Representative Albums: "Live at Windsor Jazz Festival III," "Yellow Fire," "It's No Good Tune...If It Doesn't Have a Story"
Biography
One of the last survivors of the pre-swing era, Franz Jackson (a fine tenorman and clarinetist) remained active into the next century, recording for Parkwood with Marcus Belgrave, and enjoying the release of a 2000 performance on Delmark. He worked in the Chicago area starting in 1926, including with Albert Ammons, Carroll Dickerson (1932 and 1934-1936), Jimmie Noone (1934), Roy Eldridge (1937), and Fletcher Henderson's orchestra (1937-1938). Jackson traveled to New York with Eldridge (1938-1939), played in California with Earl Hines' orchestra (1940-1941), and then worked with Fats Waller (1941) and the Cootie Williams big band (1942). Stints with Frankie Newton (1942-1943) and Wilbur DeParis (1944-1945) followed, and he played in the Pacific on several USO tours. In the mid-'50s, after returning to Chicago, Franz Jackson formed his Original Jazz All Stars, a group that lasted for around 20 years. He recorded for Riverside in 1961, Delmark, and for his own label Pinnacle; Jackson also recorded with Art Hodes in 1974. He continued playing regularly in the Chicago area during the next several decades. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
"Jackson" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler about a married couple who find (according to the lyrics) that the "fire" has gone out of their relationship. The song relates the desire of both partners to travel to a city named Jackson (possibly Jackson, Mississippi or Jackson, Tennessee) where they each expect to be welcomed as someone far better suited to the city's lively night life than the other is.
'Jackson' came to me when I read the script for Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (I was too broke to see the play on Broadway)...When I played it for Jerry [Leiber], he said 'Your first verses suck,' or words to that effect. 'Throw them away and start the song with your last verse, "We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout."' When I protested to Jerry that I couldn't start the song with the climax, he said, 'Oh, yes you can.' So I rewrote the song and thanks to Jerry's editing and help, it worked. I recorded the song on my first Kapp Records album, with Joan Sommer, an old friend from Berea, Kentucky, singing the woman's part. Johnny Cash learned the song from that album, A New Bag of Songs, produced by Jerry and Mike.[1]
Gaby Rodgers is frequently cited as co-author of "Jackson", because Jerry Leiber used his then-wife's name as a pseudonym in writing the song with Wheeler.[citation needed]
Notable covers
The song appeared on The Kingston Trio album Sunny Side!, released in 1963. Since the dialogue in this version is between father and son, the lyrics differ slightly from later recorded versions.
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood also recorded a version of the song that charted at #14 in 1967. The song was featured in the 1967 TV special: Movin' With Nancy, starring Nancy Sinatra, released to home video in 2000.[2]
The song was also covered by British band Brakes (as a duet with Liela Moss of The Duke Spirit) on their debut 2005 album, Give Blood.
Country music parodist Cledus T. Judd recorded a parody called "Jackson (Alan That Is)" on his 1996 album I Stoled This Record. The parody deals with a man who is frustrated over his wife's obsession with Alan Jackson; the parody also includes snippets from Alan's 1994 song "Chattahoochee".
The band Pansy Division also did a parody cover for their 1995 album Pile Up.
A Swedish language version uses the Swedish place Laxå.
Yet another cover was released in 2004 by Hem on their album Eveningland. This version of the song has a different mood entirely from the famous Johnny & June recording; instead of sassy and uncaring, this recording is slow, sad, and regretful.
