Lady Gaga’s “Government Hooker” Lyrics Meaning

The way Lady Gaga, who is recognized as the primary writer of the lyrics of “Government Hooker”, described its meaning is as it being inspired by her fascination with political mistresses. To note, political mistresses are women who have affairs with married politicians. 

More specifically, in the song, Gaga is interested in one of the most-famous of all as far as America is concerned, that being Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. Moreover, she seems to be curious as to what type of information these women gather sleeping with powerful men, as well as how such ladies have shaped public policy themselves.

But that explanation is a lot more complicated than the lyrics themselves. Indeed Gaga has also described this song as being “really filthy”. That may be a more ample description. And why? Because outside of titular term and a reference to “John F. Kennedy” (i.e. the President that Monroe dated, in the bridge), what the vocalist really comes off as is a prostitute in general.

In other words, she presents herself as a “hooker” who is willing to do anything the addressee, presumably a john, would want. In the refrain the vocalist herself comes off as being depressed, but her “tears” are mitigated by the belief that that addressee loves her. Or put differently, she’s in need of affection from her client, which is apparently, going back to the first explanation mentioned, how Gaga perceives political mistresses. 

But then as far as the bridge goes, it’s verified that they also engage in such endeavors very much in the name of generating income.

Takeaway

Important note: There’s yet another relatively-complex explanation from Gaga on record where the complacency of the hooker is actually supposed to be an allegory for how the government controls the masses. 

So conclusively, we can say the ideas behind this song are a whole lot deeper than the finished product. That would likely be in part because the vocalist wrote the lyrics on-the-fly. But also, whether as a social commentary or empowerment song or whatever other explanation Gaga has put forth, ultimately it’s obvious that she wanted to highlight the sleazy side of the sex trade more so than anything else.

Lady Gaga talks about “Government Hooker”

According to Gaga, she composed this song for nothing but “fun”. She defines the term “government hooker” as working girls that cater to politicians. In her eyes, this group of girls are the most accomplished of their kind.

While writing the song, Gaga said she thought about how powerful these government hookers are in the sense that they could affect politics and the decisions of these powerful politicians they sleep with.

In an interview, Gaga revealed that the song was inspired by none other than the iconic Marilyn Monroe.

Release of “Government Hooker”

This track is from “Born This Way”, which on 23 May 2011 was issued by Interscope Records as Lady Gaga’s second-studio album. 

“Government Hooker” was not released as a single. However, it still managed to appear on the South Korean International Singles chart. Furthermore, it popped up on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Digital Songs ranking stateside. In both instances, it made it onto the top 20 of the list.

Credits

Lady Gaga is credited with co-producing this track alongside DJ White Shadow. And both artists are acknowledged as co-writers of “Government Hooker” alongside the following:

• DJ Snake
• Fernando Garibay
• Clinton Sparks

Besides for Gaga, there are two other background vocalists on this track. The first is Brian Lee, who is another professional musician. The second is one Peter Van Der Veen, who is actually known for being a bodyguard of Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way”

“Born This Way”, which is Gaga’s 2nd studio album, is one of the most successful projects of her career. It shares the same name with the song, “Born This Way”.

The album was recorded in a number of recording studios scattered across Europe and the United States.

“Born This Way”, was produced by Gaga herself with support from a number of renowned record producers including:

• DJ White Shadow
• Jeppe Laursen
• Robert John “Mutt” Lange
• RedOne
• Fernando Garibay

With sales of over a million copies in its opening week alone, the album became the 17th album in history to sell over 1 million copies within its first week of release. Gaga became only the 5th female artist to sell 1 million copies within an opening week. By March of 2019 the album had sold over 2.4 million copies in the United States alone, further cementing its status as one of the most successful albums ever.

“Born This Way” ranked No.1 on almost every major chart around the world, including charts in the following locations:

• United States
• UK
• Portugal
• Japan
• New Zealand
• Italy
• Brazil
• Australia
• Canada
• Denmark
• France

The album has been certified 4x platinum by the RIAA in the US. By May of 2021, it had recorded sales of no less than 1 million copies in the UK alone.

Grammys

The album has earned several accolades including three nominations at the 54th edition of the Annual Grammy Awards in 2012. The nomination for “Album of the Year” was one that stood out. It was Gaga’s third consecutive nomination for that award. This made her the second artist to achieve such a feat after English sensation, The Beatles.

The album however lost the said award to Adele’s “21”. At the same event, “Born This Way” received nominations for the awards, “Best Pop Album” and “Best Pop Solo Performance” (courtesy the song, “You and I”). Again, Adele’s “21” stood in the way of “Born This Way” as it took home the former with the latter going to its 2nd single, “Someone Like You”. Singer Adel however, won the “Best Pop Solo Performance” award for the second consecutive time in 2013 with her single, “Set Fire to the Rain”, from the same album.

Controversy

The album sparked some controversy due to its stance on religion and sexuality. In Lebanon, it got banned for mocking the Christian religion. The ban was however temporary. “Born This Way” was met with similar criticism in Malaysia where several portions of the title track had to be edited before it could enjoy airplay.