Hero Worship: Jeffrey Lewis by Josie Long

Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee <strong>Josie Long</strong> gets all tongue-tied over anti-folk hero <strong>Jeffrey Lewis</strong>

Feature by Josie Long | 09 Aug 2011

My friend got hold of an early, scruffy demo of Jeffrey Lewis when we were at university. It blew my mind and he’s been my hero ever since.

There are so many things to love about Jeffrey Lewis. He’s an incredible lyricist and he writes about everything, so you end up with really stupid, funny songs like Creeping Brain as well as heartbreaking songs about love like You Don’t Have To Be A Scientist To Do Experiments On Your Own Heart. There’s one that I’m keeping in mind for the Edinburgh festival. It’s called Don’t Let The Record Label Take You Out To Lunch and there’s a lyric that goes:

You get a good review and then you get a bad review,
But don’t get suckered either way because none of them know you

I couldn’t agree more.

I saw Jeffrey once in Edinburgh, playing support to The Cribs in The Liquid Rooms. The audience was full of these lairy 19-year old rock fans and he was by himself with an acoustic guitar, looking vulnerable. They were all staring at him, saying “who is this guy?”, so he stepped away from the mic and started shouting his songs at them. They were speechless. It was one of the most wonderful pieces of self-assurance and stagecraft I’ve ever seen.

We’ve got a few things in common, like the way we both draw comics and use them onstage. I look up to his DIY ethic as well, the way he sells his own merchandise after gigs, chats to the fans and sleeps on people’s sofas so he can play at tiny gigs all over the world. We did meet once and although he’s really charming, I could barely speak to him. A lovely man, truly inspirational and truly someone to look up to.

 

Josie Long: The Future Is Another Place is at Pleasance Dome, 4-28th August, 7pm.