Part 1. What was the origin of "I Kissed a Girl"?
Jill Sobule: "Okay...I don't think I've ever told this story. I've been asked a zillion times and have always given a bullshit...so. I was actually seeing this boy, who was in a band. And he went on tour. He came home and admitted to me, in tears, that he had kissed another girl. And I didn't think that we were dating, like going steady...so I wasn't upset. But I admitted to him that, well, I did too. It ended up being a little more serious.
"And it was just a goofy little story and I went to write songs with my friend Robin. I told him the story and we wrote it in 5 minutes. And I didn't actually think it would be on my record. Or that we would hire Fabio to do a video. Oh, my God, that's a whole other story...
"So that was the origin. And I wanted to write a song about a first kiss from an adult point of view. Were as my first kiss with a boy...it was, what? In sixth grade, Bobby Conner. It was horrible, like a fish. With a girl it was with someone named Ivanda Hooper.
Julia Sweeney: "Did you want to give her home address too?!"
Jill Sobule: "I don't know where she is. I tried Googling her. I don't think I've ever said... Oh, I've never outed that one too! I've just had a lot to drink."
--AfterEllen.com (All Access Pass): Jill Sobule and Julia Sweeney May 07 08
"It was sometimes irritating to be 'the kissed a girl girl.' Or rather, that that was, sometimes, the only thing that people knew about me. However, I am proud of it. It was the first, I think, blatant 'queer' song to make the top 40. Of course now Katy Perry has taken the title and made it her own. More power to her, however I will say, hers' is more of a 'girls gone wild' thing. The intent of "the Classic" (someone referred to my song as that) was hopefully more to empower and explore one's sexuality as more than just a fun thing to turn on your boyfriend. That said, I still think, it's great that a song like that can piss off Focus on the Family, and still be on the radio..."
"When 'I Kissed a Girl' came out (1995), it was a tough call on talking about my sexuality. I wanted to talk about all the songs, but all anyone wanted to talk about was 'so, what are you?' I didn't want to be an exclusive queer artist-only to play the 'womyn festivals.' At the same time, the idea of the song was to celebrate the joy of that first same-sex kiss and I did not want to underplay that. Since then, I have developed a diverse fan-base with a good sized gay following. And, I did play that...Womyn's festival. The community is very important to me. I am part of the family."
--Interview "She Kissed a Girl Way Before Katy Perry" from the blog "From the Horse's Mouth", Caty Simon, May 10, 2009
Part 2. Kissed a Girl -- yep, that was me.
Ah, the curse of the "novelty" song. It's my cross to bear, but it is also the thing that got me noticed. Plus I made a couple of bucks …well, not as much as you would think. Anyway, it was one of those songs that I wrote on a lark with my friend Robin Eaton. I never thought that it would actually be on a CD, nor thought in my wildest dreams that it would be an MTV hit. Or that I would be branded forever as "the Kissed a Girl girl."
Instead of being thought of as the serious artful singer-songwriter that I aspired to be, I was asked in Howard Stern-like interviews, "did you really kiss her?" "So, you don't like the penis?" My favorite, that I got all the time, was, "Hey Jill, you and me have something in common... we both kissed a girl! Ha ha ha..." What an idiot.I started to resent the song. When asked to play it, I would, but with a bit of an eye roll. Oh, I could go on forever, but in the last couple of years I have started to embrace my one hit wonder hit (actually I had two hits, according to VH1). First of all, what is the shame of having "only one" hit? How many of you would love to even play the cowbell on one jingle? ...Well, I would play cowbell on anything anyone asked me.And, in the last few years, I have started to embrace and have pride in my Kissed a Girl-ness. I mean, what other song includes the words "hairy behemoth"? Plus, I think it was the first song on the charts to deal with queer stuff -- not counting YMCA.
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It was way before the Ellen kiss on TV and The L Word. As innocent now as it seems (a kiss), it was scandalous in 1996. I was banned on many stations, especially in the Bible Belt. In fact one station in Nashville had a disclaimer before it played, so parents, I guess, could put their hands over their kids' ears.I am so happy when someone comes up to me and says that the song made a difference, as they were young, gay, and feeling depressed in some small town in Alabama.At one show, a big boned gal came up to me and said that when she was in the Marines, they would hum a couple of bars of the song to see who was gay or not. Don't ask, don't tell, but hum. I guess I really was "supporting our troops."So, I am Jill, and I am the Kissed a Girl girl.Side note: I always think how funny it is that the Village People's YMCA has become such a universal anthem -- and with choreography. Doesn't everyone know it's about anonymous queer sex at a gym in Chelsea?-- Jill Sobule and the Provocateurs (Yahoo Music Blog) Nov. 29, 2007
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Part 3. My "Feud" with Katy Perry"
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"how DARE YOU. Calling Katy Perry a slut. srs. I'm so pissed at you right now. So are the rest of her fans. why did you do that?!"
"Hi gramma.. I mean Jill fuck face. You should probably get over yourself.. Your 1995 song. I kissed a girl is terrible"
I woke up last Tuesday, and went straight to the computer. I had an interesting idea for a song -- that now I forget. First thing I noticed was my Twitter was filled with, what appeared to be, hate mail from about 30 very upset Katy Perry fangirls. I was confused. Then, I got email messages from relatives and friends informing me that I was in Perez Hilton and The Sun. Why would I be in the tabloids? I'm not that fancy. And, from what they said -- I still have yet to visit those particular sites -- I was portrayed as this angry bitter jealous "gramma" starved for publicity.
It all started with an interview I did for one of my new favorite blog sites: Therumpus.net -- a semi-obscure but hopefully growing arts and cultural website. It was one of the more interesting interviews I have ever done, as I was actually asked, engaging questions for a change. However, the interviewer had to ask the annoying yet inevitable "What did I think of the Katy Perry version of "I Kissed a Girl?"
I thought maybe this time I would have fun with it and goof on what many of my fans were hoping to hear over the last year. I prefaced my reply with a wink, and then rambled on with a string of over the top dumb-ass profanities, purposely out of character and completely in jest.
There was no problem with The Rumpus readers, but then a few weeks later the quote was picked up in the tabloids, out of context, with no link to the original interview, and without that -- hard to sometimes see in print -- wink. My friend Ken, a publicist, said, " I saw the grin behind your words, but not everyone knows you, Jill" My use of the phrase, "fucking little slut", by the way, would only be used... ironically.
I am sounding apologetic, which I'm not, but I have to admit the whole thing made me feel terrible for a couple of days. Who wants to be misunderstood or portrayed negatively, especially by such a beacon of light as Perez with his enormous following -- my mother reads him. And I'm not one who goes for the "all press is good press" dictum. Now I hear I will be featured in the upcoming issue of US magazine under the heading "Feud of the Week"!
But where my thin skin really showed was my reaction to the Katy Perry teen fangirls. I somehow was transferred to 7th grade, the worst year of my life. I was reminded of when mean girl Shelly Zissman spread the rumor that I was a "lezzie" at Shwader Camp. I was devastated. Okay, so maybe the rumor had some basis of truth to it, but she didn't know that at the time.
Out of curiosity, I wrote back to one of my tormenting Katy Perry fangirls -- Typhany. Most had already bored of trolling me, but Typh kept on going. I didn't ask her to stop, but instead asked if we could actually have an honest civil dialogue --unlike some of those health care town hall meetings. We did, much to her credit. She said she was just sticking up for her favorite artist. We are friends now. Facebook friends.
I will end with my final Katy Perry comments. I may be a touch cynical about the business, but I have never really been angry or had ill feelings towards Katy herself. I was actually in a small way happy to not be the "Kissed a Girl" girl anymore. That said, I hope her and her fans (god knows I don't want to piss them off anymore) are okay with the title of my brand new song, " I Kissed a Girl ...First"
Wink.
By the way (a bit of shameless self-promotion since I don't have a big machine behind me): My new record, California Years, was completely fan-funded. You can get it most places, but I like it best when it's listened to and bought on my website, JillSobule.com.
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Video for "I Kissed a Girl"
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Buy the CD at Jill's Store
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