Jan's Song by INXS

Album: Shabooh Shoobah (1982)

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Songfacts®:

A track from the third INXS album, "Jan's Song" was written by lead singer Michael Hutchence and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Farriss. The song describes a human rights activist trying to draw attention to her cause. In a Songfacts interview with Farriss, he explained: "I wrote that lyric. We were still in the Cold War era, and there was a girl in Eastern Europe I'd seen on a news clip, or it could have been a newspaper - a clipping of a woman wanting freedom from the Eastern Bloc communist countries. I looked at that and felt some empathy for her wanting to be heard and seen and having an opinion about things, and that's where I got the idea. I suppose she's a fictitious character - I don't know her personally."
This wasn't released as a single, but INXS performed it live on their first American tour in 1983 and 1984. On this trek, they were the support act for various acts, including Adam And The Ants and The Go-Go's.
This is one of the more saxophone-heavy INXS songs, with Kirk Pengilly playing licks throughout the track.

Comments: 5

Jan From Boston from BostonI'm the real Jan and can testify all the above comments are true

Oh oh except the Jan from Sydney fake phony girl. What a bunch of malarkey
Gary Arnott from U.k.Here's a quote from Michael himself about the real life person 'Jan': "We had met somebody in Melbourne, called Jan, that used to come down to where we were staying and we'd talk for hours on end about her plight. She's quite young and living out in the suburbs in Frankston. And from there I think Andrew started a few lines and he showed it to me and I added a few lines. It's a song about the plight of somebody trying to either convince people around her to change or leave. And she ends up sort of leaving and says "well I can't do anything here" so she goes off."

You can hear it straight from his lips at around the 6 minute mark on this video: https://youtu.be/fZXNwSqoq3A
Ron from St. LouisThe lyrics agree with the story - I believe it.
AnonymousReally. An interesting commentary then. I knew ‘the other guy’ and can assure you of the origins of this song. There may even be an interview somewhere, from a popular music show of the time, where this song is discussed! Check it out. TBH, I’m not really that bothered, but do believe printed info should be factual. All the best.
Jan from SydneyI’ve just stumbled across this and laughed hysterically. What a load of rubbish! Songfacts you’ve got this wrong and you have no doubt made these comments up. Disgraceful actually. I am Jan from the song so know first hand everything you have written is quite frankly bulls--t. You should probably seek out the facts. [We did talk to the guy who co-wrote it... -editor]

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