If you like your writers poetic, Scouse, and just a bit mystical, this is the episode for you.
In this beautifully rambling, warm, and slightly mind-bending episode of Misadventures in Music, Ian Prowse and Mick Ord sit down with author and broadcaster Jeff Young. A man whose voice feels like it’s been soaked in Mersey mist and brewed overnight in a vinyl record sleeve.
Jeff’s latest book, Wild Twin, is less a memoir and more a dreamstate walking tour through Liverpool, memory, myth, and music. And honestly? Listening to him talk is like slipping into a late-night BBC Radio 4 play after one too many whiskies.
“I started seeing Liverpool not just as a city, but as a text.”
Right from the off, Jeff isn’t giving us your standard book-tour waffle.
He’s talking Jungian archetypes, twin flames, and why alleyways are more poetic than penthouses. The guy can weave references to Bowie, Betjeman, Blade Runner and The Beatles all in one breath and somehow make it feel like gospel.
What’s Wild Twin actually about?
It’s memory. It’s music. It’s walking into a pub and realising the jukebox is playing a song that used to mean everything. It’s grief and ghosts. It’s writing with rhythm and letting the rhythm write you.
Highlights From the Episode:
- Jeff’s thoughts on growing up in a city haunted by its own soundtrack.
- How he maps stories onto Liverpool’s streets like secret runes.
- The uncanny experience of feeling your “twin self” in a parallel life (no, not the multiverse, a more mystical, less Marvel).
- Why creativity, for him, comes from wandering rather than sitting down and “trying.”
Also: Jeff doesn’t drop names, he drops entire moods. One minute it’s Allen Ginsberg, the next it’s Echo & the Bunnymen. And don’t worry, he’s not pretentious. He’s just tuned into something most of us forgot was there.
“I write like I walk – to find out what’s waiting round the next corner.”
Mick and Ian, as always, guide the conversation with their signature blend of pub banter and proper curiosity. They let Jeff drift, dream, and occasionally land a killer one-liner that reminds you this guy’s been writing for stage, screen, and sound for decades.
Resources
- You can find Jeff’s playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6eHTvfZB8vDCaTHB45SB22?si=WfxQRoK7QP2O5sB9piKq5Q
- Book available here: https://www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/little-toller/wild-twin-by-jeff-young/
- A Special Thanks to the Podcafe for hosting us: https://podcafestudios.com/
