Jeanny (song)

"Jeanny"
Song

"Jeanny" is a song by the Austrian musician Falco, who said that it was inspired by serial killer Jack Unterweger. Many people asume that the song is made with drumcomputers but this is a mistake. The song is made with a acoustic drum.

The song was the third single of Falco's album Falco 3. In 2008 the song re-entered the Austrian Single Charts. [1]

Lyrics

The song is about a relationship between a man and a girl named Jeanny.

At the time, when it reached number one, critics said that the song glorifies rape. German TV and radio personality Thomas Gottschalk made various negative remarks and called the song "rubbish". An outcry in German language markets caused the song to be banned by some radio broadcasters or played with a preceding warning by others. Typically, the scandal only helped to increase the sales of the single.

The song is sung in a slightly unhinged voice, but the lyrics don't actually contain any direct reference to the act of rape or abduction. It is left to the listener's imagination. Falco argued that it's about the musings of a stalker.

The part of the Newsflash in the track is spoken by a German newsreader; The newsflash has obvious parallels to the case in the song, but doesn't explicitly mention the girl's name.

Falco released a second song, "Coming Home" in what was supposed to be a trilogy. A third song, however, was never officially released. After Falco's death, a half finished version of a potential third song was made available for download, but it appeared as a reworked version of the original with an alternative newsflash, designed to change the entire context of the song.

Boycott

Several feminist associations called for a boycott of the song. Some TV and radio stations in West Germany agreed and didn't play the song "for ethical reasons", while others just played it on the charts show. In East Germany the song was not on air and playing it in dance clubs was prohibited.

There were also demands to prohibit the song in West Germany, but officials denied the application in April 1986. This angered Dieter Kronzucker, the news anchorman of Western German public TV station, and he showed this in the daily news TV show Heute Journal. Following this, further radio stations followed the boycott. In the German federal state of Hessen the song was aired with a warn comment. In the popular music show Formel Eins cutscenes were aired, as long as the song was on the first place of the charts.

Chart performance

Country	Peak position
Austria	1
Germany	1
The Netherlands	1
Norway	1
Sweden	1
Switzerland	1

Cover versions

• 1986: Jeannie Part 13 (Jennys Rache) - Drahdiwaberl
• 1986: Jeannie (Die reine Wahrheit) - Frank Zander
• 1986: Freedom (Jeanny, Die Antwort) - Jeannie
• 1987: Where Are You Now ? (Jeanny Part 3) - Mix with Falco's voice
• 1996: ...und wer fragt nach Jeanny? (Jeanny Part 4) - Peter Orloff
• 1996: Jeanny - Ich Troje
• 1999: Jeanny - Stahlhammer (on the album Feind Hört Mit)
• 2001: Jeanny - Reamonn and Xavier Naidoo
• 2001: Jeanny (Part 1) - Sara Noxx
• 2004: Jeanny - Mandaryna
• 2005: An Tagen wie diesen by Fettes Brot and Finkenauer covers the melody of Jeanny