Scott Walker: The Rhymes of Goodbye

by Lewis Williams

Scott Walker’s initial fame came in the 1960s as a member of the balladeering Walker Brothers, a group that rivaled the Beatles and the Stones in popularity in Britain. But Walker had much more to offer, and he did so in an acclaimed solo career that stretched over decades, encompassing timeless love songs, film scores, tone poems, fractured narratives, and audio nightmares. Walker’s influence on the alternative music scene has been enormous; here readers get a close-up look at his entire career, including lesser-known works, and what drives this unique, enduring talent.

Genres: Music

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

They say to be a successful author you should pick one genre and stick to it. Lewis Williams hasn't exactly followed that advice: having written his first book on the singer Scott Walker, he followed that with a serious academic work on social policy, which he then followed with a trilogy of limerick books that were absolutely, categorically nothing remotely like his earlier books. His latest book projects include a revised and updated edition of Scott Walker: The Rhymes of Goodbye (published Plexus, London 2019) and editing all four volumes of the Corona Book of Horror Stories book series, including 2019's The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories with stories selected from over 800 submissions and this year's (2022's) "comeback" edition The Fourth Corona Book of Horror Stories.

Lewis has two degrees in philosophy (which number might be considered two too many) and worked for a number of years in a number of different roles for Oxford University before his ignominious departure from its employ. You can find out more about him by visiting his website www.lewiswilliams.com

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a survey, song by song, of Scott Walker’s entire recorded output. Though it was originally published in 2006, a second edition appeared in 2021 that covered Walker’s last recordings before his death in early 2019. Walker’s work, especially after he emerged from a few years of seclusion as an overtly avant-garde artist, is challenging, erudite, and sometimes willfully obscure. An informed commentary, then, seems like it might be a welcome thing. Unfortunately, Lewis Williams was simply not up to providing that.

This is a badly researched book. Scott Walker gave only a handful of interviews around his last albums and it wouldn’t be hard for a journalist to listen to them all. Yet Williams missed, for example, Walker’s remark that his song “Fetish” is about object fetishism, which along with its subtitle (“flip 'n' zip”) is instantly the key to the track: it’s about the rather perverse pleasure a man gets sitting on a bed in a dark apartment unwrapping the latest purchase that he brought home or that came in the post. Williams is oblivious to the fact that the title of the song “Scope J” refers to a hospital medical monitor (and the artist’s mother died around the time of its writing). For the songs on Climate of Hunter, Williams’ obvious distaste for the album prevents him from even trying to get into the lyrics; about all we get is his views on why these tracks don’t work.

The only truly worthwhile part of this book are the several MOR albums that Walker made in the early-mid 1970s when, struggling with alcoholism and without a decent record deal, he recorded solely covers of other songwriters’ songs. Walker never permitted these albums to be re-released, so even most ardent fans have never heard them.

But compare this book to Nicholas Pegg’s The Complete David Bowie, a book that goes song-by-song through the work of that artist with a mysterious lifelong connection to Scott Walker, and it looks risible. Sure, Walker was a recluse and he did not make it easy for journalists, but a competent author could have done so much more.

[Connor Strader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this, but it doesn’t say much in terms of who Scott Walker was, it’s more about the fine details of each recording he made in his lifetime. Not to say that isn’t interesting in its own right, and it for sure sheds light on recordings that are often overlooked or underrated in this icon’s lengthy and diverse discography. If you’re more curious about Scott Walker the man, and the artistic vision behind his compositions then you should watch the 30 Century Man documentary which is incredible. I enjoyed this book for the most part though, it helped me find recordings I had never paid much attention to or listened to at all. I don’t share the author’s love for Scott’s covers of the Brel material though… I find those songs border on musical theater a bit too much for my liking, and I’ve never been particularly blown away by those songs. I’m much more interested in Scott’s original material and classic timeless MOR covers. I also was annoyed by the author’s obvious hatred for the Climate of Hunter record, which is a brilliant and underrated record in my opinion. Bottom line is that this is a book largely dictated by the personal taste of the author, so that’s something to keep in mind while reading it. Overall I enjoyed this brief but sometimes illuminating guide through Scott Walker’s monolithic career.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice thing to dip into as you are relistening to a Scott Walker track. This goes chronologically through his carear, track by track with notes on the tracks subject etc. Full of many interesting details that make the tracks all the more interesting to listen to. Even if it's just to have a review of a track to agree or disagree with it's pretty nice. Well written, easy to digest and a nice companion to the songs.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ultimate music geek subject matter: Scott Walker. Song-by-song analysis. For those of you who are not into Scott, shame on you! So this book is written by a Scott obsessive for Scott Walker obsessives. Join the club!

[Raymond Hovey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A look at Scott Walker's career starting from 1965 with the Walker Brothers through to the 2006 solo album 'The Drift'.
Lewis Williams analyzes all of Walker's recorded output song-by-song in this fascinating book. This is a must-read for all fans of Scott Walker's incredible music.