Scott Walker and the Song of the One-All-Alone ex:centrics Series Editors Greg Hainge and Paul Hegarty Books in the Series Philippe Grandrieux: Sonic Cinema by Greg Hainge Gallery Sound by Caleb Kelly Scott Walker and the Song of the One-All-Alone Scott Wilson BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in the United States of America 2020 Copyright © Scott Wilson, 2020 Cover image: Scott Walker of the Walker Brothers © Mick Ratman / Topfoto / The Image Works All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Inc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and pub- lisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. Whilst every effort has been made to locate copyright holders the publishers would be grateful to hear from any person(s) not here acknowledged. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Wilson, Scott, 1962- author. Title: Scott Walker and the song of the one-all-alone / Scott Wilson. Description: New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. | Series: Ex:centrics Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019013193 | ISBN 9781501332593 (hardback: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501332555 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Walker, Scott, 1943—Criticism and interpretation. | Popular music—History and criticism. | Music and literature. Classification: LCC ML420.W1725 W55 2019 | DDC 782.42164092—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019013193 ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-3259-3 PB: 978-1-5013-3255-5 ePDF: 978-1-5013-3257-9 eBook: 978-1-5013-3258-6 Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India Series: ex:centrics To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters. For Jacqueline vi CONTENTS Introduction 1 Zero 27 One-missing 59 One 93 Swarm 137 One-all-alone 187 Notes 203 References 206 Select discography 213 Index 216 viii SCOTT WALKER AND THE SONG OF THE INTRODUCTION ONE-ALL-ALONE INTRODUCTION The existentialist pop star ‘Scott Walker, experimental pop hero, dies’, announced the headline in The Guardian on March 26 2019. Though not front page, the piece heralded a number of tribute-pieces from Alex Petrides, Rob Young and Eimear MacBride, alongside soundbites from a range of mainstream and avant-garde figures such as Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Agnes Obel. Super fan Marc Almond’s Instagram account was quoted, hailing Walker as ‘an absolute musical genius, existential and intellectual and a star right from the days of the Walker Brothers’ (The Guardian, 2019). While at first sight Scott Walker might seem a perfect artist to fit the brief of the Ex:Centrics series that sets out to examine non-mainstream artists, he has not been overlooked. Walker remains a significant if perplexing figure in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Indeed, his death was reported by all the mainstream newspapers in the UK. Every rare new album over the last 20 years of his life was widely reviewed and generated online comment. But as The Guardian headline suggests, with its contradictory conjunction of ‘pop’ and the ‘experimental’, Walker’s career is difficult if not impossible for many commentators to fathom. ‘Andy Williams re-inventing himself as Stockhausen’ (The Times, 2019: 59). The lead singer of the 1960s pop group the Walker Brothers was, after many tribulations, destined to become ‘a composer of some of the most serious and uncompromising music of his time’ (Young, 2013: 2). But how? This trajectory towards ‘serious’ art continued to attract suspicion; the experimental diminished the pop, disappointing fans, guaranteeing the commercial failure that impeaches the value of a work in an era when popularity is the main measure of legitimacy. ‘Scott Walker contrived a brooding mystique of philosophical angst’ writes The Times,