Cake: Short Skirt Long Jacket Meaning

Song Released: 2001

Short Skirt Long Jacket Lyrics

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond
I want a girl who knows what's best
I want a girl with shoes that cut
And eyes that burn like cigarettes

I want a girl with the right allocations
Who's fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She's...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   May 2nd 2009 !⃝

   Wow, you people are some kind of simple.
   
   In summary, the song is describing a man's vision of the perfect woman, someone with both a fun, sexy, and materialistic side and an intelligent, practical, and responsible side. The lines alternate between those two extremes.
   
   Examples:
   
   "I want a girl with a mind like a diamond/I want a girl who knows what's best" -- self-explanatory. He wants a head-strong responsible woman.
   
   "I want a girl with shoes that cut and eyes that burn like cigarettes" -- he wants this responsible girl to be fiercely sexy.
   
   "She's playing with her jewelry
   She's putting up her hair
   She's touring the facility
   And picking up slack"
   - Again, self-explanatory if you're not mentally handicapped.
   
   "She wants a car with a cupholder arm rest" - A healthy amount of materialism.
   "She wants a car that will get her there" - on a foundation of practicality.
   
   "I want a girl with a short skirt and long jacket" -- the title, the central theme. The short skirt is the fun-loving sex appeal, and the long jacket is the power and responsibility.
   
   If you wanted to take the interpretation even further, you can say John McCrea is pointing out that the ideal woman is unrealistic. This can be supported with the lyrics, "I want a girl who gets up early. I want a girl who stays up late." This indicates a lifestyle that can't be sustained for very long, and eventually a girl will fail to live up to what was desired.
   
   However, there seems to be slightly more emphasis on the serious/intelligent/practical side of a woman, which suggests he just wants a down-to-earth girl who can work hard and play hard.
2. anonymous

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   Jul 15th 2022 !⃝

   There are several levels to the song. One is basic, the singer is attracted to someone and he wants a practical relationship and sexual one. The other deeper meaning involves personifications of "America" - often depicted in art as "Columbia" - a NeoClassical woman of reserved beauty, sometimes a warrior, sometimes, a peace maker. In this angle to the song, we want opposites for our country, impossibilities, or contradictory things -- women that are sexy (short skirt) AND dignified (long jacket); "uninterrupted prosperity" (how?); touring facilities and taking up slack (efficient, but sexy -- good luck with that); justice that is flashy (shouldn't it be dignified and private?) etc etc etc. Lastly, kudos to CAKE for realizing the vibra-slap (rattlesnake-sounding thing) IS a TRUE musical instrument.
3. anonymous

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   Jun 29th 2022 !⃝

   A case jacket generally refers to a person's criminal file. A person with a long record is said to have a long or full jacket, meaning there is lots of stuff in the file.
4. anonymous

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   Jun 12th 2022 !⃝

   He hesitates when he says jacket. So I always took it like he almost wants to say long penis. Like the type of girl is non existent or rare, and would have to be a man. But he ends up saying jacket. Kinda like it's comically misleading. I dunno though
5. anonymous

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   Jan 21st 2022 !⃝

   She's playing with her jewelry, she putting up her hair.... she's touring the facilities and picking up slack." Just great line after line of respect (and desire) for a women who does it all. Realistic? Probably not, but what guy doesn't want this woman? I'm a woman and I wanna be her!
6. anonymous

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   Apr 11th 2021 !⃝

   This song is clearly about the 90s cartoon daria...even though web said it was about another 90s influencer agent Scully from the x-files
7. anonymous

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   Mar 3rd 2017 !⃝

   Someone told me this is referring to the VAG
8. anonymous

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   Jun 26th 2016 !⃝

   In Cali, a "jacket" is a person's arrest record in court proceedings.
   A long jacket is a lot of arrests.
9. anonymous

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   Jul 3rd 2014 !⃝

   It's about a female he couldn't get, put her on a pedestal, and wrote a song about her. Simple as that!
10. anonymous

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    May 31st 2014 !⃝

    Does anyone know who did the female version of this song by Cake, sung by a woman with part of the lyrics "i want a man with a long attention span"?
11. anonymous

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    Jun 4th 2013 !⃝

    He is talkin about having a strong sexy transvestite hooker to love
12. anonymous

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    Mar 10th 2013 !⃝

    She has a short skirt and a long jacket, she cuts through RED TAPE and she has fingernails that shine like JUSTICE. She is changing her name from Kitty to Karen. (Something more professional.) Uninterrupted Prosperity (A good paying job)Trading her car in for something more professional.
    She's touring the facility and picking up slack. She's trading her MG for a white Chrysler La Baron. (A luxury car) She fast thorough and sharp as a tack. This song is CLEARLY about a business woman. In my eyes she's a Lawyer judging from the subtle hints highlighted above, but that is up for interpretation. Anyone who thinks it's about a prostitute is clearly not familiar with the business world.
13. anonymous

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    Feb 25th 2013 !⃝

    This woman is NOT unattainable...just RARE....it does happen though...my bf sings this to me all the time....I'm no hooker, but I work hard and dress to kill when we go out...
14. anonymous

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    Aug 14th 2012 !⃝

    dudes... some guy sang this to me. im not realy sure want too make of it. maybe i thinks im a hooker cause thats wut it sounds like.....
15. anonymous

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    Jun 1st 2012 !⃝

    I always thought it was about the perfect woman being non existent or just unattainable, so he just ends up masterbaiting.
16. anonymous

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    Sep 9th 2011 !⃝

    boy: So basically, he wants to have his cake and eat it too
    girl: well, he IS the cake. So he has to find other cake to eat.

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