I saw the great Jill Sobule yesterday for the 1st time. I’m very late to the party, and the party should be bigger anyway. My girlfriend has been a fan for years though, even hosting Jill for a few House Concerts. Jill played an Outpost in the Burbs show yesterday at The Van Vleck House in Northern New Jersey. She was exceptional, opening with this:

I guess the main way she’s known is via her single “I Kissed a Girl.” Hers was 12 years before Katy Perry’s single of the same name. Overall, Jill wasn’t terribly bothered that another song would be a bigger hit than hers of the same title. But evidently what did bother her was Katy Perry claiming to have dreamt the title. In a 2009 interview, Jill had this to say:

“When Katy Perry’s song came out I started getting tons of inquiries about what I thought. Some folks (and protective friends) were angry, and wondered why she took my title and made it into this kind of ‘girls gone wild’ thing. As a musician I have always refrained from criticizing another artist. I was, “Well, good for her.” It did bug me a little bit, however, when she said she came up with the idea for the title in a dream. In truth, she wrote it with a team of professional writers and was signed by the very same guy that signed me in 1995. I have not mentioned that in interviews as I don’t want to sound bitter or petty … Okay, maybe, if I really think about it, there were a few jealous and pissed-off moments. So here goes, for the first time in an interview: Fuck you Katy Perry, you fucking stupid, maybe ‘not good for the gays’ title-thieving, haven’t heard much else, so not quite sure if you’re talented, fucking little slut. God that felt good.”

She walked it back a little though a few days later, saying “I thought maybe this time I would have fun with it and goof on what many of my fans were hoping to hear over the last year. I prefaced my reply with a wink, and then rambled on with a string of over the top dumb-ass profanities, purposely out of character and completely in jest … I may be a touch cynical about the business, but I have never really been angry or had ill feelings towards Katy herself. I was actually in a small way happy to not be the “Kissed a Girl” girl anymore.”

Well, I don’t know enough of Jill’s history (yet) to blog about her. I’m just saying I was damn impressed with her guitar playing, her stage presence, her audience engagement, and her exceptional lyrics. See Jill Sobule. You’ll leave happy. You can find her tour dates here:

https://www.jillsobule.com/

So, with nothing more to currently add…

Today’s Playlist is a SomethingIsHappening compendium celebrating the great Jill Sobule:

#JillSobule #KatyPerry #IKissedAGirl #Supermodel #Clueless #Guitar