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Word In Your Ear
Who is Lawrence and why did Will Hodgkinson write a whole book about him?
Ep. 655
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There’s something romantic about glorious failure and Will nails it perfectly in ‘Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence’. Over 40 years plagued by bad luck and self-sabotage with Felt, Denim and Mozart Estate, Lawrence has pursued fame and success while refusing to do what’s required to achieve them. Will spent 12 months wandering the streets of London with him to paint a fond, touching and extremely entertaining portrait of the worst-equipped pop star attempting a comeback, a man on a holy, monastic mission in a book about “sacrifice and the price of a dream”. Among many highlights here, we talk about …
… where Lawrence fits in the pantheon of great underachievers like Syd Barrett, Nick Drake and Arthur Lee.
… and his similarity to Kevin Shields and Kevin Rowland.
… the wisdom of a former girlfriend: “stop trying to be the pop star you don’t want to be and you might get somewhere”.
… is lack of success the central dream of the indie world?
… why Denim were Britpop before Britpop happened and why EMI melted down all copies of their last single.
… his rules before the book began - “No anecdotes, no interviews with former members of Felt …”
… what his stalker planned to get his attention.
… fantasy girlfriends and “a fear of cheese”.
… why he didn’t go to his mother’s funeral.
… and why Truman Capote’s portrait of Marlon Brando, the Duke and His Domain, was a touchstone for this book.
Order ‘Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence’ here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Level-Superstar-Lawrence-Will-Hodgkinson/dp/1785120220
Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
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