Written by T. Rex lead singer Marc Bolan, this song is all about sex, but with imagery so comically vague it would be hard for even the most prudish listeners to take offense. Bolan's delivery is feral, and he does keep calling the girl "dirty and sweet," but you really have to stretch to find sexual connotations in a "hubcap diamond star halo" or a "cloak full of eagles." The biggest suggestion is in the title.
This song was written and recorded when T. Rex was touring America in 1971. The group had made inroads in their native UK with their 1970 self-titled album, but were little-known in the US. Marc Bolan wanted to change that by coming up with something that would strike to the heart in America. According to T. Rex drummer Bill Legend, he and Bolan worked out the rhythm one day in Bolan's hotel room, and when the tour got to Los Angeles, the group reconvened with members of the team that worked on their first album: producer Tony Visconti and backup singers Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, who were members of The Turtles and recorded as Flo & Eddie. At Kaylan's home in Laurel Canyon, they spent all night working up the song, and the next day, they recorded it at Wally Heider Studios in LA. When they got to the studio, they had the chorus, the rhythm, and the "you're dirty and sweet" line, but Bolan had to come up with the other lyrics on the spot, indicating he wasn't thinking too hard about them. Everyone agrees that cocaine was involved throughout the process.
This is a great example of "glam rock," which was characterized by outrageous, often effeminate costumes, nonsensical lyrics, driving beats and very theatrical stage shows.
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