#scott 2

Scott Walker - Come Next Spring (1968)

First day of Spring - wonderful string arrangement by Angela Morley.

Pietro died. He had died so long ago now, and it felt like yesterday and a hundred years all at the same time. Her brother was dead. She had lost him once, but this grief felt new, felt magnified, like a thousand cuts slicing through her. There was no Ultron to direct the pain at, no one to blame for this but herself. She had let pain and desperation and grief swallow her whole, and she had tried to change the most undeniable fact of life. 

That it came to an end. 

And maybe she wasn’t the only one. She remembered sitting at their wedding, watching bride and groom, so much joy in their air they were practically drunk on it. It had felt like a dream come true. But dreams could so easily become nightmares.

She had to know, one way or the other. So Wanda made her way to Genosha, walking through the construction of the city with wide eyes. It didn’t take long to find him, a few passersby had told her where to look. “Scott?” she called out, walking forward slowly. “I, um...” She trailed off, folding her hands together. “I wondered if there was any way I could help. I know I didn’t– I just—” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry. It’s just a lot to take in.” 

Scott Walker 

Scott Walker - Jackie (1968)

As you might imagine, when the Great One passed away recently, I was bereft. But no weeping or wailing since there’s so many great songs left to listen to. Here, then, is Scott at his most over the top, dramatic yet humorous with a recording of Jacques Brel’s La Chanson de Jacky.

Essentially the same baroque pop, recorded in Wall of Sound style, but darker, one has to love Walker’s blatant disregard for the tastes of the masses on Scott 2. The stories of VD and prostitution, death and depression – it’s all rebellious in a gloating, dramatic sort of way. Scott 2 was still very much Scott Walker in the shadow of Jacques Brel but, being a Walker record with all his early, beat-boy charm (even the slight misogyny of ‘The Girls and the Dogs’ is somewhat polite), it’s an extraordinary work of ‘60s pop.

If I could be for only an hour

If I could be for an hour every day

If I could be for just one little hour