“I have a harmonium and it’s going to explode in two minutes”
Ivor Cutler (1923–2006) – poet, humorist, absurdist, musician – was born #OTD, 15 Jan. A 🎂 🧵 …
In 2013, to mark what would have been his 90th birthday, BBC Radio 4 celebrated his life & career:
1/7
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0381jzt
#Scottish #literature #poetry #humour #humor #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler
“Jungle Tip: Lion”
by Ivor Cutler
A poem/useful advice from LIFE IN A SCOTCH SITTING ROOM, vol. II (Methuen, 1984)
2/7
#Scottish #literature #poetry #humour #humor #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler
“Cutler performed on the opening night of BBC Two, recorded more John Peel sessions than any other act except The Fall, played Buster Bloodvessel in The Beatles’ A Magical Mystery Tour and was, according to Peel, the first performer to appear on Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4.”
—Bruce Lindsay answers ten questions on his biography of Ivor Cutler
3/7
https://theartsdesk.com/books/10-questions-bruce-lindsay-biographer-ivor-cutler
#Scottish #literature #poetry #humour #humor #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler #biography
“Cutler had a lighter, quieter, sparser approach to the weird, macabre and illogical than the majority of surrealists. The darkness is transmuted into mischief and the savagery into play. There is melancholy in some of the poems, even despair, but it tends to be counterbalanced by the charm and daftness.”
—Rhys Hughes on the sublime daftness of Ivor Cutler
4/7
#Scottish #literature #poetry #humour #humor #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler
“We set off in a straggly line, hugging the wall to escape the worst of the effects of the fresh air …”
Episode 11 of Ivor Cutler’s LIFE IN A SCOTCH SITTING ROOM, Vol. II, recorded on his 1976 LP “Jammy Smears”
5/7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwNcxd9Jf9I
#Scottish #literature #poetry #humour #humor #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler
“You don’t look like a newspaperman. You have fighter pilot eyes.”
—Alastair McKay takes “a hirple through the poetic humour of Mr Ivor Cutler, humorist, teacher, cloud-fancier, opsimath”
6/7
https://alastairmckay.substack.com/p/poetry-full-stop
#Scottish #literature #poetry #humour #humor #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler
“When strangers call me Ivor it’s like getting a French kiss from a public relations consultant”
Ivor should get the last word: in this TV special from 1998, directed by Ewan Morrison for STV’s weekly arts programme Don’t Look Down, Ivor Cutler interviews himself…
7/7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z6gzzoiQbE
#Scottish #literature #poetry #humour #humor #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler
