Jet (Paul McCartney & Wings) - What Is It About?

If this isn't my all-time favorite song, it's damn close.

That said, it's been a long, long time since I actually sat down and thought about what it means, but it's always struck me that he's not the guy the girl is marrying, and he's trying to convince her to run off with him instead.

Now, this is partially due to the fact that, back when I did sit and think about what it meant, some source (Paul McCartney Artist / Composer maybe?) had the lyrics as "that time you told me that you were going to be marrying soon." But, even "told them" works in my premise. He doesn't say that time you told them that WE were going to be marrying soon, he says YOU.

Then there's the line of "I thought the only lonely place was on the moon." That's a lament. Not much to be lonely about if she's marrying him.

Then there's the bit where he tries to get her to climb on the back (of whatever) and ride away into the sunset with him (instead).

Anyway, that's what I got from it.

 

I've always heard the lyric as:
Ah Mater, want Jet to always love me
I'll mate 'er, much later
Ooh, she said...

 

Are any of our UK participants familiar with these?
Perhaps it's not all complete nonsense, and even quite
reminiscent...
http://www.britishcomics.com/Jet/index.htm
http://www.fustar.info/2006/12/12/195/

 

Not meaning to thread crap,but I love Get Born,hardly anyone else seems to.

 

Stoner non-lyrics… Seldom a good idea to dive deep into a shallow pool—or look for meaning in a meaningless collection of words. There’s a fun track in there somewhere but the dreadful “woo”s and lame solo pretty much kill Jet for me. Love that big fat ninth-fret C#m7 though! Happy to see so many fans of the song posting their thoughts… good stuff!

 

If it's 70s McCartney, the answer to this question is always the same two words: BEING HIGH.

 

Whenever I'm tempted to malign the lyrics in some song or another, I think of songs like "Jet" which I don't even question.

In general, I think for much pop and rock, the lyrics are mostly just something to sing because people prefer vocals over instrumentals. It doesn't matter what the words are so long as they sound good when sung.

I get more fussy with lyrics that try to mean something, but miss the mark. I'd rather here "Ah mater, want Jet to always love me" or "I, I love you like a love song and and I keep hitting re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat"

 

I always thought he said " I thought the only lonely face was on the moon" (like the man in the moon), and "suffering Jet." I like mine better.

 

I think it is about smoking way too much dope before you sit down to write a song.

 

Means about the same as

At the Houses of Parliament
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the President
We all chip in for a bag of cement
Ollie Hardy should have had more sense
He bought a gee-gee and he jumped the fence
All for the sake of a couple of pence

[Junior's Farm]

 

Yes, McCartney was/is a comic book fan. His ambition as a kid was to be in The Dandy comic (which he achieved in 2012). He wrote Magneto and Titanium Man (Marvel Comics characters) and met with Jack Kirby (famous illustrator of comic books) in 1976. Just because the lyric makes no sense to us doesn't mean they're nonsense.

 

Those lyrics are unusually clear for McCartney, dealing with real events.

 

Exactly. I learned recently that even things like the Salamander line in Getting Closer and the 'I haven't had any dinner' line in Rockestra mean something.

 

Some of the most affecting lyrics in popular music are just vague enough that you can apply your own experiences to them and relate to them in your own way. I feel nothing when I listen to songs with coherent fictional story lines like Eleanor Rigby or Rocky Raccoon or Take It Away. I feel a lot when I listen to songs like Jet and Getting Closer.

 

+1. Great lyric.

 

You're all wrong- it's about Jet-hro Tull and Paul's infatuation with Aqualung.

 

"Jet (Paul McCartney & Wings) - What Is It About?"

I'm not sure either but I am happy that it is a Paul McCartney song that I actually like...


Those got fewer and farther between for me after the Band On The Run album, which I still feel is a classic, and his zenith...

 

Didn't a suffragette run out onto the track during the Epson Derby in front of a race horse owned by the King and was killed? I believe in recent years there has been some speculation that she didn't actually intend to do that, but was planning another protest stunt that went very wrong.

BTW ... 'Suffragette' is derived from 'suffrage' - the right to vote. A 'suffragette' was a woman who believes in the right of women to vote.

 

Emily Davison, at the 1913 Epsom Derby.

 

Did Martin Barres cut of Aqualung money get him enough cash to buy a jet??????

 

Does anyone know anything about the promo photo for the single featuring a topless woman with her arms raised and the words "Jet" painted or tattooed above her breasts? The image can be seen here:

http://thebeatlesrarity.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-09T20_09_50-07_00

I always wondered what the meaning to the photo was.

I first saw this picture when I was kid and had the book, "The Beatles: An Illustrated Record". I thought that was Linda but seeing it now I doubt it, and why would she pose like that anyway. I don't have the book anymore so I can't refer to it for any information.

 

I always thought it was about a jet...

 

Maybe Jet is short for "je t'adore" (French for "I Love You" or New York for "Shut The Door!").

 

Here I am, MONTHS later on this thread!

Given the - and I'm being kind here - ODD backstories Paul has been known to give for how his/Beatles songs came about, I'd like to dispense with the strange Labrador story and take a stab at this one. Am I insane to believe that Jet is a love song from Paul to John Lennon, lamenting the loss of his friend, bandmate, and obsession to Yoko Ono? We know that Paul never got over needing John's approval, not even in later years. We also know Paul was so bent out of shape about the appearance of Yoko in the studio, that he quickly reeled in Francine Schwartz and paraded her about in studio sessions as John did Yoko. We also know John blew a hissy some years before when he found Paul in bed with a woman in their hotel room while the band was on tour. Years later, John playfully referred to Paul as "my old fiance." These guys were possessive of one another! So . . . !

1) "Jet." I think this is John.

2) "I can almost remember their funny faces
That time you told 'em that you were going to be marrying soon"

Everybody, including the as-yet unborn, had a funny face on when John and Yoko got married!

3) "I thought the only lonely place was on the moon." JohnandYoko marked the end of JohnandPaul, and that hurt Paul badly.

4) "Was your father as bold as a sergeant major?
Well, how come he told you that you were hardly old enough yet."
John Lennon was childlike in his obedience to Yoko Ono, and she ordered him around like a sargeant major. She treated him like a child, and he became like one with her, even calling her "mother." Remember also that John once said Yoko was "like a bloke." Here Paul paints her as a domineering, condescending father figure.

5) "And Jet, I thought the major was a lady suffragette." Yoko showed the world the face of a socially conscious activist, but behind closed doors, she played the role of sargeant major.

6) "Ah mater, want Jet to always love me." Mater was a beloved aunt of John's. Mater gave John 100 pounds in his young adulthood for his birthday, which he used to take a trip to Paris with Paul. I'm not going to expand on what this lyric may further imply. I'll leave it at saying that trip would likely be a fond memory in the annals of their relationship. "Much later" may refer to the time that passed between that early time and 1973, when the song was written.

7) "Jet, With the wind in your hair of a thousand laces." - John had long, wild hair by the late 60s/early 70s. What an achingly beautiful line! Did I mention that this is a love song? By the way, the short, silky coat of a labrador does not bring to mind "laces," if you don't mind my saying so.

8) "Climb on the back and we'll go for a ride in the sky" - I'll bypass the obvious sexual tone here because I have no way of substantiating it in fact. But both John and Paul played RickenBACKers. I think this refers to playing music, and the magical high they reached by doing so together. One could shoe-horn in references to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds here, but it's not necessary. What I hear here is Paul encouraging the reclusive John to pick up his music again, which he'd dropped at Yoko's urging and belittling.

9) "And Jet, I thought the major was a little lady suffragette." Repeat of the Yoko as drill sargeant theme, except that here, Paul comes right out and says that the lady was small, which Yoko is.

10) "Jet, jet - And Jet, you know I thought you was a little lady suffragette."
This clinches it. Paul here says that John totally lost himself in Yoko to the point where he no longer had his own identity.

On the off chance anyone reads this, I'd be interested in your thoughts!

 

I'm going with, yes, you're insane. Jet was one on Macca's dogs.

"Despite the initial inspiration, the words of Jet were mostly chosen to fit the melody rather than for their meaning. The reference to the 'lady suffragette' was a motif that appealed to McCartney, without having any wider significance."

Paul McCartney: Jet | The Beatles Bible »

Derek