The song's lyrics are about a promiscuous woman, or perhaps three different women if each verse describes a different woman. Author Nigel Williamson describes the lyrics as "obscure and dreamlike, addressed to some idealized woman." Music critic Johnny Rogan describes the lyrics as "oblique", describing the woman as being both "idealistic" and "idealized" by the singer, referring particularly to the line "When so many love you, is it the same?" Author David Downing suggests that this line reflects ambiguity as to whether increased sexual freedom is a blessing or whether it is a curse. Downing, however, feels that the next line, "it's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game", was already outdated when the song was released in the late 1960s. At the time of the song's initial release, "Rolling Stone" described the lyrics as "quietly accusative". Young himself has claimed that "Cowgirl in the Sand" is about his impression of "beaches in Spain", despite the fact that when he wrote the song he had never been to Spain.