(Last Night I Discovered I Was Jerry Lewis') Doppelgänger (GH3K)

This original tune was originally part of a prospective album of songs called "foreign words and ph(r)ases," of which only four songs were completed (the other three are up on my soundcloud page; see link below, and one of them, "fait accompli" can be found in video form here). The four track recording in from 1987; here I've synced up live video playing guitar, bass, and some percussion.

I've always felt a certain kinship with the Sydney Pithias character that Jerry played in the film DELICATE DELINQUENT, which is similar to the childlike misfits that Lewis specialized in many of his self-directed films like THE BELLBOY, THE ERRAND BOY, and THE PATSY. In a way, I feel like a doppelganger of that character; except in my case, I never got the girl like Jerry usually did.

I especially find it fascinating that Jerry's solo career (and rise as an auteur), apart from Dean Martin, began just as rock and roll was taking off, and that his decline as a "Total Filmmaker" began just as Beatlemania gripped America (it was also at this time that Jerry discarded his "child-man" character which was a comedy goldmine for nearly two decades, since he was now too old to pull it off).

In 1966, Jerry became more closely identified with the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, which went national for the first time that year, and his self-directed films became more and more embarrassing and failed miserably at the box office. After the failure of THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED in 1972, Jerry's Percodan addiction, which started in 1965 after an injurious pratfall for a TV special, enveloped him in a big way, and he had to quit the film biz for six years.

Want to hear more of my forty years of music, in downloadable format?
Please visit my soundcloud page at https://www.soundcloud.com/BigGreg3000. Leave comments, positive or negative, if you like; I love reading them.

Thanks for your support and interest, and feel free to drop me a line if you wish at [email protected].