Single:
The Jean Genie entered the Australian singles chart* on 9 April 1973 and peaked at #42.
Album:
The song is on Aladdin Sane which entered the Australian albums chart* on 28 May 1973 and peaked at #7.
Songwriter:
David Bowie
Producers:
Ken Scott, David Bowie
Record label of Australian release:
RCA Victor
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Songfacts:
On the Live Santa Monica ’72 album, Bowie says that The Jean Genie is about a “New York lady and a guy who lives in New York and he’s called The Jean Genie” (referring to the rebellious French writer Jean Genet).
Bowie added in his 2005 book Moonage Daydream: “Starting out as a lightweight riff thing I had written one evening in NY for Cyrinda’s enjoyment (actress Cyrinda Foxe), I developed the lyric to the otherwise wordless pumper and it ultimately turned into a bit of a smorgasbord of imagined Americana… based on an Iggy Pop-type persona. The title, of course, was a clumsy pun upon Jean Genet.”
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/david-bowie/the-jean-genie
Lyrics:
A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city
Strung out on lasers and slash-back blazers
Ate all your razors while pulling the waiters
Talking ’bout Monroe and walking on Snow White
New York’s a go-go, and everything tastes right
Poor little Greenie, ooh-ooh
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlists Bang a Gong – the 70s and Bang a Gong – rockin’ the 60s & 70s
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