According to author Nicholas Pegg, "The Jean Genie" originated as an impromptu jam, at this point titled "Bussin'", on the tour bus between the first two concerts in Cleveland and Memphis, when Mick Ronson began playing the Bo Diddley-inspired guitar riff on his new Les Paul.
It subsequently became the first song Bowie composed for Aladdin Sane, in autumn 1972 during his 1972 US tour, completing the song in New York City, where he spent time with the Warhol set's Cyrinda Foxe. Bowie later asserted, "I wrote it for her amusement in her apartment. Sexy girl." Bowie later in the 1990s described the song as "a smorgasbord of imagined America" and "my first New York song."
The recording took place at New York's RCA Studios on 6 October 1972. "I had a really great conversation with [bassist] Trevor Bolder," recalled Def Leppard's Joe Elliott. "I said, 'You remember when you were doing The Jean Genie?' He said, 'No. We did it in an hour and a half.'"
Mixing occurred the following week at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee; the original single mix is in narrow stereo, while the stereo soundscape is wider in the album mix.
Lyrics
A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city
Strung out on lasers and slash back blazers
And ate all your razors while pulling the waiters
Talking 'bout Monroe and walking on Snow White
New York's a go-go and everything tastes nice
Poor little Greenie
Woo-hoo
(Get back one)
The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
(The Jean Genie) he's outrageous, he screams and he bawls
The Jean Genie, let yourself go, oh
Sits like a man, but he smiles like a reptile
She loves him, she loves him, but just for a short while
She'll scratch in the sand, won't let go his hand
He says he's a beautician and sells you nutrition
And keeps all your dead hair for making up underwear
Poor little Greenie
The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
(The Jean Genie) he's outrageous, he screams and he bawls
The Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoa-oh
He's so simple minded, he can't drive his module
He bites on the neon and sleeps in the capsule
Loves to be loved
Loves to be loved
Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo
Oh, the Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
(The Jean Genie) he's outrageous, he screams and he bawls
The Jean Genie, let yourself go, oh
Go
Go
The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
(The Jean Genie) he's outrageous, he screams and he bawls
The Jean Genie, let yourself go, oh
Go
Go, go
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