Nevertheless, "Mean" in the title means excellent11 and "job," a specimen.12 The lyrics vacillate between praise, even wonderment, and denigration—a woman is a "girlie," and the protagonist, "Telling pretty lies."
She's a Mean Job
Know a girlie
Vampy girlie
Knock-out
Just a bubble
Lots of trouble
Blowout
Although lazy
Sets 'em crazy
Helpless
There are reasons I'll confess
Indicative of another era and emphasizing how far women had to go to enjoy civilized treatment is the fourth line in the next verse which is thrown off as if the action described is ordinary.
1st Chorus
Folks turn 'round to stare at her, she's a mean job
Traffic halts while motors whirr, she's a mean job
With one look into her eyes
Men go home and beat their wives
She fools them
And cools them
Telling pretty lies
Never smokes but rolls her own, she's a mean job
And though I never heard that she was ill
Still Doctors send prescriptions
For ginger ale afflictions
She leads the mob 'cause she's a mean job
"Pip," the final word in the next verse, means "extraordinary person, sometimes used sarcastically." 13
Never worries
Never hurries
Spiteful
Disconcerting
Always flirting
Frightful
Voguey dresses
Lots of guesses
Gossip
But the boys say she's a pip
I've labeled the choruses as they appear in the sheet music. Each shares lines one and two but are different after that.
2nd Chorus
Folks turn 'round to stare at her, she's a mean job
Traffic halts while motors whirr, she's a mean job
When she trips her dainty feet
Men fall prostrate on the street
She fools them
And cools them
Practicing deceit
Never smokes but rolls her own, she's a mean job
And though I never heard that she would bet
Yet once she stopped the races
The horses hid their faces
She leads the mob 'cause she's a mean job
3rd Chorus
Folks turn 'round to stare at her, she's a mean job
Traffic halts while motors whirr, she's a mean job
Though she wasn't country-born
She's a darn good judge of corn
She fools them and cools them
Early night till morn
Never smokes but rolls her own, she's a mean job
And though far better dancers I have met
Yet to watch her dance and quiver
Why strong men shake and shiver
She makes them sob 'cause she's a mean job
4th Chorus
Folks turn 'round to stare at her, she's a mean job
Traffic halts while motors whirr, she's a mean job
Though she lives out in a flat
She's makes good Home Brew at that
It fools them and cools them
Tall or short and fat
Never smokes but rolls her own, she's a mean job
Though President Harding never heard her name—fame
Congress may get frisky
She'll make 'em vote for whiskey
She'll make 'em sob 'cause she's a mean job
Rolled-down stockings were part of the flapper look
and are evident in the images above and below.
Click for larger image and blow-ups.