In the song “Jackson” as sung by Johnny Cash and June Carter, there’s a line I’m trying to pin down. It’s sung by June, and is usually rendered as “I’ll be waiting (there) in Jackson, behind my Japan fan [pronounced JAY-pan fan].” I don’t think that’s right.
Presumably, “JAY-pan fan” is country-speak for “Japanese fan.” This has always bothered me for two reasons. First, nowhere else have I heard of Japanese fans. Chinese fans, yes, and often. Japanese fans, no. Second, nowhere else have I heard JAY-pan spoken to mean Japan or Japanese. Even poorly educated people pronounce “Japan” and “Japanese” correctly, or perhaps say “Jap.” JAY-pan just doesn’t ring true.
I have carefully listened to my copy of this song, and it very clearly sounds like she’s saying “jay pan plan.” There’s no way that last word is “fan” – there may be some doubt that it’s exactly “plan,” but there’s no doubt it certainly isn’t “fan.”
Of course, “jay pan plan” is meaningless to me, and I haven’t been able to figure out what it should be that I might be mishearing a bit. Anyone know, or have a good guess, what she’s saying and what it means?
Okay, I got an Englishman with the same query, being told it was a “Jay-pan plan”, but then no explanation of what the heck that was. Google doesn’t know, either.
Well, it shows that JAY-pan isn’t as strange as I thought it was, so that’s a start. The phrase as a whole is still a mystery, though. What is a JAY-pan plan (or something that sounds like that) which one can sit behind?
I’ve no doubt that the lyrics are “Japan Fan” pronounced “JAY-pan fan”.
Singers and lyricists often take liberties with pronounciation when it serves the song (see Cole Porter). Compare “JAY-pan” to “A-mer-i-kay” in Irish folks songs- no one from Ireland actually says “Amerikay”, but it sounds good in fun silly folk songs. “Jackson” is a fun song with lots of teasing and silliness so it’s easier to get away with something like “JAY-pan” than it would be if the song was more serious.
Google results for “Japanese Fan”: 25,700
Google results for “Chinese Fan”: 19.500
Google Image search results for “Japanese Fan”: 1,320 example
Google Image search results for “Chinese Fan”: 923 example
Wiki says the folding fan was invented in Japan and taken to China in the 9th century.
I have always seen the lyrics published as “japan fan”. Online cites are of course up for dispute since often lyrics sites rely on visitors to post lyrics rather than getting them from official sources, but still they pretty much all say the same thing: Cite Cite Cite Cite Cite
A person can certainly be said to be behind a Japanese folding fan when holding the fan up to cover the face.
Lots of intertesting information about Japan, Missouri. Thanks for posting it. But I’m pretty sure the song refers to Jackson, Mississippi rather than Jackson, Missouri.
Looks like you’re dead on, bienville. I posted this question to another site (music-oriented) and one of the respondents had a recording of the song by Billy Edd Wheeler, who (co-)wrote the song. He said the female vocalist in that version clearly said “JAY-pan fan.” Apparently June Carter wasn’t careful with her diction.
And apparently I had some misconceptions about the prevalence of Japanese fans and of the pronunciation JAY-pan.
Thanks Savannah and bienville. The simplest explanation again emerges as the correct one.
Interestingly, I was watching something on TCM a few days ago, and one of the interstitial programs was a travelogue on Japan. I got the idea it was pre-WWII. The narrator clearly pronouned the country “JAP-AN” (both vowels short “a” sounds, and both syllables accented), as opposed to “juh-PAN,” which you’d more commonly hear.
That actually makes least sense in context–how often do you find yourself behind a piece of jewelry? The only interpretation that makes sense in the whole sentence is a fan.
Using the country name as an adjective isn’t common, but you do run across it in old books sometimes. I think it’s Anne of Green Gables where they talk about a piano scarf of China crepe, and I’m wanting to say one of the Alcott books makes some reference to real China silk.
She thinks he’s 20# of bullshit in a 10# sack, and she’s going to be waiting there, hiding behind her fan, laughing her ass off when he makes a fool of himself. That is, when she’s not dancing on a pony keg, which has to be a pretty amazing feat.
When I was in college, I had a job selling antique jewelry. If I’m not mistaken, japanning was (is) a technique used to lacquer a variety of items, including folding fans. Dunno if such things are necessarily cheap, but the process apparently originated in the Far East (hence the name) and is often used to produce Oriental-type designs.
Japanned folding fans were among the items on my cart. They looked like this:
But doesn’t it make a ton of sense? “We got married in a fever…I’m going to mess around” sounds an awful lot to me like a disenchanted man saying to his wife, “screw this, if you won’t give me some I’ll find someone in Jackson who will.” She shoots back “Go ahead you fool, I’ll make it so everyone knows you’re married and you’ll just look like a total cheating ass.”
My biggest quandary is I only know the use of the term “Snowball” as a verb to mean either something that grows as it picks up speed, or the … um… sexual innuendo.
