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"Government Hooker"
Song

"Government Hooker" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her second studio album Born This Way (2011). It was composed and produced by Gaga in collaboration with Fernando Garibay and DJ Shadow. The melody of "Government Hooker" was previously an unused track that Shadow and DJ Snake created, and was revealed as he was introducing tracks to Vince Herbert for future endeavors with Gaga. Recording sessions for the song took place at the Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Musically, "Government Hooker" is a dance-pop song that seeks influence from electronic subgenres such as trance, post-disco, industrial, and techno. The lyrical content of the song contains themes of feminism and sexual dominance, and serves as a metaphor to the supposed relationship between actress Marilyn Monroe and former United States president John F. Kennedy. Upon the release of Born This Way, critics appreciated the suggestive and dark nature of the song, as well as its musical composition. Despite not being released as a single, "Government Hooker" experienced commercial success in South Korea and the United States, where it peaked at number sixteen on the Hot Dance/Electronic Digital Songs. Gaga has performed the song at various live appearances including the Born This Way Ball.

Background

To me, that song is my favorite song, and it's just a beast. I don't even know how to explain it. [Born This Way] is not a pop album; it's a pop masterpiece of music. If there was no category of pop music, you wouldn't call it pop music.

DJ Shadow.[1]

Gaga collaborated with Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow in writing "Government Hooker", a similar endeavor she did with them in producing the song.[2] Recording sessions for the song took place at the Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1][2] The melody of "Government Hooker" was originally an old recording that DJ Shadow previously crafted with DJ Snake, which was revealed as Shadow met up with Vince Herbert, Gaga's label boss, to introduce hip-hop beats for prospects. "We were in this studio in Vegas," he remarked, "and I was playing some hip-hop stuff [for Gaga's label boss Vince Herbert], and I ran across this [old beat I had made], and we were talking about faster songs, so I sped it up and I played it for Vince."[1] Herbert named the particular tune as the most out of all of the tracks that Shadow played for him. "He was like, 'Whoa.' She walked in, and I played it for her and [producer] Fernando [Garibay]. She laid it out in two seconds. She sang over the melody and tuned it up and put the chorus in. She finished it super quick."[1]

Gaga constructed the lyrics of "Government Hooker" shortly after hearing the track for the first time.[1] While updating the tune, one of the singer's security guards was brought in to provide vocals for the song; this process was chosen in lieu of devising computerized vocals. "We were sitting there thinking how to make a computerized voice," reminisced DJ Shadow, "so we were like, 'Let's get Pete in here.' He's got a super-thick Dutch accent, and he's trying to read off paper. It was insane, and he just talks like that."[1] Alongside with "Scheiße" and a remix of "Born This Way", "Government Hooker" was previewed at a Thierry Mugler fashion show in Paris, France on March 2, 2011, an event that featured Gaga making her runway debut.[1]

Composition

"Government Hooker" is a dance-pop song that is imbued with elements of trance,[3] techno,[4] post-disco,[5] and industrial music.[6] Los Angeles Times columnist Randall Roberts felt that "Government Hooker" was a homage to the German electronic group Kraftwerk, and featured references to "weird Casio-tone circuit-bending".[5] To Evan Sawdey of PopMatters, the song contained "deliciously" amalgamated elements of Britney Spears' "Gimme More" (2007) and the New Order song "Blue Monday" (1983).[7] According to music sheet published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing on Musicnotes.com, "Government Hooker" is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate dance beat of 120 beats per minute.[8] It is composed in the key of F# minor as Gaga's voice span the tonal nodes of F♯3 to C♯5.[8]

Lyrically, the song fuses political themes with ideas of feminism and sexual dominance.[7][3] "Government Hooker" begins as Gaga sings in a melodramatic, operatic fashion.[9][10] Amy Scarietto of PopCrush proclaimed that the particular segment was akin to Gwen Stefani incorporating the yodeling of The Sound of Music's "The Lonely Goatherd" (1959) into "Wind It Up" from her 2006 album The Sweet Escape.[9] The song then catapults into the bridge, which consist of the lyrics, "I can be good / I can be sex / I can be anything / I can be everything / I can be mom."[7] A call and response ensues concurrently as a male vocalist accompanies Gaga's lyrics, "Unless you want to be man / Unless you want to hold hands / Unless you want to be dad".[7] After Gaga repetitiously belts the hook—"hooookaaaaaah"[9]—the techno-inspired chorus follows: "I'm gonna drink my tears and cry / 'cos I know you love me baby".[7] As the breakdown commences, the lyrics give ode to Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy, whom were rumored to be in an affair with each other.[11]

Reception

Commentators have generally applauded "Government Hooker". Roberts asserted that the song was a "funky" exception to the "obnoxious" nature of Born This Way.[5] Caryn Ganz of Spin professed that Lady Gaga's eccentric and outlandish persona—the so-called "nutty come-ons"—were apparent in the "grimy doom disco" of "Government Hooker".[12] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described it as "filthy-fabulous",[13] while Jocelyn Vena of MTV called the song a "massive club track".[3] Rolling Stone declared "Government Hooker" as the twenty-eighth best song out of Gaga's discography.[14] A journalist for the aforementioned publication, Jody Rosen affirmed that the production of the "requisite kinky song" was captivating, asserting that it featured "a shape-shifting assemblage of buzzes, beeps and clattering beats".[4] Dan Martin of NME opined that "Government Hooker" was inimical to the campy nature of the album, and felt that as the track starts, Born This Way effectively transcends into "claustrophobic" techno beats. "This is freeform and industrial and quite mad", Martin noted.[6] Billboard writer Kerri Mason summed up the track as a song with "opera vocalizing, minimal techno bleeps, a JFK reference, and conflicting definitions of self as seductive product".[15] To Ian Wade of BBC, the "spooky" operatic entrance of "Government Hooker" gives way to a "Casiotone throb".[16] Sawdey commended the sexual lyrics of the song, and insisted that the "gender-bending" chorus were the best since The Killers' "Somebody Told Me" (2004).[7] In her 3.5 out of 5 star review, Scarietto concluded: "The collision of Gaga’s warm and breathy vocals over the hardened, processed beats works, and this is one of the most techno songs she has ever released."[9]

Despite not being release as a single, "Government Hooker" entered the charts in two countries. In South Korea, the song debuted at number fourteen on the Gaon Chart,[17] while in the United States, "Government Hooker" debuted at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Digital Songs.[18]

Appearances and live performances

Gaga performed "Government Hooker" at the Clinton Foundation's Difference of Decadence celebration, an event that occurred at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.[19][20] The song was featured in a promo for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, which aired on August 18, 2011 coinciding with an episode of Jersey Shore;[21] the singer was a candidate for several awards, including a recognition for Best Female Video for her work in the music video of "Born This Way".[22] In creating the promo, Gaga wanted to give her fans an inside look of her daily life. "I really wanted it to be real, and I knew that MTV wanted it to be a true documentation of my life, and as someone that lives halfway between reality and fantasy, so do all my friends. So I felt [it would be] an injustice to not sort of honor them in this short film that we did."[23] "Government Hooker" was included on the setlist of the Born This Way Ball, Gaga's second headlining tour.[24]

Track listing

Digital download

  • "Government Hooker" – 4:14

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the Born This Way album liner notes.[2]

Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
South Korea (Gaon Chart)[17] 14
US Hot Dance/Electronic Digital Songs[18] 16

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Vena, Jocelyn (March 4, 2011). "Lady Gaga Producer Calls 'Government Hooker' A 'Beast'". MTV (Viacom). Retrieved June 19, 2012. Cite error: The named reference "gh" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Born This Way (Media notes). Interscope Records. 2011. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |artist= ignored (|others= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c Vena, Jocelyn (March 2, 2011). "Lady Gaga's 'Government Hooker' Makes Fashion-Show Debut". MTV (Viacom). Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Rosen, Jody (May 18, 2011). "Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way': A Track-by-Track Breakdown". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c Roberts, Randall (May 20, 2011). "Album review: Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way'". Los Angeles Times. Gannett Company. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Martin, Dan (May 18, 2011). "Lady Gaga, 'Born This Way' – Track-By-Track Album Review". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Sawdey, Evan (May 27, 2011). "Lady Gaga: Born This Way". PopMatters. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Germanotta, Stefani; Garibay, Fernando (2011). "Digital Sheet Music – Lady Gaga – Government Hooker". Musicnotes.com. Sony/ATV Music Publishing. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  9. ^ a b c d Scarietto, Amy (May 20, 2011). "LADY GAGA, 'GOVERNMENT HOOKER' – SONG REVIEW". PopCrush. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  10. ^ Kot, Greg (May 20, 2011). "Review – Born This Way". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Company. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  11. ^ Pham, Sherisse (March 2, 2011). "Government Hooker and the Politics of Lady Gaga". ABC. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  12. ^ Ganz, Caryn (May 23, 2011). "Lady Gaga, 'Born This Way'". Spin. Spin Media. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  13. ^ Cinquemani, Sal (May 21, 2011). "Lady Gaga: Born This Way | Music Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  14. ^ "The Ultimate Ranking of Lady Gaga Songs". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  15. ^ Mason, Kerri (May 23, 2011). "Lady Gaga 'Born This Way': Track-By-Track Review". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  16. ^ Wade, Ian (May 19, 2011). "Lady Gaga Born This Way Review". BBC. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  17. ^ a b "South Korea GAON International Chart" (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved June 20, 2012. To properly see the chart position, select 2011 and 2011.05.22~2011.05.28.
  18. ^ a b "Dance/Electronic Digital Songs: Week Ending June 11, 2011 (subscription required)[[Category:Pages containing links to subscription-only content]]". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. June 11, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2012. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  19. ^ Gunderson, Edna (October 17, 2011). "Bono, Gaga, Chesney perform in Bill Clinton's honor". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  20. ^ "Lady Gaga Is Bill Clinton's 'Government Hooker' At 'Decade Of Difference' Concert". Lava Lizard. October 16, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  21. ^ "Lady Gaga's MTV 'VMA' Promo to Air During 'Jersey Shore'". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. August 17, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  22. ^ James, Nicole (August 18, 2011). "2011 VMA First Look: Lady Gaga Gets Freaky In Her VMA Promo Video". MTV (Viacom). Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  23. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (August 18, 2011). "Lady Gaga's VMA Promo: Go Behind The Scenes!". MTV (Viacom). Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  24. ^ "Lady Gaga Debuts Born This Way Ball in South Korea". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. April 27, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
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