With today being Robert Fripp's 75th birthday, his wife Toyah Willcox figured it would be a good time to bust out a "Born to Be Wild" cover. It's also the duo's 75th wedding anniversary.
To celebrate, Toyah is back on the treadmill and what seems like a regularly tame cover eventually gets very very wet, as Toyah gets the hose on her. As always, a very funny video.
Toyah and Robert were interviewed by RollingStone, and offered some interesting insight into their creation of this weekly video series. Asked why they started the series, Wilcox responded "This whole thing about being in lockdown was people were stopping moving, and our generation must move."
Fripp added "Mine is a slightly more nuanced view of this. My wife has been insistent. Performers have a responsibility to perform and at this particular time to keep people’s spirits up. This is a very English cultural tradition. Essentially, when things are really bad in England, what you do is begin laughing and do silly things. A good reference point is the Ministry of Silly Walks on Monty Python. Now it’s, “Robert puts on a tutu and dances to Swan Lake at the river’s edge with his wife.” So I have followed my wife’s sense and vision of these things."
Toyah revealed she presents Robert a list of songs and he picks one he feels he can pull off. Fripp says "I look at the challenging technical aspects. Can I play it on guitar? Is one guitar sufficient to support my wife? Can I honor the music? If it’s an orchestral ballad, it’s not really going to be a go."
Fripp added "I mean, they’re all utterly stunning things. I’m blown away by the original guitarists on these tracks. Phenomenal development and playing primarily since the late Seventies and early Eighties, Van Halen onwards. Steve Vai, Satriani, the Metallica boys … The originators of the riffs are phenomenal players. I go back, listen to the original versions on record, see live performances, look at different interpretations and guitar covers on YouTube. Then I have to honor the spirit of the music while making it my own."
Willcox told NME previously that she started the series to occupy Fripp, who was getting really bummed out about not being able to tour. “Here I am in this house with this 74-year-old husband who I really don’t want to live without,” she said. “He was withdrawing, so I thought: ‘I’m going to teach him to dance.’ And it became a challenge. I do the lighting, the filming, the conceptual side and the persuading Robert to take part."
Here are some of the duo's other recent covers:
"Enter Sandman" by Metallica,
"Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol,
"I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett,
"Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses,
"Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix,
Tainted Love by Soft Cell,
"Poison" by Alice Cooper
"Everlong" by Foo Fighters
"Toxic" by Britney Spears
"Girls, Girls, Girls" by Motley Crue
"Ace of Spades" by Motorhead
"Gimme All Your Lovin'" by ZZ Top
"The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden
"Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest
"Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones
"Silver Machine" by Hawkwind
"Baracuda" by Heart
"Firestarter" by Prodigy
