Jet Boy, Jet Girl

"Jet Boy Jet Girl"
Single by Elton Motello
from the album Victim of Time
A-side "Pogo Pogo"
Released October 1977 (1977-10)
Format Vinyl record (7")
Genre Punk rock, pop punk
Label EMI-Bovema/NEGRAM, Lightnin, Vogue; Edge
Songwriter(s) Alan Ward
Producer(s) Alan Ward
Elton Motello singles chronology
"Jet Boy Jet Girl"
(1977)		 "I Am the Marshall"
(1979)

"Jet Boy, Jet Girl" is a song by Elton Motello about a 15-year-old boy's sexual relationship with an older man, who then rejects him for a girl.

Composition

"Jet Boy, Jet Girl" has the same backing track as Plastic Bertrand/Lou Deprijck's "Ça plane pour moi". A few months before the vocals for "Ça plane pour moi" were recorded, the record firm used the same backing track with the same musicians to release "Jet Boy, Jet Girl".[1] Alan Ward recorded his song in English.

Lyrics and controversy

Alan Ward, the singer behind Elton Motello, was circumspect about the lyrics. "We have all been ripped off at some point in our lives," he said in a magazine interview:

but judging by the emails I receive, my lyric has touched many more people and seems to ring a chord in many more hearts than the French one will ever do. That's why I wrote it. If I was meant to be rich it would have happened. But I am rich in the knowledge that my thoughts will never disappear.[2]

In 1989, the American Federal Communications Commission (FCC), acting on a complaint from activist Jack Thompson fined radio station WIOD $10,000 for allowing talk host Neil Rogers to play the song. Thompson considered the song obscene and the FCC agreed with him.[3]

Personnel

Elton Motello
  • Alan Ward/Alan Timms – vocals
  • Jet Staxx/Mike Butcher – guitar
  • John Valke – bass
  • Bob Dartch – drums

Cover versions

The song has been covered by numerous bands, including Captain Sensible & the Softies, The Damned, Chron Gen, the Bamboo Kids, the pUKEs, and Crocodiles. The New York City female punk rock band The Breaking Sounds covers the song as well the lyrics being sung in both Finnish and English. The original version received renewed attention when it was included on John Waters' 2007 compilation CD A Date with John Waters.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Interview: Alan Ward and Mike Butcher". Attacking the Beat. March 2, 2009.
  2. ↑ "PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "FCC Record, Volume 6, No. 13 Pages 3571 to 4108, June 17 - June 28, 1991". University of North Texas Digital Library. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
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