skirt
Wouldn't be seen dead in no slit skirt

Romance, romance, why aren't we thinking up romance?
Why can't we drink it up true heart romance
Just need a brief new romance

Let me tell you some more about myself, you know I'm sitting at home just now.
The big events of the day are passed and the late TV shows have come around.
I'm number one in the home team, but I still feel unfulfilled.
A silent voice in her broken heart complaining that I'm unskilled.

And I know that when she thinks of me, she thinks of me as him,
But, unlike me, she don't work off her frustration in the gym.

Recriminations fester and the past can never change
A woman's expectations run from both ends of the range

Once she walked with untamed lovers' face between her legs
Now he's cooled and stifled and it's she who has to beg

Slit skirts, Jeanie never wears those slit skirts
And I don't ever wear no ripped shirts
Can't pretend that growing older never hurts

Knee pants, Jeanie never wears no knee pants
We have to be so drunk to try a new dance
So afraid of every new romance

Slit skirts, slit skirt
Jeanie isn't wearing those slit skirts, slit skirt
She wouldn't dare in those slit skirts, slit skirt
Wouldn't be seen dead in no slit skirt

Slit skirts, slit skirt
Jeanie isn't wearing those slit skirts, slit skirt
She wouldn't dare in those slit skirts, slit skirt
Wouldn't be seen dead in no slit skirt

Romance, romance, why aren't we thinking up romance?
Why can't we drink it up true heart romance
Just need a brief new romance


Please Click here to submit the Corrections of Slit Skirts Lyrics

Please Click Here to Print Slit Skirts Lyrics


my take on two lines | Reviewer: Scott Smith | 4/12/10

First of all, I loved this video when it came out. The bass player really rocked it. Second, when I hear the lines "And girls who lost their children cursed the men who fit the coil
And men not fit for marriage took their refuge in the oil," I think that the coil he's talking about is a birth control device -- the girls wish they had had children when they had the chance -- and the oil he's talking about is hash oil, really -- he's talking about men who never married and just sit at home getting high. Missed chances for both.

---

Question about Slit Skirts | Reviewer: Anonymous | 10/30/08

Love this song - but does anyone have thought on verse "And girls who lost their children cursed the men who fit the coil
And men not fit for marriage took their refuge in the oil"?

I'd love to know the meaning
Thx.

---

Classic | Reviewer: Anonymous | 1/24/08

If anyone has ever been through a breakup of a long relationship and the awkward period afterwards, you can relate to this song.

Some really visual references in the song. Running into your ex and avoiding "catching each other's eyes". Fearing relationships: "No one respects the flame quite like the fool who's badly burned". Growing old alone: "Can't pretend that growing older never hurts."

The song goes on to show the main character (Pete?) in a go-nowhere relationship with a woman who is constantly comparing him to her former lover... never as good... always disappointing: "A silent voice in her broken heart complaining that I'm unskilled."

I always liked this song but it took on a whole new meaning when I was in a similar position, maybe 7 years ago. Now it is one of my all-time favorite songs. It really captures the pain and fear from a time when we are most vulnerable.

---

The following area is only for review, if you want to submit the lyrics or the corrections of the lyrics, please click the link at the end of Slit Skirts Lyrics.

• Pete Townshend Biography
• Pete Townshend Albums
• Pete Townshend Lyrics