Jet Airliner

sleep you make some valid points..

first off let me say that this song is amazing and a creative masterpiece..

to me this song means a lot of things

i feel that the jet and 707 referance is a metaphor that is open for any individual interpretation

one individual theory of mine is that the jet is a referance to drugs, a major part of steve's life.. in music air planes have many times been a metaphor for getting high.. in music, subject matter and themes are rarely straight forward and spoon fed to the listener .. as in it should always be open to interpretation and what you make of it.. i feel jet airliner is a transitional crossroads type of song about moving on from an experimental phase and not getting "caught up in that funky shit goin down in the city" and also coming to realize that the "big wheel keeps on spinnin around" .. it is about moving on and taking charge of life and not getting "carried to far away" from reality when getting on the "707" haha

"dont carry me too far away because its here that i got to stay"

think about that....

This song was originally written by Paul Pena. Steve Miller's drummer played the drum track on the studio session. He told Steve to check it out and Steve asked if he could use it. Paul agreed and lived off of the royalties from this and his movie. The album he recorded the song on was shelved and not released by Sony until 2001.

Paul was a blind blues player from Boston. He was invited to play in Montreal at a festival. This was the first time he was away from home and first time on a plane. He wrote this song about the experience.

Wow, so few comments on this awesome band. Talk about classic rock.....Steve Miller Band has produced some timeless music. The song speaks to anyone moving from one phase of their life to the next. I am graduating from college in 2 months. I am deathly scared.
"Goodbye to all my friends at home Goodbye to people I've trusted I've got to go out and make my way I might get rich you know I might get busted"

That somes up my bittersweet feeling. I have to move on with my life. Say goodbye to my past, and find something new....

I so agree with you sleep....what an awesome band but nobody is writing about their songs??? I do agree with you....i do believe its about stages in your life that you go thru...i wonder what stage steve was going thru?

This song has one of the catchiest guitar riffs of all time

Please correct these lyrics. "Funky shit" not "Funky kicks." "Kicks" was swapped in for the radio-edit.

People, people, please. This is a cover song of Paul Pena's original (which is much better, by the way). If you don't know about him, check out the movie "Genghis Blues." This song is all about destination and motive: am I going where I want to be going?

haha yep, nemt, funky shit is the correct lyrics.

One of my favorite songs, another reason for me being an airplane fanatic. I wondered what type of jet airliner he talks about in the song, until I heard "707" (Boeing 707). Reminds me of how I recently left home and off to study in university. Awsome song and awsome intro for Book of Dreams.

Yeah I agree with the catchy guitar riff, in fact I liked the riff when it was played in A and was called CROSSROADS, I'm referring the Cream arrangement. I'm going to try to find a mp3 of the paul pena version.