Book Review: 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left a memoir by Robyn Hitchcock (2024)

The cover of Robyn Hitchcock's 2024 memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

The signed bookplate inside my copy. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Robyn Hitchcock, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and all around groover.

The British singer, songwriter, and guitarist Robyn Hitchcock has always been a devotee of psychedelia, and in his new memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, Hitchcock takes us through the happenings of that year, musical and otherwise. Hitchcock turned 14 years old in March of 1967, but the narrative begins a year earlier, when Robyn entered Winchester College, a boarding school founded in 1382. 

It was during 1966 that Hitchcock discovered the music of an American singer and songwriter. “He seems to emphasize every word he sings—and there are many of them.” (p.30) It’s Bob Dylan, and the course of Robyn’s life is irrevocably altered. 

1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left is an evocation of that time in adolescence when, for some of us, music takes on an almost mystical import, and each passing month seems to bring about a further evolution of our personalities into a different self. 

Hitchcock describes the differences at Winchester between the “meatheads” and the “groovers”: “The meatheads are into sports, alcohol, talking about sex, and the Beach Boys. The groovers favor Beat poetry, jazz, and incense sticks.” Things shift when the Beach Boys release “Good Vibrations” and the groovers dig it. Robyn asks a groover friend, “The Beach Boys are for all these beerfucker types, you know—the meatheads—aren’t they?” The groover responds, “No, man, you’ve gotta dig it: the Beach Boys are cool now—this stuff is beautiful, man. It’s like jazz with voices, you know?” (p.59-60) 

Robyn’s family background was quite interesting. His father was Raymond Hitchcock, a painter and novelist, and his mother was Joyce Hitchcock, who studied history at Cambridge University, “where she eventually became one of the first generation of women to be allowed to graduate with an official degree.” (p.13) 

Hitchcock has some mixed feelings about his privileged education, writing “One of the main functions of private education in Britain is to stunt people emotionally and then send them out to run the country.” (p.96) 

It’s no surprise to anyone who knows Hitchcock’s lyrics that he is an astute observer, and he turns many memorable phrases throughout the book. One of my favorites was the way he describes the cover of the Incredible String Band’s album The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion: “The saturated joy of it, the intricacy: everything seems to be turning into something else when you look at it closely: which, for me, is what defines psychedelia.” (p.145) I also love the way Hitchcock describes the autumn of 1967: “The sunsets of 1967 are particularly vivid: flaming pink, orange, and purple silhouette the trees rising out of the white miasma.” (p.153) 

I’ve been a fan of Robyn Hitchcock’s music for a long time, so it was a delight to read 1967 and learn more about his background and how the music of the 1960’s affected him. I’m so glad that Robyn Hitchcock wrote this memoir, and it was a pleasure to read it. 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left is a fascinating glimpse into what makes Robyn Hitchcock tick, and how he developed his own unique artistic style. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in 1960’s pop culture.