I've been accused of, 'Oh, this song promotes drug use and masturbation.' No, no, no. He says, 'What's so horrible about an affluent young white teenager's life that he's got to shoot heroin? It's really a song about what I consider to be a pathetic loser kind of lifestyle. The song, according to Joel, is an anti-drug song. The song is sort of brutal, but sometimes it is good to be brutal and offend people-it keeps them on their toes.' 'But in my travels I have seen a lot of the same suburb all over the country. 'It's about coming out of the New York suburbs,' Joel told John Kalodner in 1974. Across the street was a housing project, and he observed suburban teenagers going into the project and obtaining heroin from a dealer known as 'Captain Jack'. Joel wrote 'Captain Jack' in late 1971, while sitting in his apartment in Oyster Bay, Long Island, looking out the window, trying to find inspiration for a song. It is considered by some to be the most important and pivotal of his early compositions because his performance of the song at an April 15, 1972, live radio concert at Sigma Studios on WMMR in Philadelphia, and the subsequent airplay this live version received on the station brought him to the attention of major record labels, including Columbia, with whom he would sign a recording contract in 1973. ' Captain Jack' is a song by Billy Joel featured on his 1973 album Piano Man as its closing track with a live version on his 1981 album Songs in the Attic. 1973 in North Hollywood, California, U.S. ^ 'Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Captain Jack)' (in German).^ 'Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1996 – hitparade.ch'.^ 'Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts' (in German).^ '1996 Year-End Sales Charts: Eurochart Hot 100 Singles' (PDF).^ ' Captain Jack – Captain Jack' (in Dutch).^ Ireland peak positions Archived at the Wayback Machine.^ a b c d e 'Captain Jack', in various singles charts (Retrieved February 19, 2008).^ 'Captain Jack - Captain Jack (Official Video 1995)'.As of May 2021, it had more than 6 million views. The video was uploaded to YouTube in March 2010. It was directed by Mark Glaeser and filmed in Frankfurt and Turley Barracks in Mannheim, Germany. In Germany, it was awarded with a platinum record, when 500,000 units were sold there.Ī music video was made for the song. 'Captain Jack' earned a gold record in the Netherlands and Norway, with a sale of 40,000 and 15,000 singles. In the UK, it only reached number 104 on the UK Singles Chart. Additionally, it was a Top 20 hit in Ireland, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it peaked at number 14 in February 1996. In Belgium, the single was held off reaching the top spot by 2 Fabiola's 'Lift U Up'. It managed to climb into the Top 10 also in Austria, Belgium (number 2), Denmark, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. In the latter, it spent 20 weeks on the Dutch Single Top 100. It peaked at number-one in Hungary and the Netherlands. 'Captain Jack' was very successful on the charts in Europe. A bit of a novelty, but one that shouldn't be underestimated.' Chart performance The good captain reels off dance instructions in a frenetic manner which recalls 'sounding off' in the style of the US military drill. The first Captain Jack single to escape into the UK is a self-titled effort combining a banging techno backing track with some deep-throated singing/rapping. 'Captain Jack' was nominated to the 1997 Echo Awards for the most successful national dance single.Īlan Jones from Music Week wrote, ' Captain Jack is a ludicrous creation, already fearsomely popular on the continent.

It sold to platinum in Germany and gold in the Netherlands and Norway. It was a great success in many countries, particularly in the Netherlands and Hungary, where it topped the chart. The song is based on an old army tune known as 'Hey, Hey Captain Jack'. It was released in July 1995, as the lead single from their album The Mission. ' Captain Jack' is a song by the German eurodance group Captain Jack, consisting of singer Franky Gee, actor Sharky Durban and singer Liza da Costa.

Captain jack song