The Neon Trees is a small UK band that plays a type of music that they call “country power-pop” (which actually sounds more like folk than anything else). The uber-blog Boing Boing notes that one song available on their site, “The Life and Times of Jeff”, was inspired by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com founder who started Blue Origin to develop commercial spacecraft. There’s no overt evidence that’s the case on the band’s site, but there are certainly some suggestive lyrics:
Jeffrey wants to buy a spaceship
Jeffrey want’s [sic] to save your life
Jeff’s going to make a lot of money
Jeff’s going to take a real long flight
Of course, since Blue Origin is reportedly planning to first develop a suborbital vehicle, those initial flights might be really short, not really long. I’m just disappointed they’re not singing about me.
Hi
My names Jo, I’m the lead singer with The Neon Trees. wrote the song ‘The Life and Times of Jeff’ and yes it is about Jeff Bezos.
A couple of years ago I picked up a book from the library where I work called ‘Getting Big the Amazon Way’ or some similar corny title.
The first chapter told the story of Jeff Bezos’ early years and tried to analyse the personality behind the success. It was in this chapter that I discovered Bezos’ fascination with space travel and his plans to fund private space flight.
This immediately fired my imagination. I used certain facts from the book as jumping off points, then took the story to its logical or perhaps illogical conclusion. I admire Jeff Bezos, I think he is an outstanding business man and an extraodinary guy. This song is meant to be an affectionate tribute to him.
Thanks for linking to our site!!
Jo (The Neon Trees)