This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Saturday night and you're still hangin' around
You're tired of livin' in your one horse town
You'd like to find a little hole in the ground for a while
So you go to the village in your tie-dye jeans
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens
It's like some pornographic magazine, and you smile
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Oh yeah, yeah
Your sister's gone out, she's on a date
And you just sit at home and masturbate
Your phone is gonna ring soon,
But you just can't wait, for that call
So you stand on the corner in your new English clothes
And you look so polished from your hair down to your toes
But still your fingers gonna pick your nose, after all
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Oh yeah, yeah
So you decide to take a holiday
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet
Ah, but there's no place to go anyway and what for
You've got everything, but nothin's cool
They just found your father in the swimming pool
And you guess you won't be going back to school anymore
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
La da, da
Oh yeah, yeah
So you play your albums and you smoke your pot
And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot
Oh, but still you're aching for the things you haven't got,
What went wrong
And if you can't understand why your world is so dead
And why you've got to keep in style and feed your head
Well, you're twenty one and still you mother makes your bed
And that's too long
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight
You're tired of livin' in your one horse town
You'd like to find a little hole in the ground for a while
So you go to the village in your tie-dye jeans
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens
It's like some pornographic magazine, and you smile
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Oh yeah, yeah
Your sister's gone out, she's on a date
And you just sit at home and masturbate
Your phone is gonna ring soon,
But you just can't wait, for that call
So you stand on the corner in your new English clothes
And you look so polished from your hair down to your toes
But still your fingers gonna pick your nose, after all
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Oh yeah, yeah
So you decide to take a holiday
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet
Ah, but there's no place to go anyway and what for
You've got everything, but nothin's cool
They just found your father in the swimming pool
And you guess you won't be going back to school anymore
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
La da, da
Oh yeah, yeah
So you play your albums and you smoke your pot
And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot
Oh, but still you're aching for the things you haven't got,
What went wrong
And if you can't understand why your world is so dead
And why you've got to keep in style and feed your head
Well, you're twenty one and still you mother makes your bed
And that's too long
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Lyrics submitted by kevin
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it's about heroin. you "push" a needle into your skin. you don't "push" marijuana. and alchohol doesn't make you high.
i love love love this song. billy joel never fails to stand out from the crowd and write thought-provoking lyrics that are controversial, but so musically advanced that anyone can enjoy them despite the subject matter.
once billy joel was playing a concert at a smaller venue somewhere in the midwest, and the owner of the venue asked him not to sing this song, for fear of offending people. billy joel responded by opening with it, singing it again in the middle of the show, and closing with it, too. what a rebel! i adore him.
I can tell you you are all wrong. Joel said that Captain Jack was the name of the drug dealer that lived on his block when he was a kid.
Yeah he did.Joel wrote "Captain Jack" in late 1971,[1][2] while sitting in his apartment in Oyster Bay, Long Island, looking out the window, trying to find inspiration for a song. 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".[3] "It's about coming out of the New York suburbs," Joel told John Kalodner in 1974. "But in my travels I have seen a lot of the same suburb all over the country. The song is sort of brutal, but sometimes it is good to be brutal and offend people—it keeps them on their toes." --Wikipedia
Joel came up with this in his apartment across from a housing development. He observed kids from the suburbs coming into the development to buy heroin from a dealer known as Captain Jack. The "push" is the pushing the needle with the heroin. The song is about a deadbeat 21 year old whose family is getting on with their life and he is still living at home, pushing heroin, and jacking off. It's NOT about drinking, or the private life of a teenager. It's about the life of a loser junkie and Joel said himself it's an anti-drug song. It's kind of a bummer but it's Billy Joel at his best.
@cal1156656 I agree with cal 100%
Well, I can see the heroin reference in this song for sure, but I also get a feeling of grittiness like an old Robert Crumb movie or the Warriors. I think this is a song about the glamorization of the 70's drug scene. After all, this was the time for the exploitations and the beatniks. It is a very gripping story of how sex, violence, drugs were prevalent in New York at the time.
Jack Daniels doesn't get you high, drugs do, thats how you see captaion jack as a drug rather than booze
its heroin - In the song Jumpin Jack Flash by the rolling stones, a poster stated that Jack Flash is slang for heroin. Captain Jack cannot mean pot or masturbation, since there are other lyrics in the song referring to them. Crack did not exist in 1973 - heroin was the drug of choice then - "Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin"
its definatly about escapism. a guy whos 21, and his life is going nowhere, and he uses drugs and drinking and masterbation to get away from it all. 'captain jack' could be jack daniels or heroin, they both work.
i think there is really no question on waht it's about it's just so depressing and good i love it
i agree completely with jmoods. its about escaping reality. It really has nothing to do with what type of drug it is or if it's really a drug at all...whatever it is it takes him away (to his "special island") it makes him just for a moment feel like his life isn't a bunch of crap. I think it's excellent lyrics and musical writing on billy joels part and a great great song.
This song has some funny parts to it even though it's about a college-age loser. I always thought that Captain Jack was a liquor of some sort, a name he used to avoid using an actual brand name in a song. The name sounds like a blend of Captain Morgan and Jack Daniels. But heroin does make more sense here, since you don't usually get smiling as a direct result of drinking if you feel crappy. But anyway the "still gonna pick your nose," "you're 21 and your mother still makes your bed" and other lines are pathetic but funny - just sing it, you'll see.