The following contains excerpts from Jeffrey Lewis's "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror":
Hi, my name is Jeffrey Lewis, and I was supposed to go chill out at the TMT offices with Hanky Panky today, but I ended up going to Major Matt's to remaster my old album. And on the L train in the morning, I was pretty sure I saw Will Oldham. He was wearing the same big sunglasses he had on stage at the Bowery Ballroom, and since I was feeling in need of answers, I just went right up and asked him. I said, "Will Bonnie Prince, Palace or whatever, what do you think about it? Is it worth being an artist or an indie rock star, or are you better off without it?" Cause, I mean, maybe the world would be better if we were all just uncreative drones. No dead childhood dreams to haunt us, a decent job, a decent home. And if we have some extra time, we could do real things to promote peace. Become scientists or history teachers or un-corrupt police at least.
"Come on Will, you gotta tell me!" I grabbed and shook him by the arm. The L train was leaving Bedford when 10,000 white twenty-somethings crowed on. He opened his mouth to speak, but it was lost in the rumbling of the wheels. We were thrown together in a corner and I yelled "Tell me, man, for real! You're living comfortably, I assume, even if you're not quite a household name. You've reached a pretty high level of success and critical acclaim."
The L train got to First Avenue, and a bunch of people piled out. I was starring into his sunglasses, and I was really freaking out. I was, like, "Steamboat Willie Bonnie Prince of all this shit, you're like the king of a certain genre, but even you must want to quit, like if you hear a record by Bob Dylan or Neil Young or whatever, you must start thinking ‘People like me, but I won't be that good ever.’ And I'm sure the thing is, probably Dylan himself too stayed up some nights wishing he was as good as Ginsberg or Camus. And he was like ‘Dude, I'm such a faker, I'm just a clown who entertains and these fools who pay for my crap, they just have pathetic puny brains.’ And Camus probably wished he was Milton too or whatever, you know what I'm saying?! So Will, will you be straight with me now that it's just us two on this train? Cause I was gonna spend some time and money today to remaster some dumb old album, and I saw you here on the L train and I was like ‘Hey, is that Will Oldham?’"
And then he said to me, "Jeff Lewis, continue your good deeds." And he told me of God and music and his upcoming CD release. I sat there staring at my reflection in his big fuck-all sunglasses and thought how Lie Down In The Light will surely rock the masses. Joined by the likes of brother Paul Oldham, Emmett Kelley of the Cairo Gang, Shahzad Izmaily, and Ashley Webber, Bonnie's new album is due May 19 in the UK and just one day later in the states via Drag City. Then we arrived at Sixth, and he said he had to make a transfer. He took the V Line onto Queens (which sucks), but I was satisfied with his answer.
Lie Down In The Light tracklist:
