"Jet Boy, Jet Girl" is a song by Elton Motello about a 15-year-old boy's sexual relationship with an older man, who then rejects him for a girl.

Background

but the truth is that the two songs were simultaneous adaptations of the same backing track.La véritable histoire de Ca Plane Pour Moi (in French)
/ref> While Bertrand's single was an international hit, Motello's single in English made little impact, except in Australia, where it was released on the

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

label and hit #33 on the National Top Forty (and regionally in Melbourne at #11 and in Sydney, at #10). Also in Australia, "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" has appeared in a television commercial featuring the chorus and not the sexual lyrics.

Composition

"Jet Boy, Jet Girl" has the same backing track as

Plastic Bertrand Roger François Jouret (born 24 February 1954), better known as Plastic Bertrand, is a Belgium, Belgian musician, songwriter, producer, editor and television presenter, best known for the 1977 international hit single "Ça plane pour moi". Bi ...

Lou Deprijck Lou Deprijck (; born 1946 in Lessines, Wallonia) is a Belgian singer and record producer. He was a major figure in the Belgian pop scene of the 1970s and 1980s, with more than 20 million copies of his compositions sold worldwide. He is best known ...

's " Ça plane pour moi". A few months before the vocals for "Ça plane pour moi" were recorded, the record firm used the same backing track with the same musicians to release "Jet Boy, Jet Girl". Alan Ward recorded his song in English.

United States censorship

In 1989, the American

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC), acting on a complaint from activist

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...

fined radio station

WIOD WIOD (610 AM) is a commercial news/ talk radio station licensed to Miami, Florida, serving the Miami metropolitan area and much of surrounding South Florida. Owned by iHeartMedia, WIOD serves as the Miami affiliate for ABC News Radio, ''The Glen ...

$10,000 for allowing talk host

Neil Rogers Neil Rogers (November 5, 1942December 24, 2010) was an American talk radio personality. Until his retirement on June 22, 2009, ''The Neil Rogers Show'' aired weekdays from 10am-2pm on WQAM-AM, 560 WQAM. It was consistently the top-rated show ...

to play the song. Thompson considered the song obscene, and the FCC agreed with him.

Charts

Personnel

;Elton Motello * Alan Ward/Alan Timms – vocals * Jet Staxx/Mike Butcher – guitar * John Valke – bass * Bob Dartch – drums

Cover versions

The song has been covered by numerous bands and artists, including The Damned, FIDLAR,

Captain Sensible Raymond Ian Burns (born 24 April 1954), known by the stage name Captain Sensible, is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. Captain Sensible co-founded the punk rock band The Damned (band), the Damned, originally playing bass before switc ...

& the Softies,

Chron Gen Chron Gen (short for Chronic Generation) are a British Punk rock, punk musical ensemble, band, formed in January 1978 in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England.Strong, Martin C. (2001) ''The Great Metal Discography'', MOJO Books, , p. 115-6Glasper, ...

the Bamboo Kids ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, the pUKEs, Manic Hispanic,

Spencer P. Jones Spencer Patrick Jones (28 October 1956 – 21 August 2018) was a New Zealand guitar player and singer-songwriter from Te Awamutu. From 1976 he worked in Australia and was a member of various groups including The Johnnys, Beasts of Bourbon, Paul K ...

and

Crocodiles Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant memb ...

. The New York City punk rock band The Breaking Sounds cover the song as well with the lyrics being sung in both Finnish and English. The original version received renewed attention when it was included on

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...

' 2007 compilation CD ''

A Date with John Waters A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

''. Canadian recording artist and drag queen Mina Mercury also recorded the song in 2019.

References

{{authority control 1977 songs 1977 debut singles LGBT-related songs EMI Records singles Captain Sensible songs