"Jet Airliner" was written by Paul Pena, a blind folk singer from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He played the Newport Folk Festival in 1969 and released his debut album in 1971. Pena recorded "Jet Airliner" for his next album, New Train, in 1973, but the album was shelved and didn't get released until 2000. Ben Sidran, who produced New Train, played the song for Steve Miller, who reworked it and released it on his 1977 album Book Of Dreams.
Pena's version runs 5:42 and has five verses. Miller set out to make the song a hit, so he cut it down to 3:20 for the single (the album version runs 4:25) and excised two verses, adding some extra repetitions of the chorus at the end. He kept the distinctive guitar riff, the ear-catching chorus, and the memorable line, "You got to go through hell before you get to heaven."
The song is about missing home, something many musicians can relate to when they're on tour. Pena's original is more detailed and yearning, with lines like: There's so many people, Lord, to talk to And a whole lotta debts to pay and Ridin' along in this big jet plane I've been thinkin' about jumpin' out the door
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.