Jeane

[SRA]

The most criminally under-rated song that Mozz/The Smiths ever did?

I think it's a delightful little song, musically and lyrically, there are some great bits.

"Jeane, the low life has lost its appeal"

"Jeane, im not sure what happiness means, but I look in your eyes and I know that it isnt there" is fanstastically emotive, one of my favourite Mozz lyrics.

And "But I dont believe in magic anymore, Jeane" towards the end is beautifully whistful, too.

For me the fact that The Smiths produced something of this quality and it didnt even make an album again illuminates what an incredible band they were and how truly talented Morrissey is.

For some reason when I hear this song I also think of Catcher in the Rye, almost certainly because I fell in love with the song around the time I read the book, and was probably listening to it as I read it on the bus or something.

Anyway what are peoples thoughts on this song? Was it a B-Side to This Charming Man?

 

[Life_Is_A_Pigsty]

I think it is indeed a very special song, even more so because it has never appeared on an album, in a similiar way a song like Well I Wonder is much the same as that was never performed live.

Of course it helps that they are both quite desperate, lyrical and sung like it was Morrisseys 'fierce last stand'

 

[Ringleader]

"This Charming Man" is of course one of the many phenomenal and well known songs the Smiths produced and is widely available as part of other released work. There are a very small number of songs produced by the Smiths that were only released as B-sides to vinyl 45s. Jeane is the best of these. Others include: "Work is a four letter word" and "I keep mine hidden". Most of the B-sides were picked up on Louder Than Bombs, but some - like Jeane - were overlooked.

 

[SRA]

No idea why Jeane was overlooked to be put on The Smiths, or at least Hatful. In my opinion Jeane is better than something like You've Got Everything Now or I Dont Owe You Anything, although I suppose those two are different songs and offer something a little different to the LP as a whole, even if they individually are not as good in my view (though both still cracking songs).

Mind you Wonderful Woman is a very good song too and was overlooked.

What can you do when you have a back catalogue as heaving with quality as they did! Astonishing.

 

[Bride of Chucky]

I love his voice on that track. So flat & northern. Beautiful.

 

[Hepziah]

I love this track...it's full of power and his voice is extraodinary. It's always on my MP3 playlist.

 

[Danny]

The lyrics are great. I don't think much of the tune though.

 

[sid james]

I think it's a delightful little song, musically and lyrically, there are some great bits.

Its - OK - but musically its very basic 3-chord strumming stuff, hardly Marr's greatest contribution to modern music. I like the rough early-Smiths 'live' sound, but I think ultimately it is what it is: a bloody great B-Side but probably not really strong enough to make it to an album track.

If there's an early B-Side from that period that was really crying out to be included on their debut album it's surely 'Accept Yourself', a vastly superior song to 'Jeanne' and most of the debut album itself.

 

[Worm]

I agree with everyone about "Jeane". I have a theory, which is totally unsubstantiated, that Morrissey intentionally left "Jeane" off of any compilations in order to create an Easter Egg, so to speak, for completists. The studio mix of "Jack The Ripper" is another, or "Oh Well I'll Never Learn". Easily found by anyone who wants to find them, but you have to make an effort...

I always loved Sandie Shaw's version, too, and for spiky revolutionary fervor it's hard to top Billy Bragg's take. Live, Marr added a funny note to the song when by stealing an old Beatles riff to use in the middle break-- I have no idea which Beatles song. It isn't on "Sgt. Pepper's", and beyond that I don't care to search.

Official lyrics have never been released for "Jeane", but I guess one of the actual lines in the song is "Cash on the nail/Is just a fairy tale/And I don't believe in the magic anymore, Jeane". Well, when I had only a poor bootleg to hang onto, I heard that line as "Love/Is just a fairy tale...", which I much prefer. Wish he'd sung that instead, but the song's great enough as it is.

 

[sid james]

Live, Marr added a funny note to the song when by stealing an old Beatles riff to use in the middle break-- I have no idea which Beatles song.

That'd be the riff from 'Day Tripper', a riff John Lennon half-inched and slightly altered from Roy Orbison's 'Pretty Woman', with Paul McCartney nicking it back a 3rd time for 'Paperback Writer'. That's one well-travelled riff.

 

[Server NTLI]

I agree with everyone about "Jeane". I have a theory, which is totally unsubstantiated, that Morrissey intentionally left "Jeane" off of any compilations in order to create an Easter Egg, so to speak, for completists. The studio mix of "Jack The Ripper" is another, or "Oh Well I'll Never Learn". Easily found by anyone who wants to find them, but you have to make an effort...

I always loved Sandie Shaw's version, too, and for spiky revolutionary fervor it's hard to top Billy Bragg's take. Live, Marr added a funny note to the song when by stealing an old Beatles riff to use in the middle break-- I have no idea which Beatles song. It isn't on "Sgt. Pepper's", and beyond that I don't care to search.

Official lyrics have never been released for "Jeane", but I guess one of the actual lines in the song is "Cash on the nail/Is just a fairy tale/And I don't believe in the magic anymore, Jeane". Well, when I had only a poor bootleg to hang onto, I heard that line as "Love/Is just a fairy tale...", which I much prefer. Wish he'd sung that instead, but the song's great enough as it is.

The live version of Jeane included a riff of the Beatles' "Day Tripper" during the instrumental bridge. They played it live on 17 June 1985 Beacon Theater, New York, and I think is available to download on this website.

 

[Aly Panic]

The lyrics are great. I don't think much of the tune though.

It is rough around the edges.

Why has Jeane always been an elusive song?
It's only CD release is on TCM 2cd reissue, the first CD I ever bought.
WEA should have put it on that Charles Hawtry Best Of.