Captain Jack

Billy Joel

Saturday night and you're still hangin' around
Tired of living in your one horse town
You'd like to find a little hole in the ground
For awhile

So you go to the village in your tie dyed jeans
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens
It's like some pornographic magazine
And you smile

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, and you'll be smilin'

Oh yeah

Your sister's gone out, she's on a date
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
Ah but still your fingers gonna pick your nose
After all

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, and you'll be smilin'

So you decide to take a holiday
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet
Ah, there ain't no place to go anyway
What for

So you got everything, ah, but nothing's cool
They just found your father in the swimming pool
And you guess you won't be going back to school
Anymore

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, and you'll be smilin'

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
Why you've got to keep in style and feed your head
Well you're 21 and still your mother makes your bed
And that's too long

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, and you'll be smilin'

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, and you'll be smilin'


Lyrics submitted by kevin

Captain Jack Lyrics as written by Billy Joel

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Captain Jack song meanings
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80 Comments

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  • +3
    General Commentit'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.
    red_red_redon April 10, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General CommentI 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.
    JMasterDeanon June 21, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General CommentJoel 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.
    cal1156656on January 08, 2015   Link
  • +1
    General CommentWell, 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.
    kalexanderon April 25, 2015   Link
  • 0
    General CommentJack Daniels doesn't get you high, drugs do, thats how you see captaion jack as a drug rather than booze
    mydarkesthouron May 18, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Commentits 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"
    pincho82on December 31, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Commentits 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.
    jmoodson February 01, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti think there is really no question on waht it's about
    it's just so depressing and good i love it
    krockon February 18, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti 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.
    i.play.pianoon April 05, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis 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.
    stoolhardyon June 14, 2005   Link

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