Sweet Rhode Island Red

This song isn't about a wine or a breed of chicken, but a woman. Tina Turner plays the part of young lady with dangerous curves and big ambitions who rebels against her small-town life in Louisiana and moves to New Orleans, where she becomes a star. Why they call her Sweet Rhode Island Red isn't clear.

This was released as the follow-up up to "Nutbush City Limits," which like this track, was also written by Tina Turner. "Nutbush" though, is autobiographical, about Turner's upbringing in Nutbush, Tennessee. "Sweet Rhode Island Red" showed that she could write from the perspective of a character with refined storytelling. Despite her chops as a songwriter, when she went solo, she didn't write her own songs; her comeback album Private Dancer was written entirely by others, with the title track penned by Mark Knopfler.

Turner mentions Sweet Rhode Island Red's measurements a few times in this song: 34-22-38 (or as she phrases it, "34-38, 22 at the tummy"). These rather unrealistic proportions resemble a Barbie doll; the girl in The Commodores' "Brick House" was a little more plausible: 36-24-36.