Regular visitors to this website will be aware that our love and respect for Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox, aka Britain’s Most Fabulously Loved-Up Couple, runs deep: throughout the Covid-19 lockdown and beyond, King Crimson’s redoubtable leader and his beloved singer/actress spouse have brought untold joy into the world with their joyously uninhibited ‘zero fucks given’ Sunday Lunch series, wherein they perform covers of classic metal, punk, indie and pop anthems each week in the kitchen of their Worcestershire home.
Above and beyond all the pair have achieved in their respective careers, this selfless dedication to temporarily distracting us from the mounting horror of everyday existence has marked the duo out as true, iconic, national treasures.
However, it seems that not everyone is quite as enchanted by the Sunday lunch sessions as we are, with Fripp admitting, in a new interview with The Telegraph, that the YouTube series has “upset some King Crimson fans.”
Anyone expecting an apology from Fripp here, however, is likely to be waiting for some time.
“At the beginning of lockdown, my wife handed me a tutu and a pair of her black tights and took me to the end of the garden and put on Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake,” the 76-year-old guitarist tells the Telegraph. “My wife insists performers have a responsibility to lift people’s spirits in hard times. Do I respect that? My answer is yes, completely and utterly I do.”
He continues, “We’re keenly aware of what people have experienced during lockdown. I mean, banged up in a small apartment while your mother’s dying and you can’t go to the funeral. My wife said to me, if all we’ve done in two years is help one person through their bad time, it’s all worth it. So I’m not sure if that meets a criteria of serving what is highest in music, but for me, it’s a real undertaking that I respect. And I am quite prepared to strap on a guitar and rock out to a classic riff in order to achieve it.”
“At age 76, why should I give a fuck?,” ponders Fripp. “This is my life.”
Fripp was speaking to the Telegraph to promote the new King Crimson documentary, In the Court of the Crimson King.
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