- Selfish Jean
Infobox Single
Name = Selfish Jean
Caption = The official cover of the single.
Artist = Travis
from Album =The Boy with No Name
A-side = "Selfish Jean"
B-side = "You Bring Me Down", "Is That Love ", "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) "
Released =9th July 2007
Format = 1 CD and 2 7" vinyls
Recorded =
Genre =Indie pop Indie rock
Length = 4:00
Label =Independiente Records
Writer = Fran Healy
Producer =Nigel Godrich
Certification =
Chart position = * #30 (UK)
Last single = "Closer" (2007)
This single = "Selfish Jean" (2007)
Next single = "My Eyes" (2007)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album =The Boy with No Name
Type = studio
prev_track = "3 Times and You Lose"
prev_no = 1
this_track = "Selfish Jean"
track_no = 2
next_track = "Closer"
next_no = 3"Selfish Jean" is a song by Scottish
Indie pop band Travis, and is the second track on their2007 studioalbum "The Boy with No Name". The song was released as the second single from that album in theUnited Kingdom , and was released in the UK on Monday 9 July 2007 [ [http://angryape.com/news/2007/06/travis-name-their-next-single Release date] ] 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.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 word have humourously 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 drummerNeil Primrose as an example of what to play, and thus, the song exists in its current form.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 " byRichard Dawkins . [ [http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858658636 SongMeanings for Selfish Jean] ]Music video
The song's promotional video was released on the band's MySpace page [ [http://www.myspace.com/travis Travis' Myspace Page] ] before the release of
The Boy with No Name . Directed by comedianDemetri 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 Cake s' (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) "References
External links
* [http://www.myspace.com/Travis] - Travis'
MySpace page - includes streaming audio and the official video of Selfish Jean.
* [http://www.travisonline.com] - official UK website.
* [http://www.travisonlineus.com] - official US website.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
