Listen 2 This #02

The Worst Song I Ever Wrote

Hey, Even Picasso passed off some stinkers

By Tom Sinclair

Tom Sinclair

Tom Sinclair is a senior writer for EW and has been called "the handsomest man in rock criticism'' (by his wife)

THE PERPETRATOR Joe Jackson, who around the time of his 1979 debut, Look Sharp!, was spoken of in the same breath as Elvis Costello (which may be why Jackson has reassembled his '79 band to record a Sharp-ish new album). THE PROOF Sharp's ''Pretty Girls'' THE PLEA ''It's all about pretty girls walking down the street and, Oh wow, isn't that a turn-on,'' says Jackson, who has since gone on to record more-serious compositions like 'Breaking Us in Two'' and, er, ''Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby.'' ''In retrospect, it's kind of a stinker. It's embarrassing -- ogling girls, I mean, that's kind of lame. It's just childish and silly and derivative, but I was 22 when I wrote it. Not everyone can be a prodigy!''

Posted Jun 21, 2002 | Published in issue #659 | Order Article Reprints