I just finished reading the above-titled Joe Jackson autobiography from 1999. I was charmed right away on page 12 with this passage:

The first of our three 45-minute sets is uneventful, but this is normal. People are still trickling in. Most of them seem to be middle-aged bruisers with long sideburns who won’t leave until they’ve had at least eight pints. Their pudding-fed wives are dressed, if not to kill, then at least to inflict grievous bodily harm . . .

I love that! Partly because you can see the work he put into writing it. I’m not saying it’s great literature, or even good literature, but it has character.

The book itself was readable and interesting. It reminded me a lot, both in style and content, of Quentin Crisp.

Was that on purpose, Jackson picking up Crisp’s style to tell a similar story of growing up and finding oneself in a world of characters?

I googled *”joe jackson” “quentin crisp”* and came across this interview from 2002 where Jackson says:

And if we’re talking about stereotypes, then I guess what I’m saying in the song is that I almost prefer the older stereotype—this sort of Oscar Wilde/Quentin Crisp gay stereotype, I almost prefer that to the more-straight-than-straight stereotype.

So, yeah, Jackson was aware of Crisp, and maybe that was an influence on his writing style.

That same Google search also turned up this bit from Crisp:

Playing Shakespeare is really tiring. You never get to sit down, unless you’re the king.

Dude had some great lines.