Aerosmith’s frontman Steven Tyler has opened a shelter for young victims of abuse in Atlanta, United States.
Called Janie’s House, the place opened last Wednesday, 6, in collaboration with the Youth Villages Inner Harbor Campus, an American mental health service.
The name of the shelter was inspired by the band’s 1989 classic “Janie’s Got a Gun.” The track tells the story of a child who was abused by a member of his family.
Hear the song below:
“Janie’s Got a Gun” by Aerosmith
Pump (1989)
“This place calling itself ‘Janie’s House’ is a dream come true. When I sang ‘Janie’s got a gun’ … she does not need that gun now. She has support, “Tyler said in an interview with The Independent.
For its official Instagram, the singer published a video celebrating the inauguration revealing to be an old dream.
Check it out:
The song
“Janie’s Got a Gun” was written by Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton. It was originally titled “Danny’s Got a Gun” after a close friend of Tyler, but was later changed. It was released as the second single from Pump in 1989. It peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990, and also made it to number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
The song also reached number-one in Australia, their first number-one single there, and one of two number-one singles for the band in that country. It reached number 12 in Sweden.
Tyler said he came up with the title and melody before he knew what direction he wanted the song to take. It had taken nine months to finish the lyrics; after Tyler read a Newsweek article on gunshot victims, he was able to connect the song with the theme of child abuse and incest.
The singer declared that “I got really angry that nobody was paying homage to those who were abused by Mom and Dad”. The line “He jacked a little bitty baby” was originally “He raped a little bitty baby,” but was changed for commercial purposes.
Tyler often sings the original line when performing live. In addition, the line “…and put a bullet in his brain” was sometimes changed to “…and left him in the pouring rain” for the radio airplay version to make the song sound less graphic.
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