Who knows why some names work well in songs while others just don’t cut it? You might not think that the name “Jean,” just a single syllable, would fit well in lyrics. But don’t forget it’s often used as the second of two names. Suddenly, the possibilities start to open up.
Included among these four “Jean” songs are a couple of big hits. You also get a pair of tracks beloved to fans of the artists who did them. See if you remember them. And let us know if there are others we missed.
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“Jean” by Oliver
Rod McKuen wrote “Jean”. McKuen was a hyphenate of sorts who gained popularity in the 60s as a poet and songwriter. He often performed the songs he wrote in an actorly crooning style. McKuen wrote “Jean” for a movie called The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, which was released in 1969 and won an Oscar for Maggie Smith. His version of the dreamy ballad, however, fell without a trace. Into the picture came William Oliver Swofford, who went by the stage name of Oliver. Earlier in 1969, he had scored big with a version of the Hair song “Good Morning Starshine”. It might have seemed strange to hear the North Carolinian Oliver singing about “my bonny Jean”. But it worked well enough, landing at No. 3 on the pop charts.
“Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson
The peak of the Michael Jackson era, from an artistic sense, came when the idiosyncrasies of his character fed into his music, rather than detracting from it, as they eventually did. Perhaps “Billie Jean” was the absolute pinnacle for him. Even after you’ve heard it a million times, the track can surprise you with how many hooks are embedded in there. And while many of the other triumphs on Thriller came on songs where Jackson wasn’t as involved in the songwriting aspect of things, this one was all him. Maybe it’s because he lived through the whole groupie thing that his perspective was so sharp. He sealed the deal with a monumental vocal performance of fire and fury.
“Bobby Jean” by Bruce Springsteen
In the middle of the elongated process of making the Born In The U.S.A. album, Steven Van Zandt, long Bruce Springsteen’s close musical confidant and counsel, decided to leave the E Street Band. There were some initial hard feelings between the two men, in part because Springsteen felt somewhat blindsided by the decision. Although the relationship was soon smoothed over, some of that initial confusion worked its way into the lyrics of “Bobby Jean”. But what ultimately shines through in Springsteen’s moving words is the special feeling that comes along when you locate a true best friend in life. And if the lyrics didn’t get that point across, Clarence Clemons’ moving sax solo certainly did.
“Selfish Jean” by Travis
They call it the “Lust For Life” beat because so many artists have used that Iggy Pop classic song’s drum pattern as the rhythmic foundation for their songs. Count “Selfish Jean” in among that storied number. In fact, Travis lead singer Fran Healy simply sampled the beat to start the process of creating this track. He then indulged in a little wordplay for the title. Two years before the song arrived on the Travis album The Boy With No Name, a book called The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins made some waves with science aficionados. As for the narrative of “Selfish Jean”, it mostly focuses on Healy coming up with a series of winning one-liners about a me-first female.
(Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)