1967: How I Got There And Why I Never Left - Robyn Hitchcock (Akashic Books)

Robyn Hitchcock writes songs that are at times sublime and surreal. Often filled with clever narrative, they are delivered with charm and humor. Bursts of surrealist absurdity with emotional heft his music never sounds trite or stale. But where did those well-crafted songs come from? What life experiences shaped their creation? Based on his riveting new memoir, it appears they came from 1967.

Hitchcock’s aptitude as a singer-songwriter makes him a natural for outlining how his experiences and adolescence shaped him as an artist. As a result, his book, 1967: How I Got There And Why I Never Left is a delightful journey into his headspace. Part autobiography, part love letter to the music that shaped him, the book uses that year as a snapshot of his life and passion for music.

Tethered to adolescence, the book opens with his somewhat pedestrian home life. He lives with his gran, siblings, and parents in a loving home. However, that life is disrupted when he is sent off to boarding school at Winchester College. From here things pick up steam as Hitchcock recounts his time as an inmate at school. Sharing quarters with oddly nicknamed lads who are also trying to find their way, he muses on the social classes of the school and how he fits into the picture.

Settling into life as a groover in training, he recounts the music heard on a shared gramophone throughout the year. His fondness for music shines as recounts memories of the records he heard during this formative year.

All the big players of 1967 are there, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Syd Barrett, amongst others. Hitchcock soaks them all in with the enthusiasm of an explorer discovering treasure. Readers learn how these artists molded and shaped him for future days when he would sing about dreaming of trains and watching the cars.

The book also finds the 1967 version of Robyn Hitchcock coping with familial relationships. He has a nurturing one with his younger sister and an on-again-off-again one with his parents. As the memoir unfolds, he candidly describes his family connections with a dry wit that brings readers inside his orbit.

The book also introduces us to a young lad on the make. He designs show flyers for concerts he can’t get into, sneaks out of school at hours to attend parties with other bohemians, and spends way too much time listening to music. These events introduce him to jazz, art, beat writers, and other assorted counterculture delights. There are even several offbeat encounters with an art student named Brian Eno.

Viewing his surroundings as an ‘alien world,’ Hitchcock’s prose is easygoing. Not over-saturated with nostalgia, his contemplations provide glimpses into who he was in 1967 that are personal and engaging. Taking readers on a journey of musical enlightenment, this return to yesteryear is loaded with coming-of-age angst, teenage dread, and sage musings told with sincerity. Hitchcock also uses irony and melancholy to elicit emotion.

But best of all, the ensuing tales are accompanied by a cool soundtrack. This is no surprise because Robyn Hitchcock has always worn his influences on his paisley sleeves.

Energetic and infectious, 1967: How I Got There And Why I Never Left doesn’t get tangled up in the brambles. Stylistically, it is a crisp read that resembles his songs in its clever wordplay and clever hooks.

The time in a music lover’s life when the compulsion for music strikes is a magical time. Hitchcock is acutely aware of this and centers his memoir around it, freeing the reader of elongated trivialities and the boring mumbo jumbo of traditional memoirs. Bravo!

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