Younger Than Jesus, part two

Interview with Jarvis Cocker, published in August 1998 in Juice Magazine.

On the new album you sing the line, “I am not Jesus though I have the same initials.” What else do you have in common with him?

I’m a man. That’s about it really. I can’t perform miracles and I’m older than him. That’s what brought on that particular song that you’re talking about, because some guy really put a downer on my evening at a party once ‘cause he asked me how old I was. I said “I’m gonna be 33 next Thursday,” and he goes, “Oh, you’re gonna have problems.” I said, “Why is that?” and he said, “You know it’s the Christ age—Jesus was crucified at 33, a lot of men at 33 measure their life up against that of our saviour and find it wanting in some way.” I thought, I don’t believe this crap, but as it turned out, for whatever reason, he was right.

It’s been said that you don’t want to grow up. Is that true?

No, no, no. On the back of the record it says it’s okay to grow up, just as long as you don’t grow old. I mean human beings have to change. If you’re still trying to do the stuff that you would do at 22, when you’re older you look stupid and also your body just can’t take it as well. So, you know, it’s good to mature in some ways, but for me what growing old means is becoming less open to things, and becoming too bogged down in your views. You have to fight against that as much as you possibly can.