42 posts tagged “robyn hitchcock”

I cannot stop listening to this song.  Please excuse Robyn while he gets his funk on.

I suck.

I haven't posted in over a week.  It's Robyn Hitchcock's birthday and I STILL can't come up with anything worth saying.  Sigh.

Well, let's all sit quietly and enjoy a lovely song from Goodnight Oslo.

Steppin' off to higher glory
All around is demons and fiends
Oooh, oooh

Movin' out towards the kingdom
All I see is hobgoblins and ghouls
Oooh, oooh

Headin' up beyond salvation
All I tread is of nostrils and skulls
Oooh, oooh

Gettin' out across the heavens
All I see is fungus and bones
Oooh, oooh

Lookin' up, I saw the fury
All around is tattered black sails
Oooh, oooh

In the hedge there's a rustlin' sound
A man come out and he staggers around
He grins and offers some of it to me

So I close my eyes and dream a little harder
Close my eyes and dream a little harder
Close my eyes and dream a little harder of...
You

I'm very aware of the fact that we don't have very long. We have all eternity in which not to exist. We live for the strike of a match.
~Robyn Hitchcock (Bryant Park Project, NPR)

I lack the skillz to embed a NPR video, so you will have to click this link of you want to see a lovely high quality video of Robyn performing  "Surgery" (see previous post) in the studio of Bryant Park Project.  A guy and a guitar.  That's all you need.

I consider the television to be an insidious drug, so I suppose I prefer sitting around with alcohol than sitting around with a TV.
~Robyn Hitchcock (Puremusic.com)

That's Sean Nelson from Harvey Danger singing with in "Television."  Two guys and one guitar.  That's all you really need.

So be it.  I'm turning off the teevee and mixing myself a cocktail.  Kicking off my shoes and letting my hair down.  Tuning out and turning on. Goin' off the grid.  Shall I go on?

Next is a nice performance of "Sounds Great When You're Dead" with Terry Edwards from a February appearance on BBC2's Later... with Jools Holland.  A song, a piano, a guitar, and two fellows.  That's all you really need.

Sounds Great When You're Dead (Later...)

Finally, let's listen to "Flesh Number One (Beetle Dennis)."  I love this song.  It makes me strangely optimistic.

There's a house burning down on the radio, but
We're in love, we don't mind, we're as far as I can tell
Everyone worries so much about themselves
There's nothing happening to you that means anything at all

Flesh Number One (Beetle Dennis)

OK.  So that's what's going on with me.

but the bones in the ground
well they never make a sound
and the bones in the ground are all fine

News flash!  Robyn Hitchcock and Andy Partridge are making a record together!  The Enlish excentricity factor will be off the charts for this one.  (I know, if you're under forty you don't care.  But for me this is THE SHIT.)

Found thanks to Timedoor!

And now I bid to to rock out with Femania!.

Dear Robyn, 

Thank you for all the songs.
Thank you for the Soft Boys, the Egyptians, and the Venus 3.
Thank you for wearing outrageous colors and patterns.  Please don't ever go all tweedy on us!
Thank you for keeping Syd's spirit alive.
Thank you for your covers of "Bike," "Cold Turkey," "Kung Fu Fighting," and "Copper Kettle."
Thank you for the paintings.  And especially for the little line drawings which often make me laugh out loud.
Thank you for saying it's ok to dislike turnips.
Thank you for doing exactly what you wanted when everybody else did something else.
Thank you for Storefront and the documentary.
Thank you for using elegant and vivid language in challenging ways.
Thank you for the Morris and Moris, both of whom I wouldn't know if not for you.
Thank you for never shaving your head and putting a safety pin through your face.
Thank you for all the stream-of-consciousness dialog.  No.  REALLY.  I mean it.
Thank you for being cool with all the Fegs and allowing us to record and swap stuff. 
Thank you for all the benefit shows you play and the songs you contribute to compilations.  Cats and other good causes thank you heartily.
Thank you for my Fegmania TruType font.
Thank you for the stories you write down and especially the ones you make up.  Please write more.
I hope you enjoy your birthday.
Many happy returns,
6$

I have coveted and pursued Live Death, the 1992 A&M promotional cd for some time.  Copies are few and far between and there is always somebody else out there who wants it just as badly as me.  Until this last time.  I put in an eSnipe that was a bit outrageous to hedge my bets.  In the end I got it for around $35 (or about 6 monkeys) so I was quite pleased with myself.

Besides the rarity factor Live Death captured my imagination when I heard tell of an exquisite accoustic version of "Arms of Love."  LD does not disappoint.  It is truly the most perfect, understated recording of "Arms of Love."  Evar.

"My Wife and My Dead Wife" is another of my favorites (9.5 on the Hitchcock Meter) that appears on LD.  It is a beautiful performance accompanied by piano complete with Coney-Island-Baby-style intro in American accent.

Also from Live Death here is a rendition of a song that I really don't care for.  (If 10 was "Arms of Love" and "Mellow Together" was 1, I'd give "Clean Steve" a 2.)  After a bit of rambling on about how things aren't what they seem, Robyn delivers a extemporized "Clean Steve" which varies somewhat from the album cut and is altogether enjoyable.

Read some things and buy some stuff.

“It's a shame there aren't any gay fairy tales. It would be nice to see the girl kiss the frog, it turns into a princess, and they live happily forever after. There's got to be innumerable lessons from that one." ~Robyn Rowan Hitchcock,  b. 03-03-1953

I am experiencing another good week for postal deliveries. 

I got my fa-BU-lous Ice-Bat postcard from M-----l.  It arrived complete with postal damage, thereby giving it even MORE character--if that is even possible.

Then my new Ice Lodge Little Ice-bat arrived just in time to help me write a thank you note.

Then he hung out with Ninja Mission Little Ice-Bat in a scene reminiscent of Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney video.

And the second of the 4-shirt series of new Robynwear. 

Even an icy lil bat likes to get mail!

I also want to take a moment to thank Post Secret for consistently NOT selecting any of my cards.  Clearly my "secrets" ain't that deep 'n' dark after all...