Foy Vance’s ‘Malibu Jane’ Is a Friendship Song Inspired By Courteney Cox [WATCH]
Foy Vance's "Malibu Jane" is a different kind of love song. "Everybody needs their back got, I know you got mine," the lyrics read, celebrating the kind of true friendship that will be there through all obstacles.
It's rare enough to find a song that focuses on platonic love, but it's even more surprising to hear Vance reveal who inspired "Malibu Jane." According to Taste of Country, the song is about Courteney Cox, who played Monica on the massively popular '90s and early 2000s television show Friends. She and Vance have apparently been close friends for several years, and the singer adds that her kindness, generosity and loyalty to her friendships provided the subject matter for his song.
"If she was standing here right now, within two minutes she wouldn't be Monica from Friends. She's just a 'Bama girl. She's just solid. Just as solid as they come," Vance explained to Taste of Country, before going on to recall his early relationship with Cox.
"Straight away she took that sisterly -- she was always fussing -- like, 'Have you eaten today?' That sort of thing," he continues. "I kept saying to her, 'You're like a Malibu Jane,'" Vance recalls, nicknaming Cox after a dear friend of his in London. (Vance's 2013 album, Joy of Nothing, includes a song called "Janey," which is about the "original" Jane.)
"Malibu Jane" comes off of 2019's To Memphis, one half of a pair of companion albums that also includes From Muscle Shoals. Though he recorded To Memphis in its titular city, From Muscle Shoals was recorded at iconic Alabama studio FAME -- a mere two hours from Cox's hometown of Birmingham, Ala.
Vance's live performance of the song is one of two he recorded at Taste of Country's studio during AmericanaFest 2019. On Wednesday (Oct. 23), they shared his wrenching rendition of "Cradled in Arms," another track off To Memphis.
These 8 Important Country + Americana Albums Were Made at FAME Studios