In 20-0-3

"In 20-0-3"
Single by Joe Jackson
Released16 February 2004
Recorded2004
GenreRock
LabelGreat Big Island
Songwriter(s)Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson singles chronology
"Stranger Than You"
(2001) 		"In 20-0-3"
(2004)

"In 20-0-3" is a song by the British musician Joe Jackson. It was self-distributed via his personal website and not available on any album.

The lyrics of "In 20-0-3" criticizes the decision of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg in the year 2003 to ban smoking in every bar and club in the city, stating that 'secondhand smoke' was killing 1,000 New Yorkers per year.

"I don't feel like a place is civilised unless they let me smoke, and if they don't let me smoke I feel really insulted. I hate the whole nanny state thing. OK, they're entitled to inform us about things, but after that leave us alone!"[1]

"In 20-0-3" was released in partnership with FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) and was made available to order on Jackson's website. The proceeds of the song went towards fighting smoking bans. Jackson told The Independent in 2004, "I'm one of those songwriters who writes about anything and everything. In this case, I wrote a song about something that made me angry."[2]

Jackson actively campaigned against smoking bans in both the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2005 he published the pamphlet The Smoking Issue[3] and in 2007 the essay Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State.[4]

Personnel

Musicians
  • Joe Jackson – piano, organ, vocals
  • Steve Hampton – guitar, bass
  • Dave Houghton – drums
Production
  • Joe Jackson – arrangements, production
  • Julie Gardner – recording and mixing engineer
  • Bob Bruce – recording engineer

References

  1. ^ Jackson, Joe. ""In 20-0-3"". www.last.fm. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  2. ^ Guest, Katy (2 March 2004). "Joe Jackson gets the blues over smoke-free bars". The Independent. p. 8.
  3. ^ "The Smoking Issue". Web.archive.org. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 8 May 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State" (PDF). Joejackson.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2015.