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Jenny III

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Jenny III

Album

Jenny from Thebes

Released

October 27, 2023

Length

2:26

Previous Track

"Water Tower"

Next Track

"Going to Dallas"

Jenny III is the tenth song on Jenny from Thebes. On the back cover of the vinyl edition, this song is subtitled "The future, seen with great clarity."

Lyrics[]

Jenny was a warrior, Jenny was a thief
Jenny hit the corner clinic begging for relief
Never thought we'd see the day when she wiggled free
But she did
Long before we did

Nights in crackling emerald
Signal hot and live
Fastest in production
As of 1985

Didn't guess we'd ever come to dread that engine's roar
But she did
Long before we did

Nobody will ever know for certain
The names of all the secrets
She held back behind the curtain

Jenny came to get me
She'd been gone for several years
Aging motorcycles purr like cats when they grow near
I was crying, I could barely make the frame out
   through my tears
She did
Long before we did
She did
Long before we did
Jenny, you did
Long before I did

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

  • "I played a chord...I think it’s a B-minor, but I’m not sure—because I haven’t practiced it since we recorded. But I played a chord and I liked the sound of that chord. I went ‘Jenny was a warrior, Jenny was a thief, Jenny hit the corner clinic begging for relief’ and I went, ‘Oh, what if you did that? What if you do that?’ I mean—a vast amount of my best stuff comes from me saying ‘What if you did that?’ like in a role-playing game. Roll the dice, see what happens, you know?" -- Paste interview
  • "Like the way that this album started – I played a B minor chord at the piano. And I just started to sing something. And the first lines, 'Jenny was a warrior; Jenny was a thief,' that's taken from a nursery rhyme: 'Taffy was a Welshman; Taffy was a thief; Taffy came to our house and stole a piece of beef.' And I sang that, I just needed something to fill in a little melody that had taken form in my head. And so I sang that, and I go, 'Well there's a character, what's she doing if I'm making these claims about her?' It’s very freeform. By the time you hear it, I have revised it. You're not hearing a freestyle, but it always starts that way. And then midway through the process of writing it, of literally singing out loud, and I have a notebook. I’ll sing some out loud, transfer it to my notebook, sing what I've got so far. When I come to a dead end, I'll sing whatever words come to mind that are in the imaginary universe that's taking place." -- Arizona Daily Sun interview

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]


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