A legacy of innovation: Scott Walker’s 10 best songs
Any musician that David Bowie lauded is usually worth their salt. So, perhaps a measure of Scott Walker’s esteem is that the Starman didn’t just praise him, he called him his “idol”. Bowie wasn’t alone in seeing Walker as a luminary either. The cinematic scope that he brought to music changed how we see pop.
“The music has to be as interesting,” he once said. “It has to keep taking you into places that you’re at least not used to.” This all began in 1964 with The Walker Brothers. The pop trio looked to craft hits that would change the landscape of music. So, rather than draw solely on American rock ‘n’ roll, they channelled Jacques Brel and an array of other highfalutin themes. The results were revolutionary and yet seamless enough to be radio hits.
This would be a theme that defined Walker’s songwriting throughout his career. He never stayed in one place long, always looking to bring something new to the otherwise tried and tested. Over the years, as he went solo, he brought his favourite directors into the picture, collaborated with drone kings Sun O))), and never once produced anything that sounded like his last record.
This makes it tricky to distil the best of his solo career down to just ten tracks, but we’ve given it a go. So, here’s to the man whose music always changed, and, whose music changed the world in turn. As he once said: “I feel I’m writing for everyone. Just they haven’t discovered it yet. I’ll be six feet under – but they will.” That’s becoming more and more prophetic as his influence continues to exude.
Scott Walker’s 10 best songs:
‘Jackie’
The drama of ‘Jackie’ eternally verges on being over the top. It starts so explosive that even Sergio Leone would water it down a touch. Alas, I’ll be damned if it doesn’t grab you by the lapels in the process. It is a sonic statement, beginning in Allegro as though you’re being whisked into a story that is already unfurling. This is cemented by Walker rattling off vocals within the first bars.
None of this is done without being considered by the great man. Seemingly hinting at his self-awareness that things have already taken off before we join him is the fact the first lyric is “And”. However, he vitally has the nouse to then offer up an array of transitions that keep the story interesting. This is less of a song, and more of a vignette that flies by you in a flurry.
‘The Old Man’s Back Again’
If not his greatest song, ‘The Old Man’s Back Again’ is certainly Walker’s most affecting and powerful. Deeply rooted in the conflict of the Cold War, the song’s full title, ‘The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime)’ makes reference to the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet Troops.
Released on 1969’s Scott 4, this is potentially Walker’s most politically charged anthem – making references to Stalinist purges and the spread of authoritarianism in Europe. It is a strange track to be hidden away in the middle of the album’s B-side, but it speaks to the fearless originality of the songwriter.
’30 Century Man’
It’s so simple, short and sweet that it almost seems strange to heap praise upon it. But despite its brevity and uncomplicated nature, it pitches itself close to perfection. Stripped-back, you can really hear the gruff power of Walker’s stirring, characterful vocals. In short, ‘30 Century Man’ shows him to be the coolest cat this crooked world has ever seen.
Meanwhile, surrealist lyrics create a mystifying picture. What do they mean? Well, they must mean something, but most people have always been too caught up in the sunglasses-indoors attitude to bother to check. It takes great skill and inherent artistry to express such an attitude with such few peacocking components. A 90-second masterpiece.
‘It’s Raining Today’
The opening track of Walker’s third album – the imaginatively titled Scott 3 – ‘It’s Raining Today’ is, in many ways, a perfect encapsulation of the songwriter as a whole. His deep baritone vocals give something of a universal appeal, but lurking in the background is a haunting, uneasy instrumental track, which means you can never really relax into the warmness of his voice.
Not only is this song one of Walker’s best, it is potentially one of the greatest album openers of all time, setting up the beauty and mystery of Scott 3 very effectively. Its dark, foggy atmosphere lends itself quite well to melancholic autumnal months, yet Walker’s irrefutable vocal talent gives it a kind of universal appeal.
‘The Lady Came from Baltimore’
1967’s Scott was the world’s introduction to Walker as a distinguished solo artist, yet the album featured a variety of cover songs in addition to his original songwriting. His take on Tim Hardin’s ‘The Lady Came from Baltimore’ is an undeniable highlight among them. Walker was not the only one to see the track’s appeal, as it also received covers by the likes of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash – though, arguably, Walker blew them both out of the water.
For most artists, when they leave a successful group to pursue a solo career, their initial efforts are fairly forgettable or downright bad – looking at you, Lou Reed – but Walker did not seem to waver in his initial efforts. While it may not be as groundbreaking as his later efforts, it’s difficult not to listen in awe of ‘The Lady Came from Baltimore’.
‘Lullaby’
In a dramatic team-up with Sun O))), Walker firmly displayed his penchant for mixing things up despite his ageing years. Simultaneously, he showed how ahead of the times he still was. The droning music holds a postmodernist pertinence in these loud and crowded times, and the album Soused reflected that while harking back to something primitive, too. The result was entrancing.
While ‘Lullaby’ might not be the easiest track on the list, Walker always required a little bit of tuning, even with The Walker Brothers. Once you do acquire the taste of Soused, however, it boldly offers a point of captivating difference amid your daily listening. His inherent drama cuts through the distant melee of sound, creating a strange and alluring collision akin to a pop song erupting from the start of the world.
‘The Seventh Seal’
Ingmar Bergman is perhaps one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, but even he probably didn’t think his 1957 film would inspire a song as great as Walker’s ‘The Seventh Seal’. Largely taking note from the plot of Bergman’s film of the same name, the song tells the story of a mediaeval knight playing a game of chess with Death itself during the period of the black death.
Heavy stuff, especially for the opening track of Scott 4, but Walker takes it in his stride. The song has an endearing cinematic quality reminiscent of classic film scores – particularly Ennio Morricone’s many celebrated Western soundtracks. Cinema and film scores clearly had a lasting impact on the songwriter, and ‘The Seventh Seal’ is perhaps the greatest example of that fact.
‘Clara’
There is nothing quite like the mass exodus to the bar when an established artist from times past announces, “we’re going to play some of our new stuff now”, but such a thing was unlikely to happen in the case of Scott Walker. Speaking to his enduring genius, his 2006 album The Drift is among his strongest efforts. The stand-out track, ‘Clara’ is a haunting track described by the songwriter as a “fascist love song”.
Taking its title from the mistress of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini, ‘Clara’ is among the most troubled, tortured works ever penned by Walker – akin to the nightmarish quality of tracks like ‘Frankie Teardrop’ by Suicide. Like much of his work, the song has a cinematic feel to it, so long as that film is a surrealist horror by the likes of Dario Argento or Michael Soavi.
‘Copenhagen’
Continuing the classic crooning of the opening track, ‘It’s Raining Today’, the second track on Scott 3 takes on a distinctly more wholesome and charming atmosphere. A sort of unofficial Christmas song, featuring chimes and talks of carousels in reference to Tivoli Park in Copenhagen. Although it may not be as experimental or complex as some of the other songs on this list, Walker’s ode to the capital of Denmark is an undeniable endorsement for his vocal proficiency.
After all, you need different music for different moods, and while much of Walker’s material might provide a soundtrack to dark and mysterious occurrences, there has to be some light with the shade too. ‘Copenhagen’ often goes overlooked within the context of Scott 3; the album is a victim of its own brilliance. However, the two-minute jaunt through the streets of Denmark is certainly worth a resurgence.
‘Farmer in the City’
The first song of Walker’s rebirth, ‘Farmer in the City’ was the opening track of the seminal 1996 release Tilt, his first in over a decade. Inspired by the mysterious murder of Italian director and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini, who was savagely beaten, burned and run over in 1975. The brutality and violence of the event is interpreted by Walker as a heartbreaking epic with a distinctly chilling atmosphere.
Admittedly, the six-and-a-half-minute song is a fairly difficult listen owing to its unsettling nature, but its brilliance cannot be ignored. Not only did ‘Farmer in the City’ prove Walker’s continued talent for songwriting, it inspired a resurgence of the singer, who would follow up Tilt with four more albums before his death in 2019.
