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Portrait of Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt

(1945) Drummer United Kingdom

82 quotes in 429 categories

Robert Wyatt is a drummer from the United Kingdom, best known for Storm Beneath the Glass.

Quick Facts About Robert Wyatt

Born: January 28, 1945
Nationality: United Kingdom
Profession: Drummer
Notable works: Storm Beneath the Glass
Spouse: Alfreda Benge

About Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt is an English retired musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming paraplegic following an accidental fall from a window in 1973, which led him to abandon band work, explore other instruments, and begin a 40-year solo career.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Awards & Honors

MOJO Awards Honorary doctor of the University of Liège

Quotes by Robert Wyatt · Page 3

Because of my politics, people think I'm anti-American. But I was quite the reverse. What I don't like about the United States…

19th century

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The United States is a country where everybody can start again.

Country

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Being big and famous doesn't get you more freedom, it gets you less.

Bigs

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Anybody who thinks pop music's easy should try to make a pop single and find out that it isn't.

Easy

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I would like to think that the singer is the butterfly, and the drummer was just the little grub in the ground,…

Butterfly

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In fact, when the fires of empire get hidden, they still stay burning underneath the moss, seething away. This is true with…

Country

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I'll probably lose every friend I've got, but I think the Russians are about the only people who have behaved decently in…

American people

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I find writing songs hard, because it does not come naturally to me. I never set out to be a songwriter or…

Doe

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There's no field of music which doesn't have good ideas.

Brilliant ideas

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The most effective instruments do have a vocal quality.

Instruments

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“I maintain that the greatest crime committed by America - with the possible exception of the carpet-bombing of Laos - was the…

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I have never felt in tune with the whole rock industry.

Felt

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I don't do live things.

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I don't think losing things - in my case, the use of my legs - really damages or hurts you. What hurts…

Exploitation

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I only choose musicians who I think will emerge, can emerge, with their own character, while still going along with the tune…

Character

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The gap between rich and poor is, in fact, widening enormously. This idea of building up the powers of people who are…

Building

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I know people who grow old and bitter. I want to keep making a fresh start. I don't want them to defeat…

Bitter

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When I lost the use of my hi-hat and bass drum legs, I became basically a singer. I was a drummer who…

Bass

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On the whole, I tend not to listen to my peers.

Communication

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Im not, by nature, a collaborator. My biggest influences were people like painters and poets. These are solitary workers.

Collaborators

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People say, oh it's a shame, you're not nostalgic about the '60s. Well actually, it's quite good, when you think of it.…

Nostalgic

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Love is blind. My politics has been, too. I think you can fall in love with ideas, and you can fall in…

Blind

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I understand why Vladimir Putin is very popular in Russia - he's probably the first Russian leader to not apologize for being…

Apologizing

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I really liked them, not just Syd, but all of them. Roger was very important, I thought, his contribution. And so was…

Band

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Drinking was a big help with me making music, because drinking gives you courage. But it also makes you reckless, and that's…

Bigs

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Robert Wyatt by topic

People (30) Thinking (22) Music (12) World (9) Want (8) Song (8)