Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up on the Stage

Album: Low in High School (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This tale of an actress whose ambitions far outweigh her talent was released as a promotional single on November 7, 2017. The artwork for the single features a half-naked girl in a plastic bag dress, shot by German photographer Miron Zownir.
  • Jacqueline "Jackie" Morrissey is the singer's older sister and is reportedly married with one son. Though Jackie is not an actress, some fans have concluded the song is about her, based on several ambiguous comments Morrissey has made when introducing the song live.
  • The song ends with a chorus of "Everybody's heading for the exit, exit. Everybody's running to the exit, exit", which some people have translated as "Brexit Brexit". Speaking with The London Sunday Times, Morrissey denied he was advocating the UK leaving the European Union.

    "No, it's not a Brexit song. There's no Brexit in it," he insisted. "The line is, 'All the audience head for the exit when she's on stage', so it's nothing to do with Brexit. People just rush to stupid conclusions and create facts and create their own truths and slaughter the issue."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Song Titles That Inspired Movies

Song Titles That Inspired MoviesSong Writing

Famous songs that lent their titles - and in some cases storylines - to movies.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!

Superman in Song

Superman in SongSong Writing

Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.

Rick Astley

Rick AstleySongwriter Interviews

Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.