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Jet Boy, Jet Girl

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"Jet Boy, Jet Girl"
Song
A-side"Pogo Pogo"

"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. With its chorus of "ooh ooh ooh ooh, he gives me head," it has been embraced as a gay punk anthem.[citation needed]

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 "Ca 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.[citation needed]

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.

[This quote needs a citation]

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.[citation needed]

Personnel

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

Covers

The song has been covered by numerous bands, including Sonic Youth, Captain Sensible & the Softies, the Damned, Chron Gen, the Bamboo Kids, and Crocodiles. The original version received renewed attention when it was included on John Waters's 2007 compilation CD A Date with John Waters.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Interview: Alan Ward and Mike Butcher". Attacking the Beat. March 2, 2009.