“I think that pop, and to some extent rock, are like sport and fashion industry in that they're about the exuberance of youth. That's the sort of subliminal ideology.” ThinkingSportsRocksFashionYouthIndustryPopsIdeologyFashion IndustryExuberanceSubliminal Author:Robert Wyatt
“What keeps me going is a constant sense of disappointment with what I've already done.” DoneConstantDisappointment Author:Robert Wyatt
“Even if you're specific about the character of the song, it's more exciting to place them, juxtapose them in such a way as to make an adventure out of the sequence of the songs.” IfsWayCharacterSongAdventureTravelExcitingFunny TravelSequence Author:Robert Wyatt
“I would like to think that the singer is the butterfly, and the drummer was just the little grub in the ground, working to become a caterpillar” ThinkingLittlesSingersButterflyDrummerCaterpillarsLike A Butterfly Author:Robert Wyatt
“Anybody who thinks pop music's easy should try to make a pop single and find out that it isn't.” ThinkingShouldTryingEasyPopsRock N RollPop Music Author:Robert Wyatt
“When there is a voice in a piece of music, we tend to focus on the voice. That is probably something from when we were babies and we depended on hearing our mother's voice.” MotherVoiceMusicFocusPiecesBabyHearing Author:Robert Wyatt
“When I lost the use of my hi-hat and bass drum legs, I became basically a singer. I was a drummer who did a bit of singing, and then I became a singer who did a bit of percussion.” UseHateLostBitsSingingLegsSingersHatsBassDrummerPercussion Author:Robert Wyatt
“I think the people who did well, or are happy, in a youth industry, they define themselves out of the business after a decade or so.” PeopleThinkingWellsBusinessYouthIndustryDecades Author:Robert Wyatt
“Im not, by nature, a collaborator. My biggest influences were people like painters and poets. These are solitary workers.” PeopleNatureInfluencePoetWorkersPainterSolitaryCollaborators Author:Robert Wyatt
“It just doesnt mean anything to me, the high-profile, big money side of things. I just want enough to live on, and to be able to get on with what I do, and hang around my friends.” WantMeanEnoughBigsAbleSidesFriendsMy FriendsTwo SidesProfileHigh Profile Author:Robert Wyatt
“There are people I would like to work with. Its a bit harder, because I live out in the sticks anyway, and plus being in a wheelchair means that I cant really circulate. So I tend to stick to my own thing.” PeopleMeanBitsWorkMy OwnHarderSticksPlusCantWheelchairs Author:Robert Wyatt
“Those nations of artists, finding their own individualism, and kind of standing against the world: to me that's the ultimate nightmare. I want to get lost and diffused in the world.” WorldWantKindArtistLostNationsFindingsStandingUltimateNightmareIndividualism Author:Robert Wyatt
“When I'm singing I try not be a singer with a capital S. I just try to get it out so I feel comfortable with it.” FeelsTryingComfortableSingingSingers Author:Robert Wyatt
“People say, oh it's a shame, you're not nostalgic about the '60s. Well actually, it's quite good, when you think of it. Wouldn't it be sad if I was sitting here wishing it back?” PeopleIfsThinkingWellsWishSittingShameNostalgic Author:Robert Wyatt
“There are singers that I have enjoyed, from Nina Simone and Ray Charles onward. But the music that made music the number one thing for me as a youth was jazz.” MadeNumbersMusicOne ThingYouthJazzSingersEnjoyedRaysNina Author:Robert Wyatt
“My heroes are people like Picasso and Miro and people who at last really reach something in their old age, which they absolutely couldn't ever have done in their youth.” PeopleDoneAgeLastsYouthHeroOld AgeMy HeroFirefighter Author:Robert Wyatt
“It was physically difficult, adjusting to wheelchair life, but I remember a great relief and happiness that I was finally getting somewhere, finding musicians to work with that were sympathetic.” RememberHappinessDifficultFindingsMusicianReliefSympatheticAdjustingWheelchairs Author:Robert Wyatt
“Love is blind. My politics has been, too. I think you can fall in love with ideas, and you can fall in love with people. It's a very subjective experience. And I'm loyal to that experience.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensIdeasFallLove IsExperienceBlindFalling In LoveLoyalSubjectiveSubjectivityLove Is Blind Author:Robert Wyatt
“I find it hard to take rock groups very seriously or treat them with respect. There is something absurd about these gloomy young men getting together and banging away.” MenHardTogetherYoungGroupsRocksRespectTreatsAbsurdYoung ManGloomyBanging Author:Robert Wyatt
“I don't find the business easy. The moment you start talking about the business, you start sounding like someone in Spinal Tap.” MomentsEasyBusinessTalkingSpinal Tap Author:Robert Wyatt
“I only choose musicians who I think will emerge, can emerge, with their own character, while still going along with the tune in question.” ThinkingStillsCharacterMusicianTunes Author:Robert Wyatt
“If you've never felt that you quite got a hold of it, you just feel that before you die, you've got to try and get it right once. And hope that the experience you have makes up for the some of the diminishing energy.” IfsFeelsTryingDiesEnergyFeltExperience Author:Robert Wyatt
“I've always liked pop music. There was a bit of a misunderstanding with the avant-garde rock scene, because I think I was sort of swimming the wrong way, really.” ThinkingWayBitsMusicRocksScenePopsSwimmingMisunderstandingPop MusicWrong WayAvant Garde Author:Robert Wyatt
“In theory, I'd like to work in a group. But the group I'd like to work in, all the musicians in them are long since dead.” LongWorkGroupsTheoryMusician Author:Robert Wyatt
“The things that I draw on, and the world that I feel part of, aren't particularly youth culture.” WorldFeelsCultureYouthDrawsYouth Culture Author:Robert Wyatt
“I find writing songs hard, because it does not come naturally to me. I never set out to be a songwriter or a singer.” WritingDoeHardSongSingersSongwritersWriting Songs Author:Robert Wyatt
“I would encourage people to realize that you don't have to panic if you're not part of a mainstream, or if you find yourself outside the flow. If it doesn't suit you, don't go along with it. Just sit it out and get your stuff done. Don't just sit moaning or getting drunk—I spent some years doing that. But if you can just come up with something of your own, however minor it is, that's going to be easier to live with when you're at the end of your life.” PeopleIfsYearsEndsDoneStuffRealizingEasierFlowCome UpSuitsDrunkFinding YourselfMainstreamPanicMinorsMoaningGetting DrunkSuits You Author:Robert Wyatt
“I have never felt in tune with the whole rock industry.” WholeFeltRocksIndustryTunes Author:Robert Wyatt
