Song Meaning: Dude (Looks Like A Lady) by Aerosmith

ARTIST: Aerosmith | ALBUM: Permanent Vacation | RELEASED: 1987

Aerosmith was down on their luck in the early 1980s. Joe Perry left the band over a dispute with lead singer Steven Tyler. There two were the main creative force behind much of Aerosmith's song writings. When they eventually got back together and released the band's eight studio album, Done with Mirrors, it was a mere shadow of what they were capable of doing in the 1970s.

The album was poorly done, in fact I personally think it was terrible; it didn't sound like the band that wrote "Back in the Saddle." It took the band two more years to find their old magic, as showcased in Permanent vacation (1987). Though this wasn't Aerosmith at their best, the album was a sign of their ascend to the top. The second single, "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)," shows a glimpse of old-school hard rock sound of Aerosmith.

Lyrical interpretation of "Dude" is what you think it's to be. Steven Tyler wrote the song based on his encounter with the glam metal band Mötley Crüe at a local bar, presumably following a live show by both bands. In the 1980s, it was commonplace for glam metal bandmates to look as good as sexy ladies, that is, they wore makeup and lipsticks before live shows. For the bands of this genre, self-image was just as important as the music itself.

“One time we saw some hookers but when we got closer we realized it was Motley Crue.”
-James Hetfield

So in "Dude (Looks Like A Lady) ," Aerosmith, being to the hard rock band they are, mocks Motley Crue, and supposedly other glam metal artists, for their self-indulgent view of hot looks.

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Lyrics: 
 
[Chorus:]
That, that dude looks like a lady
That, that dude looks like a lady
That, that dude looks like a lady
That, that dude looks like a lady

Cruise into a bar on hte shore
Her picture graced the grime on the door
She's a long lost love at first bite
Baby maybe you're wrong but you know it's all right
That's right

That, that
That, that

Backstage we're havin' the time
of our live until somebody say
Forgive me if I seem out of line
Then she whipped out her gun and tried to blow me away!

[Chorus]

Never judge a book by it's cover
or who you gonna love by your lover
Sayin' love put me wise to her love in disguise
She had the body of a Venus, Lord imagine my surprise.

[Chorus]

So baby let me follow you down (let me take a peek dear)
Baby let me follow you down (do me, do me, do me all night)
Baby let me follow you down (turn the other cheek dear)
Baby let me follow you down (do me, do me, do me, do me)

Oo, what a funky lady
Oo, she like it, like it, like it, like that.
Oo he was a lady!

[Chorus]
[Chorus]

Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady
Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady
Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady
Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady 

Lyrics from: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/aerosmith/dudelookslikealady.html