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ROBYN ’ S SUMMER OF LOVE
1967 : How I Got There and Why I Never Left by Robyn Hitchcock
R
( Akashic Books ) obyn Hitchcock ’ s first memoir , 1967 : How I Got There and Why I Never Left , is unusual and ingenious , matching frequent descriptions of the pop surrealist ’ s musical output during the past 45 years . The book unspools as an ode to the pivotal year named in the title – a period that joined the apex of psychedelic rock with the revelatory time when Hitchcock turned 14 while attending the Winchester College boarding school for boys . The experience determined his social and intellectual framework while also shaping his compellingly off-kilter visual and musical perspectives , even while events back home strengthened family ties from a distance .
Hitchcock ’ s core musical touchstones have long been Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett and Bob Dylan . Both are encountered at Winchester , in addition to happenings with influential “ groovers ” including Brian Eno . These vivid reflections of a precocious boy and his coming of age are peppered by Hitchcock ’ s drawings . Many of them sketch friends and teachers named in the book , framed in balloons . You may spot a Dalek or UFO , as well .
Hitchcock describes his time as an “ inmate ” at Winchester both as “ monastic ” and common among families of means . “ One of the main functions of private education in Britain is to stunt people emotionally and then send them out to run the country ,” he writes .
Whenever a memory veers too far toward objectifying or demonizing a member of the faculty , Hitchcock ’ s pendulum swings in the opposite direction . He conjures what-if scenarios that humanize his handlers .
Hearing the song “ Eleanor Rigby ” reminds him of his lonely school nurse . She may even have been an unnamed resident of Dylan ’ s “ Desolation Row .” Perhaps the spinster nurse had a young soldier sweetheart who was shipped off during the last year of WWI , never to return . “ How would that have felt , to a teenager in love for the first time ?,” he writes , empathetically . He then conjures imaginary love letters between the imagined pair .
The dormitory ’ s Gramophone is an object of fascination and discovery . Hitchcock encounters the Beatles ’ Rubber Soul in his first moments at Winchester , courtesy of the returning older boys during a prologue set in early 1966 . Before long , attention will turn to Sgt . Pepper ’ s Lonely Hearts Club Band , Dylan ’ s Highway 61 Revisited , the Incredible String Band , and Pink Floyd ’ s “ urgent and demented ” new single “ Arnold Layne .”
Other significant songs from the year include the Kinks ’ “ Waterloo Sunset ” and “ A Whiter
By Jeff Ebel
Shade of Pale ” by Procol Harum . Hitchcock mentions these favorites and more . Many are included on a new companion album with the same name as the book . Fans of the Soft Boys will be thrilled to know that the set features the still vital and intuitive interplay between Hitchcock and former bandmate Kimberly Rew , this time wielding acoustic guitars .
The memoir nears its end on Boxing Day , as the year winds down . Hitchcock has grown more than a foot taller since the tale ’ s beginning . The
family sits at home watching the inaugural airing of the Beatles ’ Magical Mystery Tour on television . Ensuing reviews in the newspapers say it ’ s bad , even though groovers and meatheads alike have been enthralled by songs including “ The Fool on the Hill ” for a month . Hitchcock ’ s mum thinks “ Your Mother Should Know ” is nice . Hitchcock shifts his anticipatory attention toward the impending arrival of Dylan ’ s John Wesley Harding . Surely , young Robyn ’ s idol will reveal the meaning of life this time around .
The pages of 1967 brim with wry English wit , period detail , and surprising warmth . The book will hold the attention of readers far flung from Hitchcock ’ s esoteric musical audience . These vignettes will resonate with any Anglophile or student of the psychedelic era . “ For most of my life , I ' ve been a compulsive songwriter ,” says Hitchcock in his press statement . “ This book tells the story of how I came to be that way . It ' s about a vanished world populated by freaks , groovers , misfits , and eccentrics . It ' s about surfing the momentum of early adolescence . It ' s about finding salvation in obsessive music fandom .”
In the book itself , the writer observes , “ I ’ m a teenager and I ’ ll stay one for the rest of my life .”