Titus writes:
I have always enjoyed the work of eccentrics, whilst in pursuit of all things alternative over the years. Two such people – the late Vivian Stanshall and the late Captain Beefheart whom many considered to be at that fine dividing line of genius & madness, used to apparently make Trans–Atlantic telephone calls to each other. It was always a source of wonderment to me, as to what these two mega-intelligent guys talked about. Others on my radar were Mark E Smith, Nigel Blackwell (already championed in my blog of 17 December 2023), and the fictitious Reginald Perrin.
One, however always impressed me mega-immensely. He didn’t live by the same rules as anyone else, and the majority of people have no idea who he was when they hear his name... IVOR CUTLER. Born in the Glasgow suburb of Govan in 1923, he was a humourist, poet, singer/songwriter, teacher and author amongst other things. We need more like Ivor in the modern World, IMO. His music and indeed his work were indefinable. He had a difficult relationship with his mother, following the birth of his younger brother, recalling a sense of displacement. He said at the time “Without that, I would not have been so screwed up as I am, and therefore not as creative”.
After a period in the R.A.F. (from where he was grounded, due to “dreaminess” e.g. sketching clouds when in flight), he became a teacher, then attended the Glasgow School of Art, and then lived in London from 1950, returning to teaching. He once commented that he didn’t like his teaching post in Scotland, because he hated disciplining children with the belt, but at least he admitted to having learnt Morse code, whilst completing his Military Service. In 1957 he started regular gigs of his poetry & music and he would more often than not accompany himself on his beloved harmonium. In the 50’s and 60’s Ivor made many appearances on the various BBC radio programmes, and was once interviewed on television’s “Late night line up” where he was spotted by Paul McCartney. Paul invited him to appear in the Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” film, wherein he played the courier Buster Bloodvessel.
You will probably be waiting, dear reader for me to mention my idol John Peel at this point, and you won’t be disappointed. John, so impressed with Ivor, asked him to record a session for his Radio One show in 1969. Twenty more sessions would follow, through the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s, and Cutler said “Thanks to Peel, I gained a whole new audience, to the amazement of my older fans who find themselves among 16 to 35 year olds in theatres”. In 1974 the Soft Machine’s former drummer Robert Wyatt, invited Cutler to play harmonium and sing 2 songs on his solo album “Rock Bottom”. This unlikely partnership resulted in Ivor signing for Wyatt’s record label Virgin, and he made 3 albums for them – “Dandruff”, “Velvet Donkey” and “Jammy Smears”, wherein he performed poems, songs and general ramblings. Additional readings were made by his friend of many years, Phyllis King. Peel later commented that Cutler was probably the only person whose work had been heard on Radios 1,2,3, and 4.
In the 1970’s Cutler introduced many episodes of his “Life in a Scotch Sitting Room” series, which were condensed into the LP of the same name –except that he added “Volume Two” (there never was a Volume One). This title was also produced as a book in 1984. In the 90’s Ivor made two albums for Creation Records : “A Wet Handle” and “A Flat Man”.
Ivor, as I said earlier was a notable eccentric. Clothes-wise, he wore plus-fours, a hat with dozens of badges on, and he utilised an odd form of communication called “Cutlerisms” which were sticky labels with bizarre wording endorsed thereon. He travelled to most places by bicycle and never owned a house or a car. His albums often had around 60 to 80 mainly short tracks on, and it has therefore been difficult to choose just one track to request lex to play. My choice is “Little Black Buzzer” to showcase his Morse code skills, and of course, an episode of “Life in a Scotch sitting room vol 2”.
He retired from performing in 2004, and died on 3 March 2006.
