Lady Gaga recorded ‘Beautiful, Dirty, Rich’ on her 2008 debut studio album The Fame, which contained electropop, synth-pop, and dance-pop songs that were mostly inspired by Gaga’s love of fame in general, and the theme deals with the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, visualized by her, with lyrics about love, sex, money, drugs, and sexual identity. Gaga embraced pop culture and she decided to invite everyone to the party with this album, so they could feel like they were part of this lifestyle and get a taste of what it feels like to be a famous celebrity. The Fame was nominated for six Grammy Awards and won Best Dance Recording for ‘Poker Face’. The album was nominated for Album of the Year, and it won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards. It went Diamond and sold around 16 million copies worldwide, and it won Best International Album and became the best-selling album in U.S. digital music history. Rolling Stone named The Fame as one of the “100 Greatest Debut Albums of All-Time”, and it is the 12th biggest album of all time on the Billboard 200.
American singer, songwriter, and actress Stefani Germanotta aka Lady Gaga was 22 when this album was released, and she wrote or co-wrote all the music for this album. Gaga said that ‘Beautiful, Dirty, Rich’ was her trying to figure things out, while she was doing a lot of drugs at the time, and this dance-pop party song sums up her time of self-discovery, when she was living in the Lower East Side of New York. Gaga thought that people should be able to self-proclaim their inner fame based on their personal style, and their opinions about art and the world, despite being conscious of it. She was friends with a lot of rich kids who would phone their parents asking for money and then buy drugs with this money. These beautiful, dirty rich friends that Gaga had would go out partying looking their most glamorous trying to have a good time with their parent’s money. These girls could pretend that they were rich, and everyone would believe it. Gaga said that she wanted people to take the ‘Bang-bang’ from this song (whatever that is and my best guess is instant success) and understand that no matter who they are, or where they come from, that they can feel beautiful and dirty rich.
When Gaga recorded this song, she was reluctant to add any dance-oriented beats to it, insisting on keeping it in its original rock version. However, music producer Rob Fusari, who co-wrote this song, convinced her that a drum machine would not hurt her integrity, telling her that Queen, who was one of Gaga’s musical inspirations, used it in their music. Fusari thought that her voice reminded him of the 1984 Queen song ‘Radio Ga Ga’, so he decided to give her the stage name “Lady Gaga”. Gaga was born in 1986 and she began performing as a teenager, singing at open mic nights and acting in school plays. Her bold fashion statements and eclectic songs made her into an icon, but her life story is about resilience and overcoming the odds. She learned to play the piano at the age of 4, and by the time she turned 11, she was already accepted to the Juilliard School, Manhattan but instead, her family made her attend a private Catholic school. Gaga worked as a stripper when she was a teenager and she says that she is sexually attracted to girls. While working in New York she began performing with Lady Starlight. Lady Gaga started working as a songwriter and she would write for other artists like The Pussycat Dolls, New Kids on the Block, Britney Spears, and more.
Beautiful, dirty, dirty, rich, rich, dirty, dirty
Beautiful, dirty, rich
Dirty, dirty, rich, dirty, dirty, rich, beautiful
Beautiful and dirty, dirty, rich, rich, dirty
We got a red light
Pornographic dance fight
Systematic, honey
But we got no money
Our hair is perfect
While were all getting shit wrecked
It’s automatic, honey
But we got no money
Daddy, I’m so sorry, I’m so s-s-sorry, yeah
We just like to party, like to p-p-party, yeah
Bang bang
We’re beautiful and dirty rich
(Dirty, dirty, rich, dirty, dirty, rich, beautiful)
Bang bang
We’re beautiful and dirty rich
(Beautiful and dirty, dirty, rich, rich, bang bang)
We live a cute life
Sound-fanatic
Pants tighter than plastic, honey
But we got no money
We do the dance right
We have got it made like
Ice cream topped with honey
But we got no money
Daddy, I’m so sorry, I’m so s-s-sorry, yeah
We just like to party, like to p-p-party, yeah
Bang bang
We’re beautiful and dirty rich
(Dirty, dirty, rich, dirty, dirty, rich, beautiful)
Bang bang
We’re beautiful and dirty rich
(Beautiful and dirty, dirty, rich, rich, bang bang)
A-bang bang bang, bang bang bang
Beautiful, dirty rich
A-bang bang bang, bang bang bang
Beautiful, dirty rich
Bang bang
We’re beautiful and dirty rich
(Dirty, dirty, rich, dirty, dirty, rich, beautiful)
Bang bang
We’re beautiful and dirty rich
(Beautiful and dirty, dirty, rich, rich, bang bang)
Bang bang
(Dirty, dirty, rich, dirty, dirty, rich, beautiful)
Bang bang
(Beautiful and dirty, dirty, rich, rich, bang bang)
Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme this week is Money, Gold, Silver, Rich suggested by Paula of Light Motifs II.