I recently read and reviewed Mike Batt‘s autobiography ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy‘. Mike has had a career full of stellar highs and Stygian lows and he has come through it all and continues to produce some great music. I am sure that many casual music fans will think of Mike as the bloke behind the Wombles incredible collection of hit songs. They would be right, however he has achieved so much more than that. He has worked with such a talented range of people in the rock and pop world, including David Essex, Art Garfunkel, Family, Roger Daltrey, Cliff Richard, Captain Sensible, Hawkwind, Olly Murs, Justin Hayward and the Kursaal Flyers.
I had the privilege of chatting with Mike about the book and his musical career and life journey. Click here to take a listen to the interview. You should check out Mike’s social media presence too, it is always entertaining and incredibly informative.
I love a good music related autobiography, but I love a great one even more. Mike Batt‘s autobiography, ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy – My Life Of Musical Adventures’, is out now in paperback and it is a truly great read. I put this up there with my favourite musical tale of life ‘Rod : The Autobiography’. Mike Batt has had a career full of stellar highs and Stygian lows and he has come through it all and continues to produce some great music. I am sure that many casual music fans will think of Mike as the bloke behind the Wombles incredible collection of hit songs. They would be right, however he has achieved so much more than that. He has worked with such a talented range of people in the rock and pop world, including David Essex, Art Garfunkel, Family, Roger Daltrey, Cliff Richard, Captain Sensible, Hawkwind, Olly Murs, Justin Hayward and the Kursaal Flyers.
His song writing credits would come close to filling a book in their own right. How about “Bright Eyes” (Art Garfunkel) and “A Winter’s Tale” (David Essex) for starters. He also produced one of my all time favourite singles, “Little Does She Know” by the Kursaal Flyers. But it doesn’t stop there he is a renowned classical conductor and composer who has worked with some of the world’s biggest and most respected orchestras. He has helped break Vanessa Mae and Katie Melua into the mainstream, effectively launching their careers.
He is the man who created a fabulous musical odyssey from Lewis Carroll’s nonsense long poem “The Hunting Of The Snark”. The recording of these songs from the 80s have stood the test of time perfectly, and if it wasn’t for the perhaps jealous bunch of bastards that call themselves theatre critics the stage musical version might well have been a huge success. For me what shines through in this book is Mike’s positivity, even in the face of adversity. Although he has faced some incredibly hard times dealing with the black dog of depression. Now in his eighth decade he is showing no signs of slowing down either.
As a teenager I felt that the Wombles songs just weren’t cool enough for me, but as I got older I realised that I probably wasn’t cool enough for the Wombles. Every Wombles hit has aged incredibly well in my opinion. Particularly “Remember You’re A Womble”. That one sits perfectly in any glam rock playlist from 73-74. I have listened to a massive range of Mike’s work while reading the book. The Wombles of course, but also ‘The Hunting Of The Snark’ and his solo work, I loved delving back into his early solo albums ‘Schizophonia’ (1977) and ‘Caravans’ (1979).
He is a man who once said no to the Queen and still received a very special honour from her. You will find more details of those escapades in the book! He has been a board member on the BPI, the PRS and the Ivors. The world of music is most definitely better off with people like Mike Batt in it. This book is testament to his grit, determination, creativity and talent.
I have followed some of Mike’s activities on social media and as in the book his sense of humour shines through there too. His profile description on Twitter is classy and amusing. “Artist/Singer/Songwriter/Producer/Composer/Director etc. I’ve conducted more orchestras than you can shake a stick at“. There are way too many wonderful anecdotes in the book to mention. But a couple of Womble ones spring to mind. His Mum hand made all the Wombles costumes and he and his wife once dressed as wombles to go to a party at Rod Stewart’s where they serenaded the guests with Christmas carols. Also the piece about not knowing how to do coke at another Rod Stewart party made me chuckle out loud.
If you read just one autobiography this year I strongly recommend that you make it Mike’s book ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’. You will not regret it! It is an easy read and I finished it in two days, so I suppose Mike can add writer to his long list of credits now! You can order the book from Amazon, just click here! Also I had a wonderful chat with Mike about the book earlier today. The audio of that conversation will be appearing here very soon!
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