The Grand National Lobotomy, Including The Last Picasso
John Watts
John Watts’ career has included over 20 albums & 3000 concerts festivals worldwide. His family were singers. He developed his musical career in punk clubs while studying clinical psychology and working in mental hospitals. He and his band Fischer-Z were signed by UA Records alongside The Buzzcocks and The Stranglers. The band toured Europe and North America with artists such as Bob Marley, The Police and Dire Straits. European success increased exponentially with Red Skies Over Paradise (1981), establishing John Watts as a “political commentator in song.” His first three solo albums included the experimental The Iceberg Model (1983). A second Fischer-Z era included single success, ‘The Perfect Day’ and the political ‘Say No’ single. During this period Watts performed to 167,000 people at a Peace Festival in East Berlin alongside James Brown. He made Destination Paradise (1991) at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios and his next 3 albums continued to highlight some of the darker areas of human exploitation in their lyrics.
He returned solo again with Thirteen Stories High (1997) before producing Bigbeatpoetry (1999) with DJ Ingo Worner – revealing a radical approach combining poetry, prose and song lyrics. His current era of multimedia solo material began with Ether Music & Film (2002), where he travelled internationally in search of random musicians and recorded them in situ on his laptop. Real Life Is Good Enough (2004), included a book of poetry and short stories. His 2010 last solo release Morethanmusic added improvised orchestral cut-ups and a filmic dimension.
The Grand National Lobotomy is a two-way book comprising an anthology of poetry and the script of John Watts' play The Last Picasso. The poetry is divided into sections including Life & Death & Philosophy, Up & Away Characters Observed, 10 Poems in a Day; all reflecting John’s sardonic humour. The Last Picasso is the story of a writer resolving things with his daughter before his death. In exchange for helping him, Picasso is allowed to return to earth and create one last great artwork!
ISBN 978-09855577-3-7
168 pages
$16.95
5.5" x 8.5" perfect bound, paper
Excerpts
Old Man Jesus
The 10 a.m. ritual unfolds
Old man pigeon bends double
His trolley and stubble
At odds with the “Hovies”
Flinging bread at the birdies
A carpet of rat-packing pigeons surround him
The seagulls stand off at a far greater distance
Baying and screaming, the old man is beaming
Feathers and claws reinforce his existence
He hobbles to wooden seat
Scavengers follow
Old Jesus in grey cap and blue jacket humble
Where cat food replaces the loaves and the fishes
He dips in his finger and samples the manna
“Feeding the five thousand” bird version” remake!
Observed by the painters on ciggie and tea break
With only the blackbirds left out in the cold
He drags off his trolley across Western Road.
‘Burtherflyday’ Poem for her
A pair of butterflies flit upstream
over my shoulder I'm cooler
in the pool of high esteem I dream
of never ever getting older
They live for but one day or two
Much less then I will be with you
Though all their lives are spent as one
they never eat or sleep or love
or dwell together, share a bed
enjoy a meal or place their heads
side by side until they wake
No birthdays pass to celebrate
In twenty minutes they return
still locked in flight above my head
For them almost a year has passed
You've only smoked one cigarette!
in the pool of high esteem
I dream of never ever getting older.