As a teenager, he lived with his parents in a fourteen-room Georgian guest-house, Wellington House, in Lydden near Canterbury. Here he was taught the drums by visiting American jazz drummer George Niedorf.
In 1962, Wyatt and Niedorf moved to Majorca where they stayed with the poet Robert Graves. The following year, Wyatt returned to England and joined the Daevid Allen Trio with Daevid Allen and Hugh Hopper. Allen subsequently left for France, and Wyatt and Hopper formed the Wilde Flowers with Richard Sinclair, Kevin Ayers and Brian Hopper. Wyatt was initially the drummer in the Wilde Flowers, but following the departure of Ayers, he became lead singer.
In 1966, the Wilde Flowers disintegrated, and Wyatt and Mike Ratledge formed the Soft Machine with Ayers and Allen. Here Wyatt both drummed and sang, an unusual combination for a stage rock band.
In 1970, after chaotic touring, three albums and increasing internal conflicts in Soft Machine, Wyatt released his first solo album, The End of an Ear, which combined his vocal and multi-instrumental talents with tape effects.
A year later, Wyatt left Soft Machine and formed his own band Matching Mole (a pun on "machine molle", the French for Soft Machine), a largely instrumental outfit. After two albums and a split, Matching Mole were about to embark on a third record when, on 1 June 1973, during a drunken party, Wyatt fell from a third floor window. He was subsequently paralysed from the waist down (paraplegia) and confined to a wheelchair.
The injury led Wyatt to abandon the Matching Mole project, and his drumming. He promptly embarked on a solo-career, and with a collective of session musicians (including Mike Oldfield, the poet Ivor Cutler and Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith), he released his acclaimed solo album Rock Bottom. Later that same year he put out a single, a cover version of "I'm a Believer", which hit number 29 in the UK chart. There were strong arguments with the producer of Top of the Pops surrounding his performance of "I'm a Believer," on the grounds that his wheelchair-bound appearance 'was not suitable for family viewing', the producer wanting Wyatt to appear on a normal chair. Wyatt won the day and 'lost his rag but not the wheel chair', but gave a performance that could be described as disgruntled.
Wyatt's next album, Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard, was more jazz-led, with free jazz influences and nods to African music. These solo recordings were all produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd.
Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Wyatt guested with various acts, working with the likes of Henry Cow (documented on their Henry Cow Concerts album), Hatfield and the North, Carla Bley and Michael Mantler. His solo work during the early 1980s was increasingly politicised, and Wyatt became an outspoken member and supporter of the British Communist Party. In 1983, his interpretation of Elvis Costello's anti-Falklands War song "Shipbuilding", the last in a series of political cover-versions (collected as Nothing Can Stop Us), reached number 35 in the UK singles chart. In the late 1980s, after collaborations with other ex-Canterbury acts such as News from Babel, he and his wife Alfreda Benge spent a sabbatical in Spain, before returning in 1991 with a comeback album Dondestan, considered by many to be his best work since Rock Bottom. His 1997 album Shleep was also highly acclaimed.
An uncredited Wyatt contributed the haunting "Masters of the Field", as well as "The Highest Gander", "La Forêt Rouge" and "Hors Champ" to the soundtrack of the acclaimed 2001 film Winged Migration. He can be seen in the DVD's Special Features section, and is praised by the film's composer Bruno Coulais as being a big influence in his younger days.
In 2001, Wyatt was curator of the Meltdown festival, and in 2003 he put out his album Cuckooland.
In 2004, Wyatt collaborated with Björk on the song "Submarine" which was released on her fifth album Medúlla.
In October 2007 he released Comicopera, a 16-track album, his first for the Domino label.
It was produced by Wyatt himself, and recorded at his home in Louth as well as Phil Manzanera's Gallery Studio.
Comicopera is divided into three acts - 'Lost in Noise', 'The Here and The Now', and 'Away with the Fairies'. Featured musicians include previous collaborators Brian Eno, Paul Weller and Phil Manzanera. Wyatt said he was keen to capture the sound of a group of musicians playing in the room together, but more importantly to have friends playing together.
"Music isn't just an abstract pleasure, it is a company, when you play a record. Why I like Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus, the big bands - is because every character in the band is identifiable as that person - there's this group of humans in a room".
"He lives in Louth, Lincolnshire and he has equipment in his bedroom where he records himself and his albums. We brought a G4 and Pro Tools and recorded it in like one afternoon. He's such an extraordinary singer. Before he left, he insisted to give us a scale of his voice, where he sings all the tones – and he has the most amazing range, like 5 or 6 octaves. What's really interesting about his range is that each octave is of a totally different character. We actually ended up using that later for 'Oceania', we used what he calls the 'Wyattron'." — Björk, XFM 25 August 2004
Cancion de Julieta
Robert Wyatt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Un mar de tierra blanca,
y los arcos vacios por el cielo.
Mi cola por los mares, por las algas.
Mi cola por el tiempo.
Por mare e tiempo.
y delfin de cristal por los cerezos.
Oh puro amianto de final!
Oh ruina!
Oh soledad sin arco!
Mar de sueno!
The lyrics in Robert Wyatt's song Cancion de Julieta are deeply emotional and thought-provoking. The first line, "Un mar de sueno," which translates to "a sea of dreams," sets the tone for the rest of the song. The singer seems to be describing a dream world, where there is a sea of white land and empty arches in the sky. The imagery is surreal and disorienting, as if the singer is lost in their own imagination.
The next lines, "Mi cola por los mares, por las algas. Mi cola por el tiempo," suggest that the singer is a mermaid, swimming through the seas and through time. The use of "cola," meaning tail, reinforces this idea. The singer seems to be longing for something, perhaps a sense of freedom or escape. The image of "Playa de los gusanos lenadores y delfin de cristal por los cerezos" is equally surreal and difficult to decipher. It suggests a world where worms can be lumberjacks and dolphins are made of crystal, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.
The final lines, "Oh puro amianto de final! Oh ruina! Oh soledad sin arco! Mar de sueno!" leave the listener feeling somewhat desolate. "Amianto," meaning asbestos, has connotations of danger and destruction. "Ruina" means ruin or collapse. The idea of "soledad sin arco," or solitude without an arch, is similarly melancholic, as if the singer feels isolated and unsupported. The final line, "Mar de sueno," is repeated again, emphasizing the dream-like quality of the song's world. Overall, the lyrics in Cancion de Julieta are complex and reflect a sense of longing and confusion.
Line by Line Meaning
Un mar de sueno.
A sea of dreams.
Un mar de tierra blanca, y los arcos vacios por el cielo.
A sea of white land, with empty arches in the sky.
Mi cola por los mares, por las algas.
My tail through the seas, through the seaweed.
Mi cola por el tiempo. Por mare e tiempo.
My tail through time. Through sea and time.
Playa de los gusanos lenadores y delfin de cristal por los cerezos.
Beach of the wood-eating worms and crystal dolphin through the cherry trees.
Oh puro amianto de final!
Oh pure asbestos of the end!
Oh ruina!
Oh ruin!
Oh soledad sin arco!
Oh solitude without an arch!
Mar de sueno!
Sea of dreams!
Contributed by Cole A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.