Government Hooker

Background

"Government Hooker" is a collaborative effort between Gaga, Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow. Recording sessions took place in 2010 at the Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada. "Government Hooker" began as an old recording by DJ White Shadow and DJ Snake. Shadow increased the tempo of the beat after conversing with Vince Herbert "about faster songs". Herbert particularly enjoyed the prototype of "Government Hooker", more so than the other beats that he heard during the session. Gaga wrote the lyrics of "Government Hooker" shortly after first hearing the beat. During writing, security guard Peter van der Veen was recruited to sing in lieu of computerized vocals. Shadow noticed van der Veen's thick, distinctive Dutch accent while he was browsing through the lyrics. Alongside "Scheiße" and a remix of "Born This Way", "Government Hooker" was first publicly played at a Thierry Mugler fashion show in Paris, France on March 2, 2011, as Gaga made her runway debut.

Composition

"Government Hooker" is an uptempo synthpop song with elements of trance, techno, post-disco, and industrial. Los Angeles Times columnist Randall Roberts heard it as an homage to the German electronic group Kraftwerk, and noted "weird Casio-tone circuit-bending". To Evan Sawdey of PopMatters, the song contained amalgamated elements of Britney Spears' "Gimme More" (2007) and the New Order song "Blue Monday" (1983). According to the music sheet published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing on Musicnotes.com, "Government Hooker" is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of F♯ minor. Gaga's voice spans the tonal nodes of F♯₃ to C♯₅. The song has a basic sequence of D–F♯m–D–F♯m during the verses, B–D–A–E during the bridge and Bm–F♯m–Bm–F♯m during the chorus, as its chord progression. The song primarily explores themes of female sexual empowerment.

"Government Hooker" begins as Gaga sings in an operatic fashion—backed by industrial synthesizers—and transcends into an electro-pop Gregorian chant. The song then progresses into the chorus: "I can be good / I can be sex / I can be anything / I can be everything / I can be mom." A male vocalist accompanies the singer's lyrics, "Unless you want to be man / Unless you want to hold hands / Unless you want to be dad". After Gaga sings "I'm gonna drink my tears and cry / 'cos I know you love me baby" during the techno-inspired bridge, she alludes to the alleged affair between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy with the lyrics "Put your hands on me / John F. Kennedy / I'll make you squeal baby", singing in an impassive and monotonous manner.

Reception

"Government Hooker" garnered acclaim from music critics. Roberts asserted that the song's dynamic was a quirky exception to the contravening nature of Born This Way. Chris Richards of The Washington Post chose the song as a highlight on the album commenting that "'The Edge of Glory' makes a song like 'Government Hooker' seem much more daring than it actually is". Caryn Ganz of Spin said that Lady Gaga's eccentric and outlandish persona—the so-called "nutty come-ons"—were apparent in the "grimy doom disco" of "Government Hooker". Christian Blauvelt of Entertainment Weekly described the song's chorus as "an infectious raver with a killer hook [and it] is pretty irresistible."

Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described it as "filthy-fabulous", while Jocelyn Vena of MTV called the song a "massive club track". Rolling Stone journalist Jody Rosen felt that the production of the "requisite kinky song" was captivating, including its "shape-shifting assemblage of buzzes, beeps and clattering beats". Dan Martin of NME wrote that "Government Hooker" is inimical to the campy nature of the album, and felt that as the track starts, Born This Way effectively transcends into "claustrophobic" techno beats. "This is freeform and industrial and quite mad", Martin noted. Billboard writer Kerri Mason said that the track has "opera vocalizing, minimal techno bleeps, a JFK reference, and conflicting definitions of self as seductive product". To Ian Wade of BBC Music, the eerie operatic entrance of "Government Hooker" gives way to a "Casiotone throb". Sawdey commended the sexual lyrics of the song, and insisted that the "gender-bending" chorus was the best since The Killers' "Somebody Told Me".

Despite not being released as a single, "Government Hooker" entered the charts in two countries: In South Korea, the song debuted at number fifteen on the Gaon Digital Chart selling 13,976 copies, while in the United States, "Government Hooker" debuted at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Digital Songs.

Live performances

Gaga performed "Government Hooker" at the Clinton Foundation's Decade of Difference celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. The song was featured in a promotional video for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on August 18, 2011. "Government Hooker" was included on the setlist of the Born This Way Ball, Gaga's third headlining tour. The song was performed as the second song in the setlist, after "Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)" which opened the show. After a brief interlude Gaga appeared from one of the doors in the castle and walked down the castle steps. She preceded to take part in a sexual routine with one of her dancers. During the breakdown, Gaga pulled a gun out of a draw and shot the dancer and then sung the chorus one more time and telling the crowd, 'Welcome to the Born This Way Ball' and shot the castle gates open.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Born This Way.