Robert Wyatt, born 1945,
is a retired English musician. He was a founding member of the
influential bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole in the Canterbury music
scene. He initially played drums and sang before becoming paraplegic after a
drunken fall from a window in 1973. He abandoned band work and began a
forty-year solo career exploring other instruments. Wyatt's work became
increasingly interpretative, collaborative and politicised from the mid 1970s
onwards.
His solo music has covered a particularly individual musical terrain ranging from covers of pop singles to shifting amorphous song collections drawing on elements of jazz, folk and nursery rhyme. Wyatt retired from his music career in 2014, stating "there is a pride in stopping, I don’t want the music to go off”
I think his music is very
special, sometimes very moving. If you listen to nothing else here listen to “O’Caroline”
by Matching Mole. I have said here before that I like sad songs and this always
makes me stop and listen.
His cover of “I’m a Believer” is very different to The Monkee’s
version. Listen here
“Heaps of Sheeps” is a hypnotic up tempo rock anthem. Listen here.
“O’Caroline” by Matching Mole. Written and sung by Robert. Achingly sad…Listen here.
5 comments:
1967..*sighs happily*... I'm a Believer was soooo good. I tried to hear Robert Wyatt's version but your link must have been blocked.
Hels: I just checked and it works here. Maybe it's blocked in Oz? Try this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ivg0cDBgo
Hello Bazza, What a shame that so many talented musicians developed such a dangerous lifestyle. According to Wikipedia and Hyatt, the fall, tragic as it was, actually saved him, as he was headed in a bad direction. The "Believer" link worked for me, incidentally. I also listened to the O'Caroline song. His voice has a somewhat veiled quality, but his musical intention is to create a personal mood and effect that he transmits very well.
--Jim
Jim: A lot of his later work is quite avant-garde but the songs in my post are all easy to relate to. Some singers are not technically gifted but that isn't a problem for me. Singers like Buddy Holly and even Bob Dylan & Leonard Cohen have a way of delivering a vocal which, for me is more important.
My husband loved Robert Wyatt. We went to all his concerts in London and of course bought the albums, cds and anything else. Not the t-shirt. There wasn't one. My husband died 4 years ago (almost) of cancer and I put Robert on most nights and think Mr Monk is here with me. Robert is a genius. No getting around it. Nobody better. "Pigs in there?!" How dare we eat pigs. And Oh Caroline! Makes me cry. Bless Robert. He brings much joy and he made my old man so happy.
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