Jack

A song for Kerouac by Duncan Jones

Your brain has been pickled by whiskey and pills
Who gives a damn if this cocktail kills
Spirit the spirits, drop in the road, yeah
Just pass the lemon, pass the salt, pass out cold
Yes we will

Damn by some breath and I'll be a hero and die
Hero so special, but a true brandyman
Just like a child got to play a nice candyman

Chorus

'Cause I could never be like you, even if I wanted to
Killing myself just for the sake of it
I could never walk with you
Take the railroad and talk to you
Killing myself just for the sake of it
Just for the sake of it, yeah

Well the Devil's associate, the angels despair
Morning falls farther from reality's stare
Skin 'em up and draw 'em down, insist they won't win
Victorious half saint that bastard won't win
I know you won't win

Jack in absence kind of finds your place
Frightens, enlightens, am I just tempting fate
Stares of glory, drinking till dawn Hit the road Jack

Hey I only want you to come back
I don't mind, you just do what you do best
Don't give a shit about the rest
Do what you do best, don't mind about the rest
Hit the road Jack . . .

Duncan Jones

When did you first hear about Jack Kerouac?

It was when I was working with my first band Bobby I Can Fly the bass player Paul Armfield had a big influence on my literature and introduced me to Jack Kerouac beause he was a big fan. I subsequently read On The Road and never got off it.

When was this? What year?

I was twenty years old, eleven years ago, 1986.

When did you write the song Jack?

Probably in the same year, I sat up one night and wrote two poems, one of which was Jack. I put it too music.

Had you seen the Arena documentary (BBC TV) by then?

No I hadn't it came just from purely reading On The Road and Paul had played me some tapes of Jack reading his poetry. It absolutely blew me away. I just really related to his attitude. He had such a way with words and I couldn't believe that someone had put down what I was feeling.

When you said Pass the Salt, Pass the Lemon, Pass Out Cold, it should have been Lime shouldn't it?

No we actually had run out of lime . . .

Did you do Jack with Bobby I Can Fly?

Possibly but it would have been towards the end before Bobby broke up.

Did you first play it with John Wroath then?

It kind of got resurrected then. I just played it to him one day because it is a song that I am obviously very passionate about, it blew him away and he said "Yeah, great" and it's one of the only songs that has stayed with us, that and Betrayal which is John's song right from the beginning. Its been with us since the early days, it's never been out of the set.

And you never really tire of it?

No I don't. I still sing it with as much passion as I did the first time.

We've got to get you to San Francisco then, to sing it under Jack Kerouac's sign.

Absolutely, anytime.

Duncan Jones interviewed by Mike Plumbley in the Leopold pub across from the Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth before the Wayward Sons headlining gig with fellow Island band Legend as support.

Hopefully one day we will get Duncan to Chinatown, San Francisco by the Jack Kerouac street sign to sing this song.

Catch Duncan Jones with John Wroath as Sporting Life or with the expanded unit the Wayward Sons where songs like Fall To Pieces (an old Bobby I Can Fly classic), the masterful ballad Everything That I Do, the powerful We Can Fly, the blown away in a boat song Hit Me Like A Hurricane and oh the beautiful Lemon Kiss should get your dancing feet into gear.