WCSX Classic Cuts : The Jean Genie
WCSX Classic Cuts David Bowie: “The Jean Genie” The Hook: The band knocked out the track in one take in Nashville. Album: Aladdin Sane Year: 1972 (as a single —…
SYDNEY – JANUARY 01: SINGER DAVID BOWIE PERFORMS DURING HIS GLASS SPIDER TOUR IN 1987, AT SYDNEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE. (Photo by Patrick Riviere/Getty Images).
Credit: Patrick Riviere / GettyimagesWCSX Classic Cuts
David Bowie: "The Jean Genie"
The Hook: The band knocked out the track in one take in Nashville.
Album: Aladdin Sane
Year: 1972 (as a single -- '73 on album)
Writer: David Bowie
Stats: Peaked at number-71 on the Billboard Hot 100, though it got to number-two in the U.K.
Background: Although the title is a pun on the name of the French writer Jean Genet, Bowie has said "The Jean Genie" was actually inspired by his friend Iggy Pop. Mick Ronson, the late guitarist of Bowie's Spiders from Mars, recalled in a 1980s interview that recording it was no big deal.
In a 1980s interview, the late David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson on recording “The Jean Genie.” OC:…was it. :17
“'Jean Genie' was like a one take. We cut that one in Nashville. We was on tour at the time. That's how come we ended up there. And we thought we'd go to the RCA Studios. That was just a one take song, y’know. It was just like the band just played it and we just got a rough idea of it and the tape rolled. And, pssht, that was it."
