Joe Jackson: conversion, gravity, sex and religion

"I stepped into another world..."

It may not be the singer's conversion story

..a la Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover"
or St. Alice Cooper's "Cleansed by Fire"
...and it's sure not as explicitly Christian as Dylan's "Saved (By The Blood of the Lamb)
or Mark Farner's cover of "Some Kind of Wonderful"..

but when it came out, it sure rocked a






few people's worlds..

The lyric read like a BC to AD
(or AC/DC...coming out of a homosexual closet, many suggested)
testimony...
but musically, the song ("Another World") and album
was also a genre-switch and bold career move for Joe Jackson.

His previous two albums had been brilliant and pioneering "punk morphs into New Wave,"
Elvis Costello/Graham Parker-style tomes.

But nothing prepared us for the "Stepping Out" album.

Jazz influences ? Classical bits?
The new Cole Porter?
Huh?

He would go on to cut blues, reggae, salsa..

Wow, we were scratching our heads when this came out in '82.
But we knew it rocked...even if there was no rock.

I too was in the throes of conversion (Christian and musical) at the time;
so no surprise it surprised and captured me.
It might have even help lead me to my stepping into another world; the world of Jesus.


"Another World"
(Joe Jackson)


I was so low
People almost made me give up trying
Always said no
The I turned around saw Someone smiling

I stepped into
I stepped into
Into another
Into another
I stepped into
I stepped into
Into another
Into another world

There was no light
I was going to all the wrong places
Like day from night
Suddenly I saw a thousand faces


I stepped into
I stepped into
Into another
Into another
I stepped into
I stepped into
Into another
Into another world

Joe has written a book, "A Cure For Gravity":

Joe describes the book as "a book about music thinly disguised as a memoir." It traces his early musical career, from childhood up to his 24th birthday, which occurred in the same week in which he went into the studio to record his first album. Along the way, Joe talks about his passion for music of all kinds; how people make music and why; musicians past and present; why music is like both sex and religion (and why it isn't); why he loves Shostakovich and The Prodigy and hates Brahms and Brian Eno; and how music saved him from becoming "one of those sad bastards you see milling around outside the pub at closing time, looking for a fight."

"Wise, funny and honest... hugely informative on music and the ways of working with it, as well as how to stay true to your beliefs." - Sunday Telegraph (London)
link

Joe with Todd Rundgren, doing George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
(which some guess was a veiled conversion song by GH)

\

...not to mention this clip of the same song which includes everyone BUT Jackson:

George harrison's son Tom Petty, Steve Winwood...and some surprises by Prince: