RIP Kevin Ayers

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 HolyMoly wrote:

I feel a little guilty because I probably hadn't listened to any of his albums for a year or so.  But pulling them out again today, there are countless songs in there that have been a part of my life for what seems like forever.  He's brought me so much joy in my life, and has continually sparked my imagination as I wondered how anyone who wrote something as light as "Butterfly Dance" could then turn around and do something as thoroughly demented and evil as "Song From the Bottom of a Well".  He liked to experiment, but he liked to play it simple too.  He saw the world with the eyes of a child, and had the poetic gifts to let us see that world too. 

Well said Steve 
Ayers and Wyatt were the co-founders of Soft Machine i understand, and were great friends back in the day. Kevin left after Soft Machine's first album and tour. They opened for Hendrix on his American tour which you can appreciate would have been a whirlwind for the band and Kevin decided to leave and go solo.
Ayers spent his childhood growing up in Malaysia enjoying the beach and warm weather. So when his parents moved back to the UK when he was around 12 it was traumatic for him as he was shipped off to boarding school and also dealing with the grey and damp climate. He would spend the rest of his life trying to escape England eventually living in France. He loved the warmer climates including the people who lived there because he felt these people enjoyed life more and were more relaxed.