The Squeeze Lyric That Portrayed a Housewife as a Mistreated Monarch

A male writing effectively about the female experience isn’t as common in pop music history as it should be. Some simply lack the skill to pull it off. Others aren’t able to make the necessary emotional connections.

The British band Squeeze cleared all those bars on their wondrous 1981 song “Woman’s World”. Lyricist Chris Difford uses the title as an ironic feint to tell a story about a housewife who wants more from her life than even her family realizes.

“World Building”

Squeeze hit an undeniable pinnacle on their 1981 album East Side Story. On their previous three albums, they’d already proven themselves as potent purveyors of fleet-footed pop songs with nimble lyrics and melodies to spare.

East Side Story found them expanding their horizons from a musical standpoint. The band incorporated country, soul, rockabilly, and even avant-garde music into the mix of songs on the record. No matter what they tried, they rose to the occasion on the LP.

In addition, Chris Difford’s lyrics, while still fast-talking and erudite, seemed to cut a little deeper this time around. “Woman’s World” epitomizes this change. While there are still plenty of cutting one-liners, what ultimately shines through is the compelling portrait he paints of the song’s heroine.

Meanwhile, Glenn Tilbrook, Difford’s songwriting partner, offers a typically twisty melody that plays up the more dramatic aspects of this character’s arc. His lead vocal also captures the urgency of the situation that too few people around her recognize. “Woman’s World” wasn’t chosen by the band as a single. But it nonetheless stands out as one of the finest examples of the pair’s unique songwriting alchemy.

A Deep Dive into the Lyrics of “Woman’s World”

“Woman’s World” begins by bestowing an honorific on the protagonist. “The crown of the kingdom is given to the woman,” Tilbrook sings. But we find out that it’s only the “kingdom of the kitchen,” and the rest of the household as well. By no means is it filled with pomp: “But the frowns/Eider downs/Tie her down.”

Even when she leans into her rule, she gets undercut. “Sees in a catalog a shiny new appliance,” Tilbrook explains. “Another role swallowed by the wonders of science.” “How the crown can stick like jam in her kingdom,” he sings, foreshadowing her eventual breakdown.

In the middle eight, we find out that her partner is too preoccupied to respond to her needs: “He’s been too busy and she’s been neglected/The problem is computed and always it’s rejected.” Only the unseen narrator notices her “spark.”

The final verse, spurred on by a clever key change, lays bare her frustration. “Fed up with the glory she abdicates her title/Sitting at a bar stool she gives her day’s recital/The family watch in horror as she staggers down the hallway.” “There’s no crown upon her head, there’s no kingdom” is the final snapshot we receive.

A bouncy refrain of all her daily duties, from making breakfast to making beds, then returns, although even that takes a rebellious turn: “Take your apron from your holster/It’s a woman’s world/Shoot the crown off of your head.” Hardly anyone in her life notices the profound frustration of the woman within the song. But Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook pay her proper tribute with their empathy and insight.

(Photo by Estate Of Keith Morris/Redferns/Getty Images)