Barefoot troubadour Beans On Toast has released the video for latest single 'Jamie & Lilly' from his forthcoming album Cushty. Preorder Cushty from Xtra Mile, iTunes or Banquet and receive track ‘Taylor Swift’ as a free download. Beans has also teased the tracks ‘Taylor Swift’ and ‘Open Door Policy’ from the record, which are both available to buy and stream now.
A modern-day love song set against a Brighton backdrop, we're offered a glimpse into the lives of two wonderful and special people. The track is an open-hearted celebration of everyday life. The music video features the actual couple that the song was written about and this short story told by Beans himself explains how it all came about.
THE JAMIE & LILLY STORY
"This story starts with an email.
The email was from a girl called Jamie. It was regarding a show that I had coming up in Brighton; she was coming along to the show with her girlfriend, Lilly, and she wondered if it was at all possible for me to give Lilly a shout out at the gig. In particular, she asked if could I dedicate my song ‘I'm Home When You Hold Me’ to her.
Apparently, they both loved the song and often danced around the kitchen to it.
Me being forgetful and an idiot, I hadn't responded at all to the email when a few weeks later I received another mail, this time from a girl called Lilly. In the email, Lilly informed me that she was coming along to my Brighton show with her girlfriend, Jamie, and asked would I be able to dedicate ‘I'm Home When You Hold Me’ to Jamie as they both loved to dance to the song, in the kitchen. I had to re-read both emails to get my head around the fact that they had both requested the song to be dedicated to each other without the other one knowing.
How cute is that?
I still failed to reply to either of them but on the night of the gig, before I played the song, I told the story about the emails and explained how it had been a double request from Jamie to Lilly and from Lilly to Jamie. It turned out that they were both in the front row. As I told the story, they hugged and kissed. Then, when I played the song, they both held each other and danced. It was a magical moment.
I met them both after the gig. They weren't massively surprised about the double dedication, explaining that they quite often buy each other the same Christmas presents! I ended up going on a night out in Brighton with them, drinking rum. Lots of rum. The rum had its usual effect and the next day my memory of our night was blurry. I did remember, however, that Lilly was a teacher and Jamie a nurse (or was it the other way around?). Typically, they both worked extremely hard and were severely underpaid but, at the same time, they loved their jobs and their lives together. It was inspiring.
For the rest of the tour, every time I played that song I told the story of the emails and how it went down, trying to recreate that feeling of magic for each new crowd. Towards the end of the tour, I realised that, in fact, they'd stolen the song! That song is about my wife, Lizzy, and each time I sang it I dedicated it to them. We couldn't be having that. They needed their own song.
I took their names, their professions and for the rest of the song, I joined the dots. Which is essentially a flashy way of saying that I made that shit up. Later in the year, with the song finished, I was back in Brighton. This time I emailed Jamie and Lilly, inviting them along to the gig so they could hear their song. Again, they were both in the front row of the gig. I played the song while they both held each other tight and danced. Another moment of magic - I nearly bloody cried! After the show, they gave me full permission to use the song and to play it far and wide. Which I did.
In order for me to make a video for the song, Jamie and Lilly let me join them for a day at home and on the beach in Brighton. The song will be on my next album ‘Cushty’ out on 1st December 2017. It's dedicated to Jamie and Lilly, to all the hard working teachers and nurses out there, and to anyone who loves love.
Beans x"
This autumn, complete with the full backing of a full live band, Beans on Toast will also be hitting the road once more for the 15-date ‘Double Trouble’ UK tour, where he will be sharing a stage with fellow Xtra Mile compadres Skinny Lister for a series of shows throughout November and December. Read more about this here. Go straight to tour dates and tickets on our gigs page.
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