When I mentioned I was working on a musical response to the Jim White visit in one of my many anticipatory posts, Gordon @sairfingers quipped:
“Looking forward to that one Brian. (assuming it’s all your own work of course). 
”
This leopard is well beyond his changing-spots-years, so it’s all begged, borrowed or stolen,
from the nod-to-The-Doors intro, to the videos, to the interview mashup in the middle…
Sue me!
YT blurb, credits & lyrics
On Valentine’s Day, 2025, Jim White rolled into West Kirby, Merseyside, with the fabulous Belgian musicians Geert Hellings and Nicolas Rombout to perform his latest collaboration ‘Precious Bane’ with Trey Blake from Brighton, in a gig I organised.
The middle section contains an ‘imaginary’ description of Johnny Dowd (who played in my living room last year).
It’s a mashup of Jim’s descriptions of David Byrne, Tom Waits and a homeless person, living on the streets of New York.
If the glove fits…
This video is a musical Thank You card / souvenir to four wonderful individuals (five, if you count Johnny)
You can view some of the performances in a playlist on my YT channel
Credits
Chris Goldring, lead guitar, mandolin
Hans Larsen, drums
Brian Larsen, guitar, looper, vocals, video & audio editing, production
Jim White, heavily edited interview from vpro Vrije Geluiden extra (no permission)
Video extracts from Jim White’s BBC documentary ‘Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus’
& Johnny Dowd’s ‘That’s your Wife on the Back of My Horse’
Lyrics:
I wanna tell ya ‘bout Jim White and the big heat
Comes out of the peri-Pensacola wetlands cool an’ slow,
Like Mr. Mojo Risin’ with a light guitar
And tight skin on the back of the beat
He drilled a pre-millennium hole in the substrate of my brain
Searchin’ for the Son of God, with a funny stare
Prisoners, preachers, pimps & harlots
In a borrowed a chevvy from a Pentecostal car lot
Chasing tornadoes from God to vice
He’s superwhite, superwhite
He’s super nice
Sparks and flames from Rennie an’ Brett
The handsomest couple you never met
He got 16 powers, and all the force
Of David Eugene Edward’s Horse
But who’s that dude with silver hair, the gravelly voice, who breathes despair?
Hellwood! Hell won’t accept the Dowd!
Tell me, Jim, how’d you smoke him out?
(Jim White)
It’s a series of extraordinary, improbable events
He had on a coon-skin cap with a little tail, mirror sunglasses, and a strange western outfit
He thought he was the illegitimate son of Hank Williams
And he lived in Hell
*He ate pepper. Black pepper… and he drank Listerine. *
And that’s all he ate
He had a guitar with one string on it
And he would make these grunting sounds as people walked by
So, it’s like seeing a mirror image of yourself- only functioning on a much higher level
*I had found a voice howling from a direction, which I knew I needed to go, *
but I saw no way to get there
So, he was John the Baptist, in the desert, crying out:
*“Oh, yeah… the Jesus guy! *
*What’ll you have, Mac?.. *
Nothin’!”
And he turned around and walked out
He’s a wonderful person
He’s a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful person
Chasing tornadoes from God to vice
He’s superwhite, superwhite
He’s super nice
Still can’t believe that Jim & John,
my hero alt. Amer- icons
broke my bread and slept in my bed
and made me smile just like Jim said:
(Jim)
Dig a grave in my backyard
Lay me in it and throw the dirt on me
You will not ever see the smile disappear from my face
… as a punishment no more quoting for a month you get a 2 month no opening topics as a punishment … see how quickly you start shaking,
… Funny to see that I saw the beginning bus somewhere on TV not so long ago… but where???
