Jun 262012
I was listening to Spiritualized’s epic “Hey Jane” and the lyric where he references “Sweet Jane on the radio.” For whatever reason, “Jane” is the most rock and roll of all girls. She, in her many guises and personae is the quintessential muse. Who the hell is this Jane chick?
Let’s let ‘er rip with any song title or lyric with Jane in it!
Let’s get Starship’s “Jane” off the table.
“Me and Crazy Janey was makin’ love in the dirt … ”
Bruce: Spirit in the Night
Rock and Roll by the Velvet Underground
“Janey said when she was just 5 years old there was nothing happening at all”
Queen Jane Approximately by Bob Dylan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrdklsFpDW0
“Jane Says” by Jane’s Addiction. Does that count for double points?
Thanks a lot. I’ve been going through my stack of Jane songs and THIS is the one stuck in my head.
Lady Jane by The Stones!
Rick James – “Mary Jane.”
Perhaps Jane was not just a popular girls name but it was also a reference to weed?
“Janie Jones” – The Clash. Last Jane Standing!
I shouldn’t be playing my trump card this early but “Jane Seymour” from The Six Wives of King Henry VIII by Rick Wakeman.
Oh, there’s still plenty to go. I’ll throw in Hazy Jane I & II by Nick Drake
Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”, whose title does not match the word order of the actual lyric.
(re lmkr’s question — preeeettty sure this song has more than one thread of meaning. 🙂 There is a clear story about a girl (presumably Jane, but not named) but then you have lyrics like the chorus “Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain” …)
This song, “Reflections After Jane” is on The Clientele’s first album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RweztawAnls
Van Morrison (via W.B. Yeats), “Crazy Jane on God”
“Sweet Jane” by the Velvets…
Slade’s “Gudbye To Jane”
Jane – Ben Folds Five
Jane of the Waking Universe – Guided By Voices
“Rainy Jane” – Davy Jones
“What in the world ever happened to Sweet Jane?”
-Grateful Dead “Truckin’ “
I’ll be your Tarzan, you’ll be my Jane.
Apeman- Kinks
Janie’s Got a Gun – Aerosmith
When in doubt, go with the fab 4.
What’s the New Mary-Jane?
Jane S. Piddy by Rodriguez
Barenaked Ladies have a song called simply “Jane”. God, that’s 2 BNLs in a row, I’m feeling rather sick now.
Belle and Sebastian – Lazy Line Painter Jane
My favorite Humble Pie song, “Shaky Jane.’
“(Her Name Was) Jane” by The Pagans
Aww, man! I was holding out on that one! I love The Pagans! I was just thinking the other day that Boy Can I Dance Good is one of the greatest songs ever.
1-2-5 by The Haunted
“My name’s Mary Jane
And I live down the lane”
Yeah, they were great.
Not as cool as Mr. Munster’s entry….
“Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing” by MC Shan
I’m not sure who did it first but ‘Little Liza Jane” by Dr. John.
Plain Jane – Fabian or Bobby Rydell or someone like that
I’ve been sitting on “How Come You’re Such a Hit With The Boys, Jane?” by Dolly Mixture
Icicle Works “Understanding Jane”
Like that delectable interplay of positive and negative space, Coldcut’s (not so delectable) “Stop This Crazy Thing” never mentions Jane but implies her presence in both the use of the Tarzan yell and the Jetson’s line.
Thanks to Bobby Bittman for the reminder…
And Mr. Royale just recalled that there is the PJ Harvey tune “Me – Jane”
Replacements’ – Androgynous.
“here comes Jane, y’know she’s sporting a chain”
Brand New Friend by Lloyd Cole:
“Walkin’ in the pouring rain/Walkin’ with Jesus and Jane”
That’s Not My Name by The Ting Tings:
They call me girl, they call me Stacey, they call me her, they call me Jane.
I really need to find a classic rock health club.
I can stoop lower than any of you:
“The doctor gave him pills for pain
but Andy had some Mary-Jane.” – “Andy’s Nuts” by LD
Song I wrote for my buddy after his vasectomy
aloha
LD
“My Sister Jane” from Green’s White Soul/Bittersweet CD. Does Jeff Lescher’s Green ever get any love in the townhall? White Soul/Bittersweet (a CD combining an album with an EP) is one of my all time favorite CDs ever. So there.
Madness’ “Tarzan’s Nuts” starts out “Have you seen Jane…”
Hey markkay, Green was one of the ultimate underappreciated bands of their time. I used to correspond with that guy Jeff back in the ’80s, when people actually wrote letters on paper and sent them through the mail. Whatever happened to him and his music, do you know?
A rocktownhall research assignment! I don’t know what Lesher’s been up to, but I’m occassionally in contact with Mike Jarvis, who played guitar with one configuration of Green, so I’ll see if he knows anything that I can pass on. I saw Green once or twice when I lived in Milwaukee in the mid-nineties and they made the short road trip from Chicago to play to a crowd of maybe 10 people or so. “Underappreciated” hits the nail on the head!
Excellent, please do, and let me know if you’d like to do an interview or feature on the band. I can easily set you up with “Back Office Privileges.” Thanks!
“Ann Jane” by the Jayhawks.
Those names don’t go together well like Mary Jane or Liza Jane. That’s like a guy going by something akin to Tom-Bob.
“Strollin’ With Mary Jane”
Jump blues from Big Sandy and HIs Fly-Rite Boys
“The Wanderer” by Dion
Oh well, there’s Flo on my left and there’s Mary on my right
And Janie is the girl with that I’ll be with tonight
And when she asks me, which one I love the best?
I tear open my shirt I got Rosie on my chest
Great point.
“Guitarzan” by Ray Stevens:
“He’s got a girl named Jane with no last name
Kinda homely and plain but he loves her just the same
Cuz she kindles a flame and it drives him insane
When he hears her sing, she really does her thing
It’s her claim to fame, come on, sing one Jane”
You must get a very twee workout at your current facility…weight training to The Ting Tings and Aztec Camera.
Moon Mullican “Seven Nights to Rock”
Monday, I’m gonna rock with Jane
“Games Without Frontiers” by Peter Gabriel:
“Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane/
Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again”
Sly & the Family Stone, Jane Is A Groupee
“Daisy Jane” by (blech!) America
“Jane In the Jungle” by the 5,6,7,8’s
I loathe myself for bringing out this one, but it is a public service; Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp.
Someone threw in the Jayhawks, but I thought for sure the Golden Smog song “Jane” would go first…
“Jane… why don’t you give a damn…”
Here’s some (relatively) recent info on Jeff Lescher (not Lesher — sheesh, I got his name wrong in the above): http://blogs.suntimes.com/music/2010/10/not_easy_being_green_chicago_b.html The last CD I picked up was 2001’s Eau de Vie, but Green released The Planets in 2009, so I’ll have to look for that one. Thanks for the invite to write — if I get any new info, I’ll consider it. BTW Jarvis didn’t have a whole lot to add to the info in the linked article.
Very cool, thanks!
Can’t believe nobody’s thrown out “Jane” by Jefferson Starshit. Featuring the *second*-worst guitar solo in the history of rock and roll!
See #1
“Plain Jane” by Bobby Darin (1959)
Bruce Springsteen, Janey Don’t You Lose Heart
LMS!!
“Me and Jane” by Bingy Bunny
Last Rastaman Standing, Praise Jah!
Wrens, Jane Fakes a Hug (from Secaucus)
Confetti, “Whatever Became of Alice and Jane”, an obscure song wondering what happened to the members of the slightly less obscure Marine Girls members who weren’t Tracey Thorn, who, I just realized, might be completely obscure to many out here.
That song that goes “What a shame what happened to Jane” by LAGuns
Amel Addmore, Jane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V_RFuM5GYI
“Ida Jane” by Fats Domino
YO! Still alive.
J. Lescher
Thanks for finding us. I will be in touch!