Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox share kitchen cover of Iggy Pop’s ‘The Passenger’
"Normality has been restored, and Toyah is back on the table!"
By Tom Skinner
King Crimson’s Robert Fripp and his wife, Toyah Willcox, have shared a cover of ‘The Passenger’ by Iggy Pop.
The pair took on the 1977 ‘Lust For Life’ single during the latest edition of their ‘Sunday Lunch’ video series, which they launched during lockdown last year. Previous instalments have seen Fripp and Willcox offer up unique interpretations of classic tracks by the likes of Metallica, David Bowie and Nirvana.
Yesterday (November 7) the couple delivered a kitchen performance of ‘The Passenger’. You can tune in below.
“Normality has been restored, and Toyah is back on the table!” they wrote in the video’s description. “And this week Robert really is a passenger!!!”
Fripp appeared on a separate screen in the corner of the video while his wife sang on the kitchen table in front of him. During one instrumental section, Fripp – donning black eye makeup – shouted “Woah!” and “Hubba hubba” at a dancing Willcox.
“Happy Sunday lunch everybody,” Willcox said at the end of the clip.
Last month, the duo shared a cover of ‘Peaches’ by The Stranglers – this time with Fripp on the kitchen table.
Speaking to The Guardian back in February, Toyah Willcox explained that she started the ‘Sunday Lunch’ series as a means to help Robert Fripp through the coronavirus-enforced lockdown.
“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.”
She added: “I’m doing this to him all the time to make him laugh, because he needs to laugh. If people saw what we got up to, they’d wonder if we were nine years old.”
Recalling a time she hid from Fripp in the shower, Willcox said: “And he turns the light on and I’m in the corner like a demented child and it just freaks him out. We have had moments where he says: ‘Can this just stop?’”
Meanwhile, Willcox is currently appearing in Cabaret All Stars in London until late next month (December 29). You can find tickets here.
An official description reads: “With performances embodying the spirit of the swinging sixties & sexy seventies, we give you an experience of a lifetime. Enjoy world-class jazz musicians and on-stage bands, award-winning acrobats, fire breathers and burlesque beauties.
“Be prepared to be amazed. This is an unforgettable night out.”