Oliver: Ivor Cutler - Jumping and Pecking (23 February 1992)

From what I can tell of it, Ivor Cutler's work essentially covered three topics:

1)  The monastic absurdity of his upbringing - see Life in a Scotch Sitting Room
2) Mudanely deranged encounters in the urban jungle - see Thick Coat/Eyes Shut Tight
3) The petty jealousies and mini battles waged in nature - see below...and above!

Whether it be hiding fugitive sparrows or providing advice on how to deal with an owl attack, The Great Outdoors played a huge part in Cutler's world.  But while his take on nature may have been surrealistic, it was never sentimental.  This was no bucolic paradise, rather a world with as many questions, absurdities and irritations as could be found in a teeming city.

This jaunty observation of the eating habits of birds and flies' resentment towards pips and seeds briefly threatened to miss the cut when I listened back to it - silliness for silliness sake, I felt.  But that honeyed refrain of "Nature, nature, nature, nature" has clung on to me like a Sleepy Old Snake.  I can't resist.

Video courtesy of ivorfan.