Day After Day #51: I'm the Man

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4). 

I'm the Man (1979)

As you go through your life, there are certain songs that just grab you: You hear them once and you can't get enough of them. For me, one of those is Joe Jackson's "I'm the Man." 

I was 11 for most of 1979 and starting to really get into pop music. Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" was all over the radio up in Toronto. It actually was first released as a single in October 1978 and didn't do anything, but was re-released later in '79 and became a hit (#21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and #9 in Canada). I heard it a lot that summer and really dug it, so when Jackson released a second album that fall, I paid attention.

"I'm the Man" was the title track of Jackson's second album and it was a blistering new wave rocker about a conman, or a "spiv" as the Brits say (according to Jackson). Unlike some of the early punk acts, Jackson's band on his first three albums was full of terrific musicians who could masterfully play new wave, rock or even jazz. Bassist Graham Maby powers "I'm the Man" with a killer bass line, with Gary Sanford on guitar and David Houghton on drums racking to keep up. 

I loved it and would be constantly listening to my radio to hear it again; this was before you could hear anything on demand, so I was at the mercy of radio programmers. Eventually, I bought the 45. The lyrics were great, too, as Jackson's character is constantly trying to find the next big thing. Jackson was being lumped into the "Angry Young Man" category with artists like Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, but like them, he was just having fun. 

"I'll speak/To the masses through the media/And if you got anything to say to me/You can say it with cash/'Cause I got the trash and you got the cash/So baby we should get along fine/So give me all your money cause I know you think I'm funny/Can't you hear me laughing/Can't you see me smile/I'm the man."

He pushed for "I'm the Man" to be the first single off the album and the song totally flopped, failing to chart anywhere but Canada, where it hit #23 on the singles chart. The next single, "It's Different for Girls," ended up going to #5 on the UK Singles Chart. 

I didn't get the album until many years later, but man, it's so good. Those first two albums are kinda perfect to me. He ended up really blowing up with 1982's Night and Day, which had the huge hit "Stepping Out." I got kind of sick of that one because it was massively overplayed on radio, but it's a great song. I've picked up a few of his albums over the years, although he's been all over the place musically. In the late '90s, he started playing classical music. He's gone back to his rock roots every so often and he's still touring.

I've probably heard it a thousand times, but I never get sick of "I'm the Man." It'll never stop kicking ass, and it's even better live (see a classic performance from the Rock Goes to College show in early 1980).