Selfish Jean
| "Selfish Jean" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| A-side | "Selfish Jean" |
| B-side | "You Bring Me Down", "Is That Love", "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)" |
"Selfish Jean" is a song by Scottish Indie pop band Travis, and is the second track on their 2007 studio album The Boy with No Name. The song was released as the second single from that album in the United Kingdom, and was released in the UK on Monday 9 July 2007 [1] on 1 CD and 2 7" vinyls. The b-side on the CD is a song called "You Bring Me Down", whilst the two 7" vinyls each have one of "Is That Love" and "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)". Both of these songs are covers of songs by the group Squeeze.
The music for Selfish Jean was written by Fran Healy between 2005 and 2006, most likely in his apartment in New York, and was demoed using Healy's own computer. He sampled the drum intro from the Iggy Pop song "Lust For Life", looped it to create a basic rhythm, and then played the song and recorded vocals over the top of the rhythm track. Critics [weasel words] have humorously noted that Travis took the basic hook of an energetic song and yet still turned out a depressing song in the usual Travis style. The demo was then taken to Travis drummer Neil Primrose as an example of what to play, and thus, the song exists in its current form. The lyrics for the song's bridge are taken directly from an earlier b-side, "Standing On My Own", which appeared on the 1997 single Tied to the 90s.
The single was at one point on BBC Radio 2's A playlist, receiving around 20 plays per week.
The title "Selfish Jean" is either a reference or a pun to The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.[2]
Music video
The song's promotional video was released on the band's MySpace page [3] before the release of The Boy with No Name. Directed by comedian Demetri Martin it also features Martin who begins by wearing 19 t-shirts with words and pictures to illustrate lyrics from the song, taking them off to progressively reveal the t-shirts underneath. Some of these t-shirts have been recreated for sale, including 'Aaaaahh... Selfish Jean' (Stretching from the back and rotating around to the front) and 'Art, Music, Jaffa Cakes' (With additional tick boxes) proving very popular amongst fans.
Track listing
CD
- "Selfish Jean"
- "You Bring Me Down"
- "Selfish Jean" [video]
7" Vinyl 1
- A. "Selfish Jean"
- B. "Is That Love"
7" Vinyl 2
- A. "Selfish Jean"
- B. "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)"