1967 cover art

1967

How I Got There and Why I Never Left

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1967

By: Robyn Hitchcock
Narrated by: Robyn Hitchcock
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About this listen

 1967 explores how that pivotal slice of time tastes to a bright, obsessive/compulsive boy who is shipped off to a hothouse academic boarding school as he reaches the age of 13; just as Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited starts to bite, and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band explodes.

When he arrives in January 1966 Robyn Hitchcock is still a boy pining for his green Dalek sponge and his family's comforting au pair, Teresa. By December 1967 he's mutated into a 6 ft 2 inch rabid Bob Dylan fan, whose two ambitions in life are to get really stoned and move to Nashville.

In between - as the hippie revolution blossoms in the world outside - Hitchcock adjusts to the hierarchical, homoerotic world of Winchester (think Gormenghast via Evelyn Waugh), threading a path through teachers with arrested development, some oafish peers, and a sullen old maid - a very English freak show. On the way he befriends a cadre of bat-winged teenage prodigies and meets their local guru, the young Brian Eno. And his home life isn't any more normal...

At the end of 1967 all the ingredients are in place that will make Robyn Hitchcock a songwriter for life. But then again, does 1967 ever really end? Entertainment & Celebrities Heartfelt

Critic reviews

***** It's funny and sparkling with a wild, questioning energy . . . One of the joys of this charming and compulsively perceptive work is the way the past loops, fountain-like, into the present and back; and how sharp his sense of the source remains. It is a kind of time-travel (Nicola Shulman)
Delightful . . . Dense with time-travel reminiscence and sharp musical analysis, 1967 comes closer than most to showing how music can switch on the lights, switch on a life (Victoria Segal)
Wonderfully surreal turns
One could never accuse cult UK songwriter Robyn Hitchcock of being boring, and throughout 1967, he constantly surprises . . . poignant yet affable'
Hitchcock skilfully brings to life the turning point, for the younger generation at least, which was 1967 as post war Britain with its slightly curled egg and cress sandwiches took flight on psychedelic wings. Like a hipper version of Anthony Buckeridge's schoolboy hero, Jennings, he adroitly describes the faintly
homoerotic undertones of boarding school life while his accounts of the records and musicians he discovers vividly capture the excitement and adventure of the music of the time. That he does so in his unique style, droll and with the occasional whiff of whimsy and surrealism, familiar to anyone who has seen him live, is the icing on the cake. One can easily picture him telling any of these tales in between songs on stage . . . a delightful read
Witty
1967 is evocative and eccentric. Even non-fans would find it entertaining . . . When it comes to
writing a page-turner, Hitchcock passes the exam with flying colours
1967 is written in the bright, avuncular, conversational tone familiar from Hitchcock's stage patter at live shows, his social media presence and his Patreon page - the latter well worth investigating as for a reasonable sum patrons are given access to unreleased tracks, exclusive videos and assorted illuminating ramblings. This approachability results in a light read whose effect is nevertheless profound, urging the reader to evaluate their own relationship to time and consider fresh ideas regarding how it might be processed and catalogued
All stars
Most relevant
It’s great to hear about this transformative year in Robyn’s life and the life of the UK. It makes me hanker for a book by him about every year since. On a practical level I’m now prepared for which cheese to bring to an alien abduction.

Unique

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I am not old enough to remember the 1967 that Robyn describes but there are echoes of his coming of age in my own story 10 years alter. I did not have the public school experience and the backdrop of Dylan, the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Incredible String Band (yet oddly no Rolling Stones) but I had my own through which flowed the same youth coming to terms with life in 1977 and 1978. But for me special mention must go to I wanna destroy you by the Soft Boys which came out in 1980 when I was 18. A pox upon the media and everything you read. They tell you your opinions and they're very good indeed! I have seen him a number of times over the last 44 years most recently in the US 6 years ago. I am again in September and I can't wait.

I wanna destroy you

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Robyn’s account of his milestone relationship with one of the most culturally significant years of the twentieth century is totally engaging. As a fan of Robyn Hitchcock’s creative work, the memoir provides a hugely entertaining, honest and moving insight into the influences and inspirations of the day, the magic of which continues into the present in the shapes and contours of the artist’s output. I loved it.

1967 and all this!

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A splendid trip through Robyn’s childhood leading up to 1967. A special year for music and records that many of us still love. Recommended 😎

Wonderful listen!

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Love his descriptions - he's got a really detailed memory & a typically strange & cool & lovely way of telling his stories. Very funny, very frank, entertaining and endearing. He comes over every bit the national treasure that I know he is, but confirms himself as being more so through his own, quite modest, storytelling. A highly recommended read.

Brilliant!

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