Scott 3
Scott Walker
Released: March, 1969. Label: Philips
Scott 3 is Scott Walker’s third solo studio album. Unlike his first two solo albums, which feature covers of contemporary tracks and songs from films, it is dominated by Walker’s original compositions. Ten of them lead the track listing, followed by three Jacques Brel compositions, translated by American singer-songwriter Mort Shuman. Sons Of and Funeral Tango were co-written by Brel and French pianist and composer Gérard Jouannest, and If You Go Away was co-written by Brel with American poet Rod McKuen. Walker’s lyrics explore themes of lost love, lost childhoods, passing dreams, loneliness, and the effects of war. “I’m not trying to be a Tony Bennett or a Jack Jones or a Jacques Brel,” he told NME journalist Keith Altham in 1969. “I’m trying to be a Scott Walker. I’m trying to do my thing as well as I know how.” The sleeve image, of Walker’s reflection in a woman’s eye, wraps around a colour gatefold sleeve, designed by Linda Glover. The liner notes, written in short verse-like lines to fit the image on the back cover, are written by Keith Altham.
Production is by John Franz, sound engineering by Phil Olliff, and orchestral arrangements by Angela Morley, except 30th Century Man, on which Walker accompanies himself on guitar. Scott 3 reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart, and spent four weeks in the top 40.
Track Listing
It's Raining Today 4:02
Copenhagen 2:22
Rosemary 3:22
Big Louise 3:10
We Came Through 1:59
Butterfly 1:42
Two Ragged Soldiers 3:07
30 Century Man 1:29
Winter Night 1:45
Two Weeks Since You've Gone 2:48
Sons Of 3:45
Funeral Tango 2:56
If You Go Away 4:57
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Accompaniment directed by Wally Stott (tracks: 1 to 10 & 13)
Accompaniment directed by Peter Knight (tracks: 11 & 12)
Producer John Franz
Recording Engineer Peter Olliff
Front Photograph John Kelly
Sleeve Design Linda Glover
Sleeve Notes Keith Altham
Written by Noel Scott Engel (tracks: 1 to 10)
Written by Gérard Jouannest, Jacques Brel, Mort Shuman (tracks: 11 & 12)
Written by Jacques Brel, Rod McKuen (track: 13)
Sleevenotes
by Keith Altham
Narcissus in Metamorphis
Tearing at his well known image
Behind which he hides his unknown face
Grey rains and trains cascading crying strings
Tracing dribbling rivulets down beaded window panes
Yesterday that only those who live inside themselves know
Aged Renoir peers anxiously down upon an endless pink ribbon
Which fills the room with sounds of cellophane till Copenhagen is
In your ears and eyes and understanding mine today and yours tomorrow
The violins are weeping for Rosemary's memories only just a grief ago
That one word SMALL blinks at us from the wall to toll you unto yourself
Colossal the requiem for Big Louise so sad his faded beauty huge loneliness
When he becomes she becomes it becomes old no light breaks where no sun shines
Trumpet the shadows of Luther King and Che Guevara the ironic song of the Gargoyle
Proud the Vietnamese girl from the Sunday Times Supplement but unable to smile at us
The Butterfly last seen on a beach on Southern France flutters fleetingly once more
It too is flashingly ephemeral caught out in musical sunlight on still quivering wings
What price valour now the tarnished DSO or dull VC displayed in junkertiques sold
For the price of a quarter bottle of Booths swopped for fantasies by soldiers
How monstrous the freezing of man's mind, his soul and body an instant creation
Awake Walt Disney and listen to the 30 Century Man the ice cream man cometh
The Winters of our discontent grown cold and crystalised in solid sounds
That brilliant phase which is the last of Brel and sounds of sons of
Tick tock times before you take your partners for the Funeral Tango
Who asked what about the people in the hospitals ha ha ha ha
The final fragile fading notes of If You Go Away by an
Enriched voice matured by Life's living breath see
The pencilled kisses marking Festival concerts
The voice says to be careful and concise
But be a friend and beware but
Most of all be quick and honest
Be like Hemmingway was
What d'y think
Jesus
John Franz and Scott Walker
Live Review
Record Mirror, 12 October 1968
by Lon Goddard
No more Brel songs for Scott
Scott Walker, Terry Reid, the Gun, the Casuals, Love Affair, the Paper Dolls: Finsbury Park Astoria, London
THE FINSBURY Park Astoria was the place to be last Saturday. A line-up that dazzled the eye awaited thousands of eager fans who were there chiefly to glimpse the rare Scott Walker in concert.
Ronnie Scott's Orchestra has a fine reputation and upheld it nicely with superb and inspired backing for Scott Walker, once the screams died down (they never did completely), Scott's constantly improving voice was unleashed and as usual, was truly refined. The high points of Scott's set were the old Walker Brothers hit 'Make It Easy On Yourself', which brought back a lot of old memories, 'Amsterdam', one of the more bizarre Jacques Brel compositions, and of course, the Hatch-Trent number which took him high into the charts, 'Joanna'.
In summation, the evening had a bit of the bad, a bit of the good, and a bit of the average — which made for easy comparisons. But it certainly wasn't one to be missed, or forgotten.
After the show, I pried my way into Scott's dressing room to get a word about the night's performance for, as usual, he didn't look too ecstatic.
"It only takes twenty screamers to ruin a concert for those who come to listen. But they weren't bad people tonight. I suppose it went alright. I didn't notice too many sarcastic remarks, even during my guitar solo.”
“I didn't feel too well though, because I've been working very hard lately and I haven't had much sleep."
In the recording studios?
"No, I do all my work at home now. A lot of writing and musical experimentation, I don't do very many live appearances because I'm so busy re-designing my repertoire. No more Jacques Brel numbers. I've sort of passed them up now. Outgrown them. From now on, it will be less songs by other writers and more of my own. It's time for something new. I still like a lot of the Brel songs, but a change is needed now."
It was after one in the morning and Scott wasn't the only one who needed sleep. And the unfortunate policemen were still waiting to help him through the happy fans outside.
Scott Walker, 1969. Photo by Dezo Hoffmann
Interview
Disc & Music Echo - 29 March 1969
by Mike Ledgerwood
“IN THE EARLY stages of any solo artist’s career he has to find a way to identify himself. I never had that chance. So this album is the closest thing I have done that is me“ Scott Walker, talking about his third album “Scott 3,“ a self-admitted egotistical journey into his own thoughts, feelings and outlook on life.
Like any artist Scott IS, by necessity, an egotist. But with him it takes a more concrete form. For instance, he will continually talk at himself in a mirror rather than to anyone else in the room - almost as if seeking reassurance of his own existence. And it is this desire to reflect himself that comes over in “Scott 3,“ with more than a few surprises.
“It’s the closest thing I have done that is me,“ he says. “I hated my second album. In order to complete the continuity of things one has to write all the songs all at once.
“I had to get on a good writing spree. Really feel like working which is hard for me because I’m very lazy. I wrote these songs over a two-month spell. The ideas are all collective. Not all new, but incidents which have inspired me and are part of my life.
“Scott 3“ is also a very presentable package. The 13 songs - “It worries me. I’m terribly superstitious,’ grins Scott-are on one LP in a very eye-catch- ing, fold-out sleeve. The cover picture is a magnified colour close-up of a girl’s open eye, with Scott, the master, cleverly reflected in the pupil. Inside, across the fold, are ten cameo-like photos to identify Scott’s personal contributions. one, “Copenhagen,“ has a very personal meaning. It shows his girlfriend, 22-year-old Mette Teglbjaerg, from Denmark.
Here, in Scott’s own words, is a track-by-track rundown on the album
IT’S RAINING TODAY
A lot to do with my teenage years. We are all flower/hippy now. My teenage days were in the beatnik era. I was involved in progressive jazz and writers like Jack Kerouac. Hitch-hiking Over America. Meeting a lot of people with whom I had ephemeral relationships. A song about meeting people, knowing them about love-and a week, falling in moving on. A very beautiful, logical state of mind. Breaking relationships is always a very traumatic experience. It wasn’t then.
COPENHAGEN
Written for my girlfriend. I always think of Copenhagen as a city of children. They’re all children there. It makes me feel like a child. One of my mushy love songs!
ROSEMARY
About spinster who has had one fleeting love affair-with a travelling salesman. I know a girl like this who can’t break away from a domineering mother. Doomed to spend her life like that. I tried to capture some of this atmosphere.
BIG LOUISE
My own personal favourite. The arrangement, melody, colouring - everything worked out exactly as I pictured it. About an ageing transvestite. I try to get across what this track means to people like that. A guy who has split, finished raving around - and is growing old. A real experience to hear, I think.
WE CAME THROUGH
Brel’s influence at its strongest. I use it to refer to people who put themselves on pedestals. I saw a picture of a gargoyle. It summed up the “Holier Than Thou“ attitude. I wanted it to sound military and gave it the “Mathilde“ treatment. My best lyrical accomplishment. But we really failed on the recording of it.
BUTTERFLY
I figured that I’d write some little songs. A lot haven’t been recorded yet. This was done in the South of France. In the early morning rain on the beach. A great, beautiful girl. Like a butterfly lost in all this vast space. I tried to get close to Debussy or Delius. That fluttering feeling.
TWO RAGGED SOLDIERS
An allegorical song. About two tramps who get their fantasies from a bottle. Inspired by a picture I saw and an article in “Time“ magazine about “Skid Row.“
30 CENTURY MAN
About those people who advertise that they will put you in deep freeze, suspend life, and bring you back in the future. I play the guitar on it. The only reason I mention De Gaulle in it is that he seems to live on forever with me. He’d be the only person I’d recognise when I rose again!
WINTER NIGHT
A love song. About a female who has grown cold. Indifferent to love. Again, I know someone like this. She’s been busted around and is indifferent to any form of emotion. Another of my little songs.
TWO WEEKS SINCE YOU’VE GONE
Someone drowning themselves in self-pity. It’s the old story. A sad love ballad.
SONS OF
Brel’s song. All children are the same. They all get lost along the way. Whether they are kings or whatever. A straightforward, simple song. The idea of it appealed to me. A good lyrical number. Not melodic, but then I don’t con- sider Brel a melody writer.
FUNERAL TANGO
More Brel. About a man present at his own funeral, aware of the hypocrisy of his family going on around him.
IF YOU GO AWAY
Recorded because everyone wanted it done. A very good song.
Interview
New Musical Express - 22 March 1969
by Gordon Coxhill
To me, Scott Walker has always represented something more than a fine singer with the potential of a Sinatra or a Bennett, and has the looks that send even my ageing grandmother into rapturous sighs.
Basically, Scott is a humanitarian, pitying the world and yet loving it. If some think him and his songs too morbid and obsessed with human failings, it is because he draws his inspirations and influences from life itself. His songs, while providing an insight in Scott's mind, speak for us all: our sorrows, our despair. our sense of futility and inadequacy.
Scott 3 (released today. Friday) is a natural progression from his previous collection, which in turn improved immensely on “Scott,” the singer's first solo LP. Presented in a very sympathetic fold-out sleeve, which Scott more or less designed, this album is mainly all his own work, but includes three songs by Jacques Brel, another who prefers to deal in reality rather than fantasy.
These three Brel numbers could be the last songs by the Belgian Scott will record. “Brel is a lyric writer,” Scott explained, as he played the album to me for the first time, in the record library he fondly calls his flat. “He doesn't write good melodies, and because I am now just as concerned with the music as well as lyrics, it is impossible for me to record any more of Brel's material.”
This then, is what Scott 3 is all about, a step towards perfection in music. greatly enhanced by the superb arrangements of Wally Stott and Peter Knight. perfection on songs and perfection in complete performance. At the moment, Scott can listen to without finding many mistakes. “Guess after a few more hearings. I won't be able to play it any more. I'll be finding fault with everything.”
Side 1, seven songs written by Scott and arranged by Wally Stott, opens with It's Raining Today, melancholy tale of a wanderer and his recollections of summer and love. It's beautiful.
Copenhagen was written for his girlfriend who comes from that city, where children are happy and plentiful. The song is of happiness and love. It is easy to see his heart is in this. Outside her window, a dog strains on a leash, and Rosemary hears a ship on the river, but for her, life is looking after her widowed mother. Once a travelling salesman happened by and still his photograph on the wall speaks to her. Despair and resignation are engraved on her heart and on this song.
“This is favourite my track.” whispered Scott, as Big Louise began to boom through the twin speakers. Scott described it as requiem for ageing homosexual. “This one takes some listening to, but it won't take long to get through.”
A change of tempo for We Came Through, a pounding opus which says “let him judge who has not sinned.” The people in high places are no better than us. We came through, despite even the Gothic monsters who gaze down from their lefty perch on Notre Dame.
Scott wrote Butterfly whilst lying a sun-drenched beach in the South of France. Listen to the summer magic conjured up by Wally Stott. When before did you hear butterfly fly?
Two meths-drinking tramps, who have lost their minds smile their way through life, through the constant war they don't even notice. They are Two Ragged Soldiers. In a way, they are like each and every one of us.
While Scott changed the tapes over, he told me how he came write the first track on Side 2. “It was needed in a hurry,” he recalled.
“I was stoned at the time, so it's just a piece of fun really.” Thirty Century Man sounds like cross between Dylan and the Who! The man is frozen alive and emerges a hundred years later to shake hands with Charles de Gaulle. “I've feeling he'll always be around,” joked Scott.
Or maybe he wasn't joking. Nevertheless, this is a most unusual track and a Scott Walker that will probably never be heard again.
Winter Night is the sad tale of a boy who can't pierce his girl's heart, which has turned to ice. Even her kisses are as cold as snow drops.
You know the feeling. the loneliness and utter dejection when your love has walked out of the door. Two Weeks Since You've Gone suggests Scott has been through it too. A lovely song, given just the right degree of self-pity.
Peter Knight arranged Sons of, the first of two shattering, vital songs by Brel. It starts slowly, like a lullaby and builds into a crushing crescendo of sweeping violins and pounding brass. The message? It doesn't matter who gave birth to us, we're all the same in the final analysis.
Brel again. Have you ever wanted to be present at your own funeral? To watch the hypocrites all lined, stiff as pokers, but dying to get away. Listen to Funeral Tango and Scott's sneering, ironical tones.
Finally. If You Go Away. It's not Brel's best song, but this is a far superior version to any I have heard. “There have been so many diabolical versions,” said Scott, “I thought I might as well have a go.” And had a go he has. “Scott 3” is as near a piece of modern classical music as I have heard. It will obviously be snapped up by his admirers, but it will also find a place in every collection that includes the enterprising, the bold and the honest.
Scott Walker, 1969. Unknown Photographer, National Portrait Gallery
Interview
Melody Maker - 8th March 1969
by Chris Welch
“I’VE GIVEN UP preaching to people. It never does any good.”
Scott Walker stretched, yawned and slipped on a pair of dark glasses as he emerged from a refreshing nap.
“I took a pill that is supposed to make you sleep, but I just didn’t sleep, and now I feel like I’ve got a hangover,” explained the Man Who Learned To Give Up Worrying.
Time was when Scott was eaten up with self-doubt and nerves. Now he takes the pressures of pop in his stride and his sense of humour is winning through.
Although he still refuses to be put upon or dictated to if he feels he is right (he wouldn’t take off his dark glasses for photographs), it is a much milder Scott who still sweeps fans off their feet with his voice and looks and earns the respect of those who guide his musical career.
On his TV shows, Scott always works with top class artists whose approach and ability he admires. How much say does he have in the choice of guests?
“I can’t have too much of a choice because, unfortunately, this isn’t one of the bigger budget shows. But there are certain people I respect I can have on.”
Is the show an ambition fulfilled?
“Well, it’s something to do I’ve given up trying to preach to people - it didn’t work... I’m just doing my scene. I feel most enthusiastic about writing, but I’m not enthusiastic about showbusiness in general. Music is all I care about, and I’m still discovering new things. I listen to classical music all the time.”
Scott has a new album released soon and he says: “I’m happy with this one. I wrote ten of the songs and it took a hell of a lot of work.”
“The thing wrong with most popular music is that you get someone like Dylan who writes marvellous lyrics and fraudulent melodies just diabolical then you get another type of writer who produces great melodies and bad lyrics, What we’re trying to do. is combine the two with the use of an orchestra.
We’re not writing standards, we are trying to combine lyrics, melodies and arrangements and make them. whole. There is more involvement the way we do things than with many groups. But that’s because I am working. with Wally Stott and that’s like having Delius write for you, and I really rate Wally as high as that. I have tremendous regard for him.”
“I didn’t have any plans for a single although there are always pressures for me to do one. But I can’t think that way. I couldn’t bear to work on a beautiful record and have it beaten by that thing that’s number one or ‘Lily The Pink.’ I could put out a sort of pub ballad, I suppose, but I wouldn’t do it. I put too much importance on lyrics and melody. I’d be cheating myself.”
The golden youth with aesthetic standards has been working considerably in the blunt North of England, where people may be the salt of the earth but are rarely considered aesthetes. How does Scott find the North and how does it find him?
“The North finds me bewildering and I find them challenging when you’re singing in a club somewhere and everybody is chattering and drinking. But I love it there and I think the people are marvellous. Generally speaking the audiences are very attentive, and business has been good.
I’m one of those people who change periodically. I like a challenge. The thing I am most excited about at the moment is producing jazz records. I couldn’t care less if I didn’t get to sing another note. Writing and producing are the two things I am most interested in. I am doing an album with strings and altoist Ray Warleigh and another with guitarist Terry Smith.”
Ray and Terry are two young jazz stars who have worked a lot with Scott in his backing groups, and Terry has been to Japan on one of the old Walker Brother tours.
“Terry plays happy jazz. He is the kind of person who walks into a room and everybody is happy. Ray is an introvert and a perfectionist. When we did his LP everybody, including the string players, came to hear it played back. Johnny Franz collaborated with me on it and he is probably responsible for everything I do. He’s such a marvellous man.”
I’m very lazy. I sit around and wait for things to happen and I’m only happy when things happen fast. Today, I don’t worry about things. I used to fall back on drink when there were all sorts of pressures on me. But when I have to sing and I have been drinking the night before. I know I am bad. It’s nice to do a good show for people and I try not to be so self-indulgent.”
Scott Walker on the set of his TV series, 1969. Photo by Chris Walter