September 1997 issue of the Wire magazine features a 6
full pages comprehensive interview with Wyatt.
Because of its length, the complete article can be downloaded from this page. It's formed
by 5 scanned images which can be viewed by any image viewer, or in your browser. Total
size 745 kb.
"The last
record I made under my own name was while there was no prime minister," reminisces
Robert Wyatt with a slight shudder as he recalls the grey years. "John Major was
there by default, as it were, so I quickly made a record. When he actually got voted in, I
was so depressed at the thought that another generation of English people were prepared to
vote for a Conservative government that I went on strike for five years, and now he's gone
I have made another record..."
Pausing long enough for the listener to weigh up the implications of his one man art
strike, Wyatt leans forward, his face creasing into regularly exercised laughter lines, as
he readies himself to toss a banana skin under the oncoming train of thought.
"At least that's what I would like to say, but that's a load of old bollocks!"
he guffaws.
"I just had a hard time collecting my thoughts throughout the 90's. They seemed so
just dissipate. But I have to earn a living," Wyatt continues, "so I just
collected together scraps of tunes and words, with a lot of help from other people, other
people's tunes, Alfie's words, and I found to my surprise that I had enough material for a
record".
