What IS Captain Jack?
Claire Caterer
>In article <2kelus$n...@news.bu.edu>, Joel Press <mar...@bu.edu> wrote:
>>Well Barry, I have no special insights into BJ's tune, but as one
>>who frequents bars, I have often heard Jack Daniels referred to as
>>'Captain Jack', so my assumption is that it, in fact, is what BJ
>>refers to in his song. I would rule out heroin, just because that
>>would ruin my image of the man.
>In the album notes to "Songs in the Attic" BJ refers to (paraphrased) "so
>many friends in early graves."
>So, this makes me think of drug abuse (STOP! Don't say alcohol is a
>drug...i KNOW it is, but that's not how drug abuse is generally
>understood) and since this was the 70's, heroin seems like a logical choice...
>--
>|P.J. Geraghty, FF2/NR/MDEMT-P | Give the gift of life |
>|5020 Battery Lane | Be an organ donor! |
>|Bethesda, MD 20814-2699 (SnailMail) |Opinions expressed are not WRTC's|
>|(301) 629-3188 (Pager) | WRTC...The OPO for the DC area |
I always felt that Captain Jack wasn't any specific drug--for one thing, I
don't think BJ is that much of a literalist. I think it was just a reference
to the many drugs that can/do ruin people's lives, that kids caught in the
boredom of suburbia end up pursuing.
Claire
cat...@panix.com
Stan Friedman
I had always heard that it was heroin, but cannot cite a specific source.
Interesting though how things have changed: "They roll the sidewalks up at
night, this place goes underground. Thanks to the condo kings there's
cable now in zombie town."
--
Sta...@panix.com / Onion rings are a treat. /
I -Tennyson I
Captain Atom
>I've been a Billy Joel fanatic for years, and really love all of his
>pre-52nd
>Street material (not including the Hassles, which have only a few good
>tunes,
>and Atilla, which is pretty much unlistenable).
>
>But, one thing has always bugged me.
> hat is Captain Jack?
In a week long series of interviews that Billy Joel did for the Today show
around the time of An Innocent Man, he mentions that Captain Jack was the
name of a neighborhood dealer who could hook any junkie up with any fix that
they needed.
Hope this clears up the debate.
Cheers,
Chris
Valiant
>bar...@wilma.wharton.upenn.edu (B.J. Barry) writes:
>>What is Captain Jack?
>I've just read a dozen answers, most of them saying drugs or alcohol.
>I was actually really surprised to read that; I'd always thought that
>"Captain Jack" referred to masturbating (Jack as in "jack off").
>The answer just seems so obvious to me, that I almost think I must be
>missing something. Is there any reason nobody else has given this answer?
>Did Billy Joel himself deny it in a high profile press conference or
>something? ;-)
That's what I always thought it was, ever since my college roommate
pointed it out to me.
Evan Schlesinger
Bob Rusbasan <rrus...@nyx10.cs.du.edu> wrote:
>bar...@wilma.wharton.upenn.edu (B.J. Barry) writes:
>
>>What is Captain Jack?
>
>I've just read a dozen answers, most of them saying drugs or alcohol.
>I was actually really surprised to read that; I'd always thought that
>"Captain Jack" referred to masturbating (Jack as in "jack off"). The
>hand. One verse even explictly says that he stays home and masturbates.
>I even recall this song being on a list of "dirty" songs, which also said
>it was about masturbation (not that I'd take their word for it).
While the masturbatory references are there, Captain Jack is clearly Jack
Daniels. The chorus pretty much explains it all.
EVAN
No taglines necessary.
Joel Irby
>bar...@wilma.wharton.upenn.edu (B.J. Barry) writes:
>
>>What is Captain Jack?
>I've just read a dozen answers, most of them saying drugs or alcohol.
>I was actually really surprised to read that; I'd always thought that
>"Captain Jack" referred to masturbating (Jack as in "jack off"). The
>song sounds like it's about a weird, lonely guy whose best friend is his
>hand. One verse even explictly says that he stays home and masturbates.
>I even recall this song being on a list of "dirty" songs, which also said
>it was about masturbation (not that I'd take their word for it).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don't know, if that sexy Tipper Gore told me a song was about masturbation,
I'd probably believe her...
>The answer just seems so obvious to me, that I almost think I must be
>missing something. Is there any reason nobody else has given this answer?
It's stupid, that's why.
The song says, "Just a little push, and you'll be smilin'" Now, wouldn't BJ
have written "Just a little push and pull" or something like that, in re. shaking
hands with Mr. Happy? There's even a reference in the song to the big M,
and that's what the censors of yesteryear picked up on.
As someone posted recently, according to no lesser source than BJ himself,
Captain Jack was the name of the BJ's neighborhood's drug dealer. That
should settle it (for a while at least).
--Joel Irby
------------------------------------------------------
"Oh, I'll have no problem with that. I won a contest!" --George on "Seinfeld"
Trivia Q: How many BJ songs have been banned (somewhere, sometime)?
ste...@world.std.com
> >>What is Captain Jack?
>
> >I've just read a dozen answers, most of them saying drugs or alcohol.
> >I was actually really surprised to read that; I'd always thought that
> >"Captain Jack" referred to masturbating (Jack as in "jack off").
>
> >The answer just seems so obvious to me, that I almost think I must be
> >missing something. Is there any reason nobody else has given this answer?
> >Did Billy Joel himself deny it in a high profile press conference or
> >something? ;-)
>
> That's what I always thought it was, ever since my college roommate
> pointed it out to me.
Get with the class, folks. The song says "CJ can get you *high* tonight...
just a little *push* and you'll be flying". Do you really think he saw
the need to focus on the problems of some men jerking off too much enough
to write a song about it? The song is about people who's lives were so
empty that they go nowhere except off the deep end with drugs like
heroin and end up killing themselves. Billy had friends who did that.
Remember this song came out in the early 70s when drugs were supposed
to be cool. Tune in, turn on, tune out...or however Timothy put it.
If jerking off was the problem, then maybe Nancy Reagan really should
have said "Just don't touch it" instead of "Just say NO". And by the
way, I wasn't aware that you could die from masturbation (CJ can make
you die tonight).
--
...srf
---
Steven Feinstein
Voice Processing Corp.
Jamey Rosen
Just a note of interest: I have an "extended" bootleg version...the
longest singing of Captain Jack I've ever heard...from a radio staton gig
in 1974. He adds some lines to the chorus:
"Captain Jack can make you fly tonight",
"Captain Jack WILL make you die tonight"
Jamey
Greg Gershowitz
>>I've just read a dozen answers, most of them saying drugs or alcohol.
>>I was actually really surprised to read that; I'd always thought that
>>"Captain Jack" referred to masturbating (Jack as in "jack off"). The
>>song sounds like it's about a weird, lonely guy whose best friend is his
>>hand. One verse even explictly says that he stays home and masturbates.
>>I even recall this song being on a list of "dirty" songs, which also said
>>it was about masturbation (not that I'd take their word for it).
>While the masturbatory references are there, Captain Jack is clearly Jack
>Daniels. The chorus pretty much explains it all.
"Just a little push, and you'll be smiling." I shoot JD into my
viens all the time. Not.
-Greg G
--
"No matter who you are, no matter what you look like, deep down in
the gunny sack of your soul, in the top drawer, in the back, on the
bottom, we all have a pair of pants with a pocket full of kryptonite."
"When God belches, it sounds OK" - Spin Doctors, Jones Beach, 7/9/93
Neil Andrew Tigner
>vma...@xmission.com (Valiant) writes:
>>rrus...@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Bob Rusbasan) writes:
>>>bar...@wilma.wharton.upenn.edu (B.J. Barry) writes:
>>>>What is Captain Jack?
<<HILARIOUS MASTURBATION THEORY DELETED>>
>If that is the case then what does he mean at the very end (you have
>to really listen) he says, "Captain Jack can make you die tonight!"
>I don't think he's saying that masturbation can kill you. Captain
>Jack is heroin.
>Phil
YES YES YES YES YES YES....I am not alone, at least someone agrees with me!
-Neil
ar...@oregon.uoregon.edu
>While the masturbatory references are there, Captain Jack is clearly Jack
>Daniels. The chorus pretty much explains it all.
Hold on there a second..."Captain Jack will get you by tonight/Just a little
push, and you'll be smiling" takes on a whole new meaning in the context of
masturbation. Had me ROTFL for a while there, just thinking about it.
Of course, in the last refrain, BJ changes the line to say "Captain Jack
could make you die tonight." It's difficult to see how greasin' the monkey
could be fatal, given that BJ isn't one of those fundies out to tell you you'll
go blind and get hairy palms. Also, he probably wouldn't want his mother making
the bed the next day...
Nice creative effort, though. Maybe we could think of some other bizarre things
that Captain Jack *could* be.
Try reading "Pressure" as if the title referred to some sort of crack
derivative. Or "Vienna." Or even "Piano Man"...
Andrew Ross, being a wiseguy again...
Evan Schlesinger
Greg Gershowitz <gr...@outback.ny.tpc.com> wrote:
>esc...@merle.acns.nwu.edu (Evan Schlesinger) writes:
>
>>>I've just read a dozen answers, most of them saying drugs or alcohol.
>>>I was actually really surprised to read that; I'd always thought that
>>>"Captain Jack" referred to masturbating (Jack as in "jack off"). The
>>>song sounds like it's about a weird, lonely guy whose best friend is his
>>>hand. One verse even explictly says that he stays home and masturbates.
>>>I even recall this song being on a list of "dirty" songs, which also said
>>>it was about masturbation (not that I'd take their word for it).
>
>>While the masturbatory references are there, Captain Jack is clearly Jack
>>Daniels. The chorus pretty much explains it all.
>
> "Just a little push, and you'll be smiling." I shoot JD into my
>viens all the time. Not.
A swig from the bottle. A push.
yeesh.
EVAN
No taglines necessary.
Joel Irby
>>>While the masturbatory references are there, Captain Jack is clearly Jack
>>>Daniels. The chorus pretty much explains it all.
>>
>> "Just a little push, and you'll be smiling." I shoot JD into my
>>viens all the time. Not.
>
>A swig from the bottle. A push.
Hey, man, Captain Jack OBVIOUSLY refers to gambling. Just a little "push" to get
you to 21, get it? And if you're playing blackjack with a guy named Vito and you're
a little light on change, Captain Jack COULD make you die tonight... or sleep wiff
the widdle fishes.
(* SARCASM OFF *)
(sheesh! Somebody write to BJ and just ASK him, for chrissake!)
------------------------------------------------------
"Heroin!? We don't need no steenkin' heroin, maaaan!"
--- Cheech "Captain Jack" Marin
Jarrod M. Jenzano
Jack and makes a few comments prior. Something like: "I grew up in a
place called Long Island, and there's a lot of messed up people on Long
Island. You know who I'm talking about. They read Rolling Stone cover
to cover, and that's their whole life. I'm sure you know people like
this, and you'll see them in this song. Or maybe you'll see yourself.
This song is called Captain Jack."
That pretty much dispells the masturbation theory (a theory that I had
never heard before.) And since he's talking about that particular
younger, Rolling Stone generation ("...you play your albums and you
smoke your pot..." seems to specify a certain type of person - one who's
more into the drug scene than the alcohol scene), I doubt the song is
about Jack Daniels. I've always taken the song to be a reference to
herion (and srongly anti-herion at that.)
-Jarrod
ps, I believe the recording I'm referring to is the first time he played
the song in Philly, and that it was so well received (even though he had
to get permission to broadcast it) and replayed on the air so much
following the show, that that was when Captain Jack became a "tradition"
in Philadelphia.
Frank Cheeseman
Okay now 1) I'm convinced the sond refers to a drug dealer named CJ
2) I used to believe the song was about masturbation
3) I still think it makes sense (mostly) in that context,
so the suggestion by some that the song refers to the
big M, is I don't think, either "stupid" or "hilarious"
It's a SONG, we're allowed to take a bit of license in
how we interpret it!
4) Even the line "Captain Jack will make you die tonight"
makes sense in the masturbation context, given the
european tradition of calling sex/orgasm "little death"
Please don't laugh at me, they're just opinions...
-F/C
(A man who believes "Master of Puppets" CAN be interpreted
as an expression against political tyranny, and Herion too.)
ste...@world.std.com
> Okay now 1) I'm convinced the sond refers to a drug dealer named CJ
> 2) I used to believe the song was about masturbation
> 3) I still think it makes sense (mostly) in that context,
> so the suggestion by some that the song refers to the
> big M, is I don't think, either "stupid" or "hilarious"
> It's a SONG, we're allowed to take a bit of license in
> how we interpret it!
> 4) Even the line "Captain Jack will make you die tonight"
> makes sense in the masturbation context, given the
> european tradition of calling sex/orgasm "little death"
>
> Please don't laugh at me, they're just opinions...
> -F/C
You can interpret it anyway you want, but Billy Joel wrote this song
about the messed up lives of dope addicts. He wrote it in a time when
drug culture was at its height. It was the 60s, man. Everything was
assumed to be about drugs. you didn't spell it out. People just
sort of *knew* that "I get high with a little help from my friends" wasn't
about an astronaut. Songs were either about love, war or drugs. Nobody wrote
about masturbation. He would've gotten laughed out of the concert hall.
the reference to masturbation is just one little piece of the overall
description of this kid. his life is one big mistake...he's lost. so he lets
himself get fed by a pusher. Pushers had nicknames. His pusher's nickname is
Captain Jack. that's it, and if you understand the context of this
song, you wouldn't be thinking about masturbation so much...well, you
know what I mean.
Amy Chang
<ste...@world.std.com> wrote:
>> 4) Even the line "Captain Jack will make you die tonight"
>> makes sense in the masturbation context, given the
>> european tradition of calling sex/orgasm "little death"
>>
on suicide, we talked about autoerotic asphyxiation, where
the victim, in an attempt to intensify the orgasm, would either
hang himself temporarily so that the choking sensation would affect
the feeling, or choke himself with one hand. In the former case, the
result may be an "accidental" suicide, while in the latter case, the
hand falls away when the victim loses consciousness.
--
************************************************************
* Amy Chang :) * "Why should I worry? *
* ha...@seas.gwu.edu * Why should I ca-a-are?" *
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