Jackson (song)
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| "Jackson" | |
|---|---|
| Song from the album The Essential Johnny Cash | |
| Released | c.1963 |
| Writer | Jerry Leiber (Gaby Rodgers) and Billy Edd Wheeler |
- This is about the Leiber/Wheeler song recorded by the Cashes and by others. For the Lucinda Williams song, see Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
"Jackson" is a song, written in 1963 by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler, about a married couple who find (according to the lyrics) that the "fire" has gone out of their relationship. The song relates the desire of both partners to travel to a city named "Jackson" where they each expect to be welcomed as someone far better suited to the city's lively night life than the other is. Although several towns named "Jackson" exist in the United States, the song is not about any specific one.
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[edit] Background
Actress Gaby Rodgers is cited as co-author[1] of "Jackson", because Jerry Leiber used his then-wife's name as a pseudonym in writing the song with Wheeler. First recorded in 1963 by co-author Billy Edd Wheeler, he explains the evolution of the song, and Lieber's contribution:
'Jackson' came to me when I read the script for Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (I was too broke to see the play on Broadway)...When I played it for Jerry [Leiber], he said 'Your first verses suck,' or words to that effect. 'Throw them away and start the song with your last verse, "We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout."' When I protested to Jerry that I couldn't start the song with the climax, he said, 'Oh, yes you can.' So I rewrote the song and thanks to Jerry's editing and help, it worked. I recorded the song on my first Kapp Records album, with Joan Sommer, an old friend from Berea, Kentucky, singing the woman's part. Johnny Cash learned the song from that album, A New Bag of Songs, produced by Jerry and Mike.[2]
[edit] Notable covers
The song appeared on The Kingston Trio album Sunny Side!, released in 1963. Since the dialogue in this version is between father and son, the lyrics differ slightly from later recorded versions.
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood released a version in July 1967,[3] reaching #14 on the US Charts that year. The song was featured in Nancy Sinatra's 1967 TV special: Movin' With Nancy.[4]
Johnny Cash and June Carter released a version in September 1967,[5] reaching #2 on the US Country charts and winning a Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Country & Western Performance Duet, Trio or Group. This version was reprised by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, performing as Johnny Cash and June Carter, in the 2005 film Walk the Line and also appears on the soundtrack of 2011 film The Help.[6]
[edit] Additional covers
Jenny Morris and INXS also recorded a version in 1983.
The Pleasure Barons, a project featuring Mojo Nixon, Dave Alvin and Country Dick Montana, covered the song on the 1993 album, Live in Las Vegas.
The song was also covered by British band Brakes (as a duet with Liela Moss of The Duke Spirit) on their debut 2005 album, Give Blood.
Country music parodist Cledus T. Judd recorded a parody called "Jackson (Alan That Is)" on his 1996 album I Stoled This Record. The parody deals with a man who is frustrated over his wife's obsession with Alan Jackson; the parody also includes snippets from Alan's 1994 song "Chattahoochee".
The band Pansy Division also did a parody cover for their 1995 album Pile Up.
A Finnish version was recorded by Carola & Lasse - Mä lähden stadiin (1967).
A Swedish language version by Towa Carson and Mats Olsson uses the Swedish place Laxå (1967).
Warren Zevon sang this tune as as a duet with Jill Sobule on his Spring 2000 tour.
Yet another cover was released in 2002 by Hem on their EP, I'm Talking With My Mouth, and then on their 2004 album, Eveningland. This version of the song has a different mood entirely from the famous Johnny & June recording; instead of sassy and uncaring, this recording is slow, sad, and regretful.
Die Toten Hosen has covered the song.
Johnny Cash sang a duet with Miss Piggy when he appeared on The Muppet Show as part of a medley with "Orange Blossom Special" also being included.
R.E.M. recorded an abbreviated take of this song in a widely-bootlegged acoustic in-studio session, notable for Michael Stipe's mid-song exhortation: "Maybelle Carter, jump in there!" followed by Mike Mills' retort "Don't call ME Maybelle" followed by Stipe's "I'll call you Maybelle!"
[edit] Tributes
Pepper Sprout, a Midwestern gourmet restaurant in Dubuque, Iowa, was named after the lyrics in "Jackson."[7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.spectropop.com/BillyEddWheeler/full/full03.htm
- ^ http://www.spectropop.com/BillyEddWheeler/index.htm
- ^ http://retro-hits.com/1967.htm
- ^ Nancy Sinatra (2000). Movin' with Nancy (Song listing). Chatsworth, CA: Image Intertainment.
- ^ http://www.secondhandsongs.com/performance/35559
- ^ "The Help (Music From the Motion Picture)". Amazon.com. July 26, 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Help-Music-Motion-Picture/dp/B0055FDMRI. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ Pepper Sprout :: Midwest Cuisine :: Dubuque, Iowa Peppersprout.com. Retrieved on 4-04-10.
