There’s an old joke that’s been doing the rounds for decades. You’ve probably heard it:

“If you can remember the sixties,” it goes, “then you can’t have been there.” Or words to that effect. It’s often attributed to Robin Williams, but was in fact first coined in a stand-up routine by the American actor/comedian Charlie Fleischer in the early ‘80s. And it’s been used so often by so many others since then that a lot of people actually believe it’s true. But it’s not. It’s a joke. Quite a funny joke I suppose, but just that. A joke.

I lived through the sixties and I can remember quite a lot about them. It surprises me that I can, because I gave myself plenty of reasons to not be able to remember them. But remember them I do, and they were an amazing time. An unforgettable time, you might say. And it was remembering them that made me want to write Motorbird, because it was an era that deserves to be written about.