Yes folks, 25 years have passed since Craig David met a young lady in the subway on the way to see some friends, things escalated quickly and before 3 torrid nights between the sheets, they chilled on Sunday, but there are so many unanswered questions, buckle up tight, we’re going in!
In the opening verse of this timeless track, Craig David meets “a beautiful honey with a beautiful body” in the subway and quips that telling her the time will cost “her name, a six digit number, and a date with me tomorrow at nine”. The song never mentions an area code—leaving it to the listener’s imagination whether she’s local or maybe a visitor from a far flung land.
Craig’s setting—a subway at quarter past three—hints that he's left work, (maybe he was on an night shift at his local Morrison’s), so the assumption is that she’s a local commuter rather than a tourist. The urgency in her reply (“She couldn’t wait… ‘Love to rendezvous’”) suggests physical proximity and instant chemistry more than just a text-message romance, my mother told me to look out for ladies like her...
Did he ever get through to her to arrange a date or was it all in his head? Did he try for a few minutes to crack the missing area code? Did he just bin the idea and go for a drink, imagining the entire thing in his UK Garage addled mind?
Lyrically, Craig moves straight from that subway encounter to Tuesday’s date plan, implying he did indeed text or call her number and confirm the rendezvous.
The seamless timeline—Monday meet, Tuesday drink—suggests the entire week plays out in real time rather than mere fantasy. He fails to expand on WHERE they go for a drink, this is key if he wants his listeners to believe a word he says, I feel that more detail is needed here, was it the local Wetherspoons? Did he ply her with four shots of 'Apple Sourz' (available for £10 before 5pm Monday - Friday), where did they sit? were they harrassed by the local jakey to have a game of pool (winner stays on of course!)
From the song, we know how the week panned out;
Monday: Subway, tell the honey the time in exchange for her deets and the plan was set for Tuesday.
Tuesday: Bottle of Moët for two as their first drink, he's obviously pretty well off (working nights does carry a higher hourly rate) and I guess that a bottle of 'Blue Nun' doesn't have the same ring!
Wednesday: “We were making love” insinuates that the talking was taken to the bedroom for a bit of horizontal jogging.
Thursday–Saturday: More 'balling' takes place, we don't know where though....was it a sleazy hotel in Kings Cross, chargeable by the hour? an upmarket Hilton on the South Bank? again, details needed Craig.
Sunday: They “chilled” together, a gentle denouement after five days of sexual intensity. but HOW did they 'chill'?
Craig leaves this a little open-ended. We have imagined:
Browsing plants at a garden centre, maybe a scone and a cup of tea in the café afterwards?
A lazy stroll in the park watching young families playing together, wistfully thinking about starting their own family
Sunday brunch on a sunny terrace, with Baleiric beats in the background, clad in white linen, laughing at each other's silly jokes.
So, twenty-five years later, what has become of the “Cinnamon Queen”? Craig David has never identified the subway girl beyond the song, and she remains a lyrical muse rather than a real-world partner. In interviews he’s described himself as single, with a “heart wide open” but no confirmed long-term relationship born from that 2000 encounter.
Did she go on to become a successful entrepreneur, helping start ups across East London secure funding for their hair brained ideas or is she often seen, searching through bins outside the Bethnal Green ALDI, clad in tatty Balenciaga 'dupes', asking random strangers for small change in exchange for tricks behind the Salvation Army clothing bank in the car park? I feel that Craig needs to revisit the track and provide updates, I will add that the information was also not forthcoming in Craig’s official biography.
So. over to you Mr David to fill in the gaps....