Robyn Hitchcock going on US book tour for new memoir

Robyn Hitchcock will release his memoir, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, on July 2 via Akshik in the US and Little Brown in the UK. In support he’s got a handful of US events where he’ll talk about the book, read from it and maybe play a song or two.

The titular year, 1967, was a pivotal one for Robyn where his worldview changed thanks to music. Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

1967: HOW I GOT THERE AND WHY I NEVER LEFT explores how that pivotal slice of time tastes to a bright, obsessive-compulsive boy who is shipped off to a hothouse academic boarding school as he reaches the age of thirteen—just as Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited starts to bite, and the Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band explodes.

When he arrives in January 1966, Robyn Hitchcock is still a boy pining for the comforts of home and his family’s loving au pair, Teresa. By December 1967, he’s mutated into a 6’2″ tall rabid Bob Dylan fan, whose two ambitions in life are to get really high and fly to Nashville.

In between—as the hippie revolution blossoms in the world outside—Hitchcock adjusts to the hierarchical, homoerotic world of Winchester, threading a path through teachers with arrested development, some oafish peers, and a sullen old maid—a very English freak show. On the way he befriends a cadre of bat-winged teenage prodigies and meets their local guru, the young Brian Eno.

At the end of 1967, all the ingredients are in place that will make Robyn Hitchcock a songwriter for life. But then again, does 1967 ever really end?

There are two NYC-area book events with Robyn: Hoboken, NJ’s Little City Books on July 31, where he’ll talk with WFMU’s Todd-O-Phonic Todd, and NYC’s Rough Trade on August 1, where he’ll talk with music journalist David Fricke.

Watch Robyn read a little from 1967 below.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK – 2024 TOUR DATES
JUN 26 WED – Dead Wax Social @ 5:30pm – The City Of Brighton And Hove, United Kingdom
JUN 27 THU – Rough Trade East @ 7:00pm – London, United Kingdom
JUL 2 TUE – Foyles Charing Cross @ 7:00pm – London, United Kingdom
JUL 12 FRI – Industrie Fluviali @ 9:00pm – Rome, Italy
JUL 18 THU – Parnassus Books @ 6:30pm – Nashville, TN, United States (book event)
JUL 31 WED – Little City Books @ 7:00pm – Hoboken, NJ, United States (book event)
AUG 1 THU – Rough Trade NYC @ 6:00pm – New York, NY, United States (book event)
AUG 5 MON – Porter Square Books @ 7:00pm – Cambridge, MA, United States (book event)
AUG 30 FRI – West Malvern Social Club @ 8:00pm – Malvern, United Kingdom
AUG 31 SAT – Trades Club @ 8:00pm – Hebden Bridge, United Kingdom
SEP 1 SUN – The Crescent Community Venue @ 7:30pm – York, United Kingdom
SEP 3 TUE – The Common Room Of The Great North @ 7:00pm – Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
SEP 5 THU – Komedia Bath @ 7:30pm – Bath, United Kingdom
SEP 6 FRI – The Portland Arms @ 7:00pm – Cambridge, United Kingdom
SEP 7 SAT – The Portland Arms @ 7:00pm – Cambridge, United Kingdom
SEP 8 SUN – United Reformed Church @ 7:30pm – Oxted, United Kingdom
SEP 10 TUE – The Jericho Tavern @ 7:30pm – Oxford, United Kingdom
SEP 11 WED – Komedia @ 7:00pm – Brighton, United Kingdom
SEP 12 THU – Ramsgate Music Hall @ 8:00pm – Ramsgate, United Kingdom
SEP 13 FRI – St Mary’s Church, Twyford @ 8:00pm – Twyford, United Kingdom
SEP 14 SAT – EartH @ 6:00pm – London, United Kingdom