Original in the streets/in the sheets shirt?

November 25, 2014 2:24 PM

So there are a bajillion shirts with variations of "X in the streets/Y in the sheets" where X and Y might rhyme and are related and it's funny. What was the original one? Where did this start?
posted by GuyZero to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (9 answers total)

"A lady in the streets but a freak in the sheets." I don't know where it comes from, but it's not particularly recent.
posted by hollyholly at 2:30 PM on November 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

I understand the original is, "lady in the street, a freak in the sheets".
posted by Thing at 2:30 PM on November 25, 2014

This was a line in Usher's 2004 hit single "Yeah!".
posted by sninctown at 3:02 PM on November 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's been around since at least the 80s, since I first heard it in Spain c. 1989 as "señora en la calle/puta en la cama." Maybe try a google books search and see what comes up? (I'm too lazy to do it myself.)
posted by pleasant_confusion at 5:26 PM on November 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I remember a variation on what Kanata said: "Butch in the streets, queen in the sheets." This would have been early 80's (perhaps late 70's) among queer folks in NYC.
posted by zorseshoes at 5:51 PM on November 25, 2014

I am gonna vote for butch on the streets, femme in the sheets too.
posted by Iteki at 11:30 AM on November 26, 2014

Here's a hit for something in Billboard magazine September 1980 re. butch/femme. I would have said much earlier though to be honest.
posted by Iteki at 11:37 AM on November 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Koko Taylor's standard repertoire included a song with the lyrics "I'm a lady in the streets [but/and] a freak in the sheets." My workplace filters are keeping me from finding the song this is in.

Can't say how old that song is, but I'd bet it predates Usher's conception.
posted by IAmBroom at 2:22 PM on November 26, 2014

Here's a hit for something in Billboard magazine September 1980 re. butch/femme.

It's 'Downtown' by Tom Waits.
posted by robself at 5:33 AM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]