He's Messed Up

Album: Me (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Jo Dee Messina originally penned this tune with Pink in mind. "I wanted to co-write it with her while she was in town, but it ended up that she had a crazy schedule," she said … so I was like, 'I'm going to finish this song anyway.'"
  • The song was inspired by a real person. "Maybe this is too much behind the song, but it's about a guy in the industry who's, like, Joe Cool," she divulged. "He just thinks he's, like, the Cat's Meow, and I had seen him backstage, and all these little girls are hanging on him."

    "He's not an artist. He's not a singer. But he's just some guy that thinks he's, like, the coolest thing, and he plays that off, and girls buy into it," Messina added. "I remember seeing him backstage, with girls all around him, and I'm like, 'Dude.'"

    "I was like, 'Oh, young girl. Walk away,'" she continued. "He is messed up, you know? This guy is never going to change. He's a dog. He always will be a dog. And so, that's where literally the idea came up."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Glen Ballard

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.