I’m sad to report that singer, songwriter and activist Jill Sobule has passed away in a house fire on Friday.
She is credited with performing the first openly gay-themed song that cracked the Billboard Top 20.
Jill Sobule, the groundbreaking singer-songwriter and activist whose 1995 song “I Kissed a Girl” is widely considered the first openly gay-themed song to crack the Billboard Top 20, died in a Minneapolis house fire early Thursday morning, her rep confirmed. She was 66.
Sobule’s unusually diverse three-decade/12-album career included that song as well as “Supermodel” from the film “Clueless” and, more recently, the Drama Desk-nominated autobiographical musical “Fuck 7th Grade,” which enjoyed four theatrical runs in three years. The original cast recording of the show is set to be released on June 6, alongside a special 30th anniversary reissue of her self-titled album, which features “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel.”
Sobule was a progressive to the core and sang at the closing of Netroots Nation in 2011.
Our former managing editor David Neiwert wrote this about her.
Last night at the closing keynote session for Netroots Nation, we were entertained by the fabulous singer-songwriter Jill Sobule (her official site is here), who wrote this song especially for the convention.
It’s not safe for work. But it may well become a progressive anthem for the 2012 election cycle.
I met Jill briefly, and she said she’s a big C&L fan. Well, here’s back atcha, Jill.
Here’s the lyric:
They say we want our America back
Our America back
Our America back
When they say we want our America back
What the f–k do they mean?Remember the Garden of Eden
Before Eve hung out with that snake?
You could walk down the street
And not worry about thieves
All the kids could go trick or treatingThen those foreigners started comin’ in
Like those Germans in 1790
Then the Irish arrived, the potato blight
The neighborhood started changingLife was better
We lived right
Life had a paler shade of white
When they say we want our America back
We want our America backBefore there was Ellis Island
And that statue we got from the French
And that’s whore’s still alerting
The strangers she’s flirting
Inviting them into our bedsThe Guineas, the coolies, the wetbacks, the Jews
The gays and the terrorists
And who let in that woman looks after my kids
And the one who is cleaning my nestLife was righteous
Life was clean
Send them back including me
When they say they want our America back
Our America back, our America back
When they say they want our America back
What the f–k does it mean?Before the gays had the agenda
Before the slaves were free
Before that man from Kenya
Took the presidencyWe want our America back
Our America back
Our America back
When they say they want our America back
What the f–k do they mean?
Her words resonate as much today as they did 14 years ago.
UPDATE: And Jill Sobule a few weeks ago, making her feelings about JD Vance known.
Open thread below…