Ivor Cutler: 1923 - 2006

A long time ago, when I was a gangly teenager, I would listen to Andy Kershaw's programme on Radio 1 of an evening. I had to listen on headphones, as the house was asleep by that hour, so I would lay plugged in on my bed, absorbing all these new sounds.

I don't think any of them were quite as 'new' as the songs, poems, stories and bits and pieces by Ivor Cutler. Certainly none of them were as funny. I would often have to listen to Kershaw's Cutler sessions face-down, laughing uproariously into the pillow so as not to disturb the family. (Given Cutler's dedication to the Noise Abatement Society, he would probably have approved.)

I can clearly remember listening in something like awe to "A Strategy Suit with a Jelly Pocket" - a story as mad, unique and hilarious as any Python or Goon sketch. Ever since, I have been a Cutler fan. He illuminated the world in an utterly individual way - but one which resounded with many: surely a sign of the true artist.

So it was with considerable sadness, albeit little surprise, that I learnt of Cutler's death on 3 March. He had retired from performing at 81 (eat your heart out, Mick Jagger), and reports of his health had been gloomy for some time.

Naturally, hearing the news was my cue for a nostalgic listen to a few choice Ivor tracks. The first one I picked, fairly randomly, was the up-tempo number "I Believe in Bugs". It proved a poignant choice, as Ivor was suddenly singing, "Lyin' in the silken ground one day / I shall sense the buggies wriggle as they eat me away." But there's nothing dour in these lines - and the good cheer Ivor brought to his own mortality certainly lightened the news of its inevitable arrival.

If you know and love Ivor Cutler's work, you'll know why this news affected me so. If you don't know the work, I can't guarantee you'll love it. But it's got to be worth finding out. (My wife doesn't get it at all, but I try not to hold it against her.)

Click here for a good place to start. There are audio files as well as an introduction to Ivor Cutler, so you can hear what all the fuss is about.