- The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun
"The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" is a
1984 song by American singer/comedianJulie Brown recounting a highschool shooting . A parody on 1950s "tragedy" songs, it revolves around a teenagehomecoming queen named Debi who pulls out a gun after being crowned and shoots both teachers and fellow students. In the end she is shot by police, and confesses before she dies that she murdered for a mysterious person named "Johnny," who may or may not have been a nerdy classmate that always had food stuck in his braces (or a character from the book "The Outsiders"). The bouquet Debi holds in themusic video has the words 'Debi, I love you, Johnny' written on a label. The narrator compares the unrevealed identity of "Johnny" to "Rosebud" in "Citizen Kane ".The song appeared as a B-side to Brown's single "
I Like 'em Big and Stupid ", and took off after being played frequently on the "Dr. Demento Show". As a result, "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" is remembered better than the A-side of that single. A re-recorded dance version appeared as a B-side to Brown's2005 single "I Want to be Gay ", 21 years after the original was released.The song was ranked No. 324 in the KROQ Flashback 500 of 1996, [cite web |url=http://www.rocklists.com/alltime1.html |title=KROQ Flashback 500 (1988) |accessdate=2008-05-07 |work=Rocklists.com] and No. 488 in the KROQ Flashback 500 of 1988. [cite web |url=http://www.rocklists.com/alltime6.html |title=KROQ Flashback 500 (1996) |accessdate=2008-05-07 |work=Rocklists.com] It has was part of a special by the Australian national radio station
Triple J on school songs in 2001. [cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music_specials/s1398974.htm |title=Triple J Music specials - J FILES: School Songs |accessdate=2008-05-07 |work=Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Triple J] "The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun" also appears on theRhino Records compilation album, "Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection".The Girl V.P.'s Got A Gun!
On September 24, 2008 Ms. Brown posted the following on [http://www.myspace.com/therealjuliebrown her Myspace site] : "Last night I recorded my new version of "The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun!" called, "The Girl V.P.'s Got A Gun!" I'm doing my absolute best to take down the ever scary Sarah Palin. It was a blast and even though it's hopefully going to be a song that's only relevant for the next 5 weeks-then she'll be gone! Hopefully. If there's a God!"
"And guess what? I'm going to be on "The Stephanie Miller Show" tomorrow morning at around 8:30 A.M. It's going to be on KTLK 1150 AM and they'll play the song and we'll talk about the Wicked Witch of Alaska."
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.