She's So Modern

The lyrics portray a woman who seems fashionable, confident, and skilled at saying and wearing the “right” things. The repeated label “modern girl” sounds admiring, but the playful, exaggerated descriptions also make the admiration feel teasing. As the song moves from Suzie to Jean and Charlie, the portrait becomes a string of odd, provocative details rather than a straightforward celebration.

Several images suggest that this modernity is partly a performance. Suzie “flashes” like a jewel, implying that she attracts attention, while wanting “to be a photograph” suggests she wants to look striking or be admired as an image. Jean’s mustache drawn on the Mona Lisa turns a famous portrait into a joke, showing her irreverent sense of humor. The phrase “got the lowdown in her files” means she has information or inside knowledge, adding to the impression that she is savvy.

The lyrics leave it unclear whether the singer genuinely likes these women, mocks their poses, or does both at once. Calling someone “modern” sounds approving, yet the repeated phrase can feel like a label that reduces her to clothes, jokes, and attitude. The final references to veterans and troops are deliberately provocative and may be part of the song’s comic exaggeration; the lyrics do not explain exactly what the woman’s behavior means to those groups.