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1[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ScottScimitar_9000.PNG]]
2->''Go seek the lady who will give, not take away.''\
3''Naked with stillness, on the edge of dawn she strays.''\
4''Night starts to empty, that's when her song begins,''\
5''She'll make you happy, she'll take you deep within.''
6-->--"Boy Child", 1969
7
8->''Jesse''\
9''are you''\
10''listening?''\
11''Six feet''\
12''of''\
13''foetus''\
14''flung at''\
15''sparrows''\
16''in the''\
17''sky''
18-->-- "Jesse", 2006
19----
20Scott Walker (born Noel Scott Engel, January 9, 1943 - March 22, 2019) was an American-British songwriter and singer. His recorded work spans six decades and exhibits such extreme [[GenreShift Genre Shifts]] that he's been described as "Music/AndyWilliams reinventing himself as [[ElectronicMusic Stockhausen]]".
21
22He was born in UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} and the family settled in UsefulNotes/{{California}}. He started out in TheFifties as a teenage pop singer, then became a session musician. In TheSixties he relocated to UsefulNotes/{{London}} and became the lead singer of a three-man TeenIdol group with fellow singers John Maus and Gary Leeds. This group was called Music/TheWalkerBrothers, although the members weren't brothers and [[{{Pseudonym}} none of them were really named Walker]]. They had a string of hit singles including "My Ship Is Coming In", "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "Stay With Me Baby", rivaling Music/TheBeatles in popularity with British youth. Scott still became dissatisfied with the band's sound, and he made a series of increasingly-strange albums ([[SelfTitledAlbum creatively-titled]] ''Scott'', ''Scott 2'', ''Scott 3'' and, yes, ''Scott 4''). He developed a love for the music of Music/JacquesBrel, and made several memorable cover versions of Brel's work. ''Scott'' 1 through 3 each reached the British Top 5, but his growing experimentation led to the commercial failure of ''Scott 4''.
23
24The Walker Brothers split up in 1968. During the early 1970s Walker made a number of solo albums that skirted into GenreMotif/EasyListening territory; he later admitted he made these because [[IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney he was in career slump and needed to make a living]].
25
26The Walker Brothers briefly reunited in the mid-[[TheSeventies Seventies]] and even had a hit single with "No Regrets", but they broke up again soon after. Shortly before their breakup in 1978, the band's label went under and permitted the band to record one last album without any restrictions. This prompted Scott to return to songwriting and record his darkest and most experimental music up to that point. These comprised the first four much-acclaimed tracks to the Walker Brothers album ''Nite Flights'', which went on to influence everyone from Music/DavidBowie to Music/{{Ultravox}} ("Vienna" can be directly linked to ''Nite Flights''' "The Electrician"). Bowie named Scott Walker as one of his main influences and biggest idol, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V01oQ_BsX00 nearly went to pieces]] when Walker recorded a personal greeting for his 50th birthday.
27
28In 1981, Walker's reputation received an additional boost with the successful release of the tribute album ''Fire Escape in the Sky: the Godlike Genius of Scott Walker'', featuring tracks selected by dedicated {{Fanboy}} Julian Cope. Walker's own songwriting had been starting to sound DarkerAndEdgier and his artistic output, if not his income, began to revive with the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful 1984 album ''Climate of Hunter''.
29
30He didn't release another album until 1995's ''Tilt'', when it became apparent that a full-scale GenreShift had happened: in place of the sardonic/romantic tone of the '60s and '70s and the ominous electronic balladry of the '80s, Walker was now in NightmareFuel territory with massively [[DroneOfDread doomy strings]], disturbing WordSalad lyrics and a new, ghostly tenor voice in place of his previous warm baritone. Walker went on to release increasingly disturbing but rather brilliant albums at occasional intervals, his last solo album being 2012's ''Bish Bosch''. Walker also began to make a name for himself scoring the music to avant-garde films, and even recorded an album with drone metallers Music/SunnO, which was his final non-soundtrack release.
31
32In 1970 he took out British citizenship and moved to England, where he lived for the rest of his life. On receiving an award in 2003, he said of England "I couldn't have made the records I've made in any other place." In 2006 he was the subject of a feature-length documentary by Stephen Kijak entitled ''Scott Walker: 30 Century Man''. In 2017, the BBC Proms honoured him with a concert of his music, played with a full orchestra and various guest singers: he was in the audience.
33
34On March 25, 2019, Scott Walker passed away at the age of 76.
35
36Not to be confused with the former [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Walker_%28politician%29 Republican governor of Wisconsin]].
37----
38!!Discography
39!!!Music/TheWalkerBrothers:
40* ''Take it Easy with the Walker Brothers'' (1965)
41* ''Portrait'' (1966) - Not released in America
42* ''The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore'' (1966) - Released in ''Portrait'''s place in the U.S.
43* ''Images'' (1967)
44!!!Going Solo:
45* ''Scott''[[note]]Originally released in America as ''Aloner''[[/note]] (1967)
46* ''Scott 2'' (1968)
47* ''Scott 3'' (1969)
48* ''Scott 4'' (1969)
49* '''Til the Band Comes In'' (1970)
50!!!The "Wilderness Years"
51* ''The Moviegoer'' (1972)
52* ''Any Day Now'' (1973)
53* ''Stretch'' (1973)
54* ''We Had It All'' (1974)
55!!!Walker Brothers Reunite:
56* ''No Regrets'' (1975)
57* ''Lines'' (1976)
58* ''Nite Flights'' (1978)
59!!!Nightmare Music:
60* ''Climate of Hunter'' (1984)
61* ''Tilt'' (1995)
62* ''Pola X'' (1999) - Film soundtrack
63* ''The Drift'' (2006)
64* ''And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball?'' (2008)
65* ''Bish Bosch'' (2012)
66* ''Soused'' (2014, collaboration with [[Music/SunnO Sunn O)))]])
67* ''The Childhood of a Leader'' (2015) - Film soundtrack
68* ''Vox Lux'' (2018) - Film soundtrack
69
70
71!!His music is featured in the following films:
72* ''Film/TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou'': "30 Century Man".
73* ''Truly Madly Deeply'': Creator/AlanRickman and Juliet Stevenson do a memorable cover version of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore".
74* ''Film/{{Bronson}}'': "The Electrician"
75* ''Film/SeekingAFriendForTheEndOfTheWorld'' and ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'': "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore"
76----
77!!His work provides examples of:
78* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Plastic Palace People".
79* AngstySurvivingTwin: In "Jesse", a despairing Music/ElvisPresley tries to communicate with his stillborn twin brother.
80* AnimalMotifs: Clara Petacci is associated with swallows in "Clara".
81* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: The title character in "SDSS14+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter") tries to do this.[[spoiler: He ends up becoming a dying brown dwarf star instead]].
82* CanonDiscontinuity: Nearly all of his output between ''Scott 4'' and the Walker Brothers' reunion has been omitted from reissues and compilations due to poor reception from critics, fans, and [[OldShame Scott himself]] alike. The lone exception is ''Til the Band Comes In'', which was rereleased on CD along with his first four solo albums and has been included in box sets and compilations of his career.
83* CarefulWithThatAxe: Walker pulls this off surprisingly well during "[=SDSS14+13B=] (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)".
84* CoolShades: One of the few constants throughout his lengthy career was his tendency to wear these in photoshoots and public appearances.
85* CoverVersion:
86** The majority of his recordings in TheSixties were covers of Pop standards, including Music/TheWalkerBrothers' best known songs: "Make it Easy on Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". Most significantly, his first three albums had several Music/JacquesBrel songs on them, including "Mathilde", "Jackie", "Amsterdam", "Next", "If You Go Away"...
87** Every album from ''The Moviegoer'' through ''We Had It All'' was comprised of covers, the former being of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin film theme songs]].
88** "Blanket Roll Blues" from ''Climate of Hunter'' was a song by Creator/TennesseeWilliams and Kenyon Hopkins, from the 1960 Creator/MarlonBrando movie ''The Fugitive Kind''.
89* DarkerAndEdgier: Each ''Scott'' album was darker than the one before, and then this trope hit full throttle after the late-1970s.
90* DeathSong: He liked writing these. "Farmer in the City" seems to be one for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini]], while "Clara" is about the death of UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini's mistress Clara Petacci, partially sung from him to her while their bodies are hanging upside-down from a gas station.
91* DroneOfDread: Used frequently starting with ''Scott 3'' and usually dissonant. Taken to its logical conclusion in his 2014 Drone Metal collaboration with Music/SunnO, ''Soused''.
92* EpicRocking: His songs stretch to as far as 9 minutes on ''Tilt'' and 12 on ''The Drift'', culminating in the 21½-minute "[=SDSS14+13B=] (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)" on ''Bish Bosch''.
93* EverythingIsAnInstrument: His albums from ''Tilt''-on have rather... interesting choices for instruments — machetes, ball bearings, garbage cans on top of crates, and a side of pork for his percussionist to punch to get the right sound for a corpse being beaten with a stick.
94* FaceOnTheCover: Scott's face is featured on the covers of all of his solo albums from ''Scott'' through ''Climate of Hunter''.
95* GenreShift: From mainstream BaroquePop and {{Chanson}} in the '60s, through [[CountryMusic country-rock]] in the 70s and dissonant [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] electropop balladry in the '80s, to [[GenreBusting unclassifiable]] {{Chanson}} [[DarkerAndEdgier From Hell]] ever since the mid-'90s.
96* HorribleHistoryMetal: A surprising amount. "The Electrician" is about American torturers working for Pinochet during the 1970s, "Farmer in the City" is [[MindScrew probably]] about the assassination of Pier Paolo Pasolini, "The Day the 'Conducator' Died" is about the execution of Nicolae Ceaușescu, and "Clara" is about the doomed mistress of Benito Mussolini and her execution alongside him at the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
97* HumanPopsicle: "30 Century Man" provides the page quote.
98* JumpScare: Happens almost once a song on ''The Drift'', most notably with the terrifying orchestral drops in "Clara" and the out-of-nowhere pig squeals on "Jolson and Jones."
99* LighterAndSofter:
100** '''Til the Band Comes In''. Co-writer Ady Semel is credited for editing out anything that would "offend old ladies."
101** ''Bish Bosch'', though not as dramatically. It's more sparse and less aurally overbearing than ''The Drift'', and it has an overall more playful feel to it in comparison, such as with the farting section in "Corps De Blah" and the vaudevillian insult jokes in "Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter".
102* LiteraryAllusionTitle: "Orpheus", "Film/TheSeventhSeal"
103* LoudnessWar: With the exception of ''Soused'' (which comes in at a borderline [=DR7=]), he has consistently averted this trope throughout his career.
104* LyricalDissonance:
105** "30 Century Man" is a cheery little ditty about being cryogenically frozen because you can't handle the complexities of modern life.
106** "Hero of the War" is a jaunty tune about a woman whose husband and son were both crippled at war.
107** Often goes the other way: the music's intensity gives new weight to lines like "I brought nylons from New York."
108* MadnessMantra: "I'm the only one left alive!" at the end of "Jesse", repeated several times completely a capella so that it sounds like Scott is screaming into the void.
109* MinimalisticCoverArt:
110** ''Scott'' 1, 2, and 4 and '''Til the Band Comes In'' are simply pictures of the man himself.
111** ''Bish Bosch'' is just the album title smeared in white paint against a black background.
112* TheMovieBuff: Scott was a lifelong cinephile, and many of his songs were based on movies or direct covers of film soundtracks. Later on he would score several avant-garde films.
113* NewSoundAlbum: His first four solo albums were darker, more ambitious and less romantic than the stuff he did with the Walker Brothers, but ''Scott 4'' saw him start moving away from the elaborate traditional pop orchestral arrangements of the earlier albums into something more FolkMusic and {{Rock}}-inspired. However, he then got diverted into making what amounted to MOR albums before stealthily edging his way back into darker and more ambitious territory in the 80s and 90s. By the time of 2006's ''The Drift'' he was making some of the most terrifying music ever recorded.
114* NothingIsScarier: He liked to do this with closing tracks. After the lavish, complex arrangements that comprise the bulk of the albums, ''Climate of Hunter'', ''Tilt'', and ''The Drift'' end with simple, minimalist guitar ballads (for lack of a better word) that somehow sound more threatening than the audio barrages that preceded them.
115* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Brando", from his collaboration with Music/SunnO, is about the punishment Creator/MarlonBrando took on-screen and how it could act as fetish appeal. The line "A beating would do me..." is repeated, and a cracking bullwhip is one of the percussive elements.
116* PopStarComposer: For ''Pola X'' and ''The Childhood of a Leader'', though his pop star days were long behind him when he composed those soundtracks.
117* ProtestSong: "Hero of the War" protests Vietnam, albeit rather indirectly.
118* ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic: Inverted since the 1990s. Walker himself came across as charming, soft-spoken and rather shy, but since ''Tilt'' his music was the stuff of nightmares.
119* {{Scatting}}: Lots of examples on ''Scott 4''.
120* StageNames: Scott's real name was Noel Scott Engel, usually shortened to Scott Engel, but he took on Scott Walker as his stage name when he was in Music/TheWalkerBrothers.
121* SurvivorsGuilt: "Jesse" is about Elvis experiencing this in a moment of cocaine fueled despair and isolation in his hotel room, feeling waves of guilt about outliving his stillborn twin brother and trying to communicate with his spirit.
122* TakeThatAudience: "[=SDSS14+13B=] (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)" is loaded with vaudevillian insult jokes directed at the listener. A small sampler:
123--> "If shit were music, you'd be a brass band."
124--> "Look, don't go to a mind reader, go to a palmist. I know you've got a palm."
125--> "Does your face hurt, 'cause it's killing me!"
126--> "You're so boring that you can't even entertain doubt!"
127* TheTropeWithoutATitle: The third, fifth, sixth and seventh songs on ''Climate of Hunter'' are respectively titled "Track Three", "Track Five", "Track Six" and "Track Seven".
128* VocalEvolution: Averted, despite his long career: he didn't tour after the Walker Brothers split and recorded albums at a sporadic pace in his later years, and the resulting lack of strain on his voice meant that he could still do whatever he wanted with it. ''Bish Bosch'' showed in a couple tracks that, despite sticking to a medium-low register for his last few decades, he could still hit some higher notes quite easily.
129** He demonstrated this in 1999 when he recorded a song in his late 60s style for the soundtrack of ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', "Only Myself to Blame". He sounded exactly like he did 30 years earlier.
130* WarIsGlorious: "Hero of the War" is a sardonic attack on this trope, showing the emptiness of this kind of rhetoric next to the actual effects of war.
131--> ''He's a hero of the war''\
132''All the neighborhood is talking about your son''\
133''Mrs. Riley get his medals, hand them round to everyone''\
134''Show his gun to all the children in the street''\
135''[[WhamLine It's too bad he can't shake hands or move his feet]]''
136* WordPureeTitle: "[=SDSS14+13B=] (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)". Explanation: [=SDSS14+13B=] (short for SDSS J141624.08+134826.7) refers to a binary star system made up of brown dwarfs (failed stars). The song relates a show being put on by the Moorish dwarf Zercon (pun almost certainly intended), although it's mostly a trading of insults between him and the audience, and as he fails to escape the cruelty of UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun's court, he compares himself to a dying star.
137* WordSaladLyrics: He was prone to it for much of his career, but really started tossing those salads with ''Climate of Hunter''. You get the impression on that record that Scott's getting at ''something'', but it's so abstract that what it means will be unique to each listener. His later "nightmare music" albums also featured this in large quantities, but featured just as many songs that told coherent (albeit severely disjointed and surreal) stories.
138* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The titular figure recalled in "The Day the 'Conducator' Died": Romanian Communist head of state [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu]], who was overthrown and executed on Christmas Day 1989.
139-->''[[ShotAtDawn And nobody waited for "fire"]]''
140----
141-->''"Play it cool\
142And saran wrap all you can"''

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