Rising to the surface like a fart in the bathtub, ‘Beans on Toast’ by Jim E Brown started playing on one of the weekly playlists we cycle through – I remember exactly where I was, just approaching The Coldra roundabout off the A48 westbound. It was an enjoyable tune. I enjoyed it. It reminded me that it has been quite some time since my last dose of beans on toast and it is an enjoyable meal. My mind figured it must be some outsider musician or esoteric band and noted I should go back to the track to find out who performed it, in fact I think it’s one of the few tunes where Jim E Brown doesn’t open with ‘My name’s Jim E Brown’ but maybe he does and I’ve forgotten… anyway, not too long afterwards The Sky is Ugly started playing (which happens to be the name of the album that both tunes hail from) but I didn’t assume it was the same artist, different tonal shifts you see, or at least to my (at the time) non Jim. E Brown atuned ears…
… So what commenced was a deep dive, a big listen, most enjoyable. I enjoyed it. Very relatable songs from someone who I assumed was probably about ten years older than me. He’s a self-confessed obese man with numerous health issues and alcohol dependency. Heck, I’ve just described a majority of my friend base, a bunch of middle-aged fat men who drink to much and whinge a lot… no offence. This does make the content of the tunes very relatable, even though I’m not an obese alcoholic… and the added beauty is that there’s a simplicity to them, like they were written by a teenager, but a teenager that somehow had all the foresight needed to know what is to come – and that’s where my comparison comes in. That Jim E Brown is this generation’s Gerard Hoffnung, the name of this article.
Who is Gerard Hoffnung? I hear you ask. Well, he WAS an entertainer with a short-lived but successful comedy career. If the Barrel of Bricks sketch ever gets mentioned the original credit is often, erroniously attributed to The Dubliners, but they’re big fat lies because Gerard Hoffnung wrote The Bricklayer’s Lament and his performance of same is timeless and hilarious.
So there are similarities, they were both very young men who had the voices and minds of men preparing to be old, a kooky perspective that rose these gentleman to that of small gods. Gerard Hoffnung wove working class tales that would have the young folk of the union clubs howling in laughter. Jim E. Brown performs songs on stage that tell simple truths around stigmas like mental health and alcohol abuse. A cynical nihilist who self-identifes as being nineteen years of age, whilst also being born September 10th 2001, a potentially ficticious son, a seemingly well-established book-career and a seemingly altruistic manager who has established tours around the world, his name is Jim E. Brown and I think he actually does know what he is doing.
We saw him live. In a room full of THE YOUNG, we, to our horror found ourselves to be in the minority of elders (though we were the youngest old people that were there) and we were seemingly the only people there who had heard his music first and discovered his Instagram and social media fame second. For a fat day drinker who sings about ditching his SSSRIs in favour of booze he has nailed the hellscape that is the middle of the venn diagram between the old and new way of ‘branding’ yourself a musician and ‘creating content’ but it all comes across as very reluctant. .. that perhaps THE YOUNG have manifested this young, talented, rotting corpse and they have in fact sent him hurtling into the future, carving a deity of cynisism and nihilism, he suffers so they don’t have to… what do you mean you heard his music first? He’s fucking instagram famous you OLD FUCK. It’s addictive. I enjoyed it. Why is he so down with THE YOUNG? He was singing old stuff – I’m getting fat, I take SSRIs, I used to drink, I feel like falling over in Asda. These arent’ hobbies for THE YOUNG.
He played Rat in Bin four times (from his most recent album I Urinated on a Butterfly). Three on the trot. Two on purpose. One by peer pressure, THE YOUNG audience interuppting him at every possible moment ‘sorry?’ he would ask, gesturing to the stage, do you want to do the show instead? – I think if someone actually got up there he’d probably have left and resided to an evening of drinking whilst leaving whoever was stood up there to crash and burn.
So is he a character? Hard to say? I think at the very least he’s leaning into characteristics he already possesses because it works, and at most he’s a very talented character actor with a good creative network around him to really catapault Jim E Brown into the world.
I like to believe that he is a gristled fat loser who is being made to perform on stage, like a depressed puppet for the benefit of someone else. He’s only getting paid in booze and food and his cries for help are all genuine but THE YOUNG are too busy filming him for their social media. He is riddled with disease and like a disease he will spread, into our ears and into our eyes. Making us aware of the filth around us, his filth, eating food off the floor filth. Speaking of which ‘I have a Horrible Relationship with Food and Self Image’ is the most perfect song to ever grace my ears. I enjoyed it. It makes me want to eat.
In fact, I’ve drunk some booze recently. A bit of wine and a couple of shots of honey rum on holiday. I don’t drink. But now I’ve discovered Jim E Brown look at me… look at what I’ve become.
I hope he does die young. Not necessarily the bag of flesh that Jim E Brown inhabits. But the spirit of Jim E. Brown. THE YOUNG need their jesus to die for their sins, plus once he’s gone I can step up and create derivative drivel in his place. I mean seriously, how has no one up until now sung about Queuing at Greggs? It’s a song so univerally relatable to anyone who matters in the UK… how it hasn’t hit the top charts is beyond me!
um… the songs are all beautifully arranged, it was only him on stage with some fancy music box being the band – it sounded great. I’d highly recommend popping the album on during a social gathering and seeing how long it takes people to notice the lyrics. I enjoyed it.
