Slade – Gudbuy T’Jane

This is another song I heard for the first time on the 2006 Britsih show Life On Mars. Slade never really broke America until the 80s with Run Runaway and Oh My My. Quiet Riot covered the Slade songs Cum On Feel The Noize and Mama, Weer All Crazee Now and had hits in the 1980s.

“Gudbuy T’Jane” was Slade’s follow up to their hit single “Mama Weer All Crazee Now.” In his autobiography Who’s Crazee Now?, guitarist and lead vocalist Noddy Holder explained the inspiration for the song.

Jane was the co-host of a TV chat show in San Francisco whom Slade met on their US tour. They wrote the song in about half an hour, “one of the easiest songs we ever recorded.” The line, “Got a kick from her ’40s trip boots” is a reference to her kicking Holder up the backside when the band was having a laugh at her expense.

Jane had bought a pair of platform shoes which she called her “’40s trip boots,” and somehow managed to lose them. “She thought they were original ’40s shoes and she told us that she had paid a fortune for them,” he said. “She was a real loony, a typical San Francisco hippy.”

The song peaked at #2 in the UK and #68 in the Billboard 100 in 1972.

 

From Songfacts

Jim Lee came up with the title; Holder wanted to call it “Hullo T’Jane,” which doesn’t have the same ring to it. They recorded it in two takes, and, backed by the typically misspelled “I Won’t Let It ‘Appen Agen,” it was released on Polydor and went on to become a monster hit. The single was produced by Chas Chandler.

There was a second track on the A-side: “Take Me Bak ‘Ome.” The sheet music credits “Gudbuy T’Jane”: “Words and Music by Neville Holder and James Lea.” >>

This was kept off the UK #1 spot by Chuck Berry’s live recording of “My Ding-a-Ling.” Coincidentally, Slade was present at the Coventry gig where Berry’s hit was recorded.

Jim Lea recalled the story of the song to Classic Rock magazine: “I’d been round to Nod’s house and played ‘Gudbuy T’Jane’ to him, lyrics and all. He said, ‘S’alright.’ He was always very phlegmatic, had dodgy adenoids.”

“We had some time left at the end of the recording, so we put it down very quickly. Nod said he’d done something with the words on the train down. He started singing, ‘Hello to Jane, hello to Jane.’ I was mortified. He told me he thought that was a bit more optimistic – f–king hell. But with all of them, I knew when we were writing a hit.”

Gudbuy T’Jane

Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
She’s a dark horse see if she can
Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Painted up like a fancy young man
She’s a queen,
Can’t you see what I mean, she’s a queen,
See, see, she’s a queen
And I know she’s alright, alright, alright, alright

I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young

I said goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Get a kick from her forties tip boots
Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Has them made to match up to her suits
She’s a queen,
Can’t you see what I mean, she’s a queen,
See, see, she’s a queen
And I know she’s alright, alright, alright, alright

I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young

I said goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Like a dark horse see how she ran
Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Spits on me ’cause she knows that she can
She’s a queen,
Can’t you see what I mean, she’s a queen,
See, see, see, she’s a queen
And I know she’s alright, alright, alright, alright

I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, she’s alright, alright, alright, alright
I say she’s so young, so young, alright, alright
I say you’re so young …