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Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Another Robyn Hitchcock interview, from Yep Roc -- here he is talking, among other things, about the title track from Goodnight Oslo, what it is about and where it comes from. As you get older, I suppose you have to vacate certain comfort zones. Because in the end, they're not comforting, they're stifling. So, you have to move out of your shell -- you cannot stay where you were.
I'm meaning to write an extended post or series of posts about the songs on this record, which I like a whole lot -- trying to find a couple-of-hours block of time that I can devote to that.
posted afternoon of March 23rd, 2009: Respond
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Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Robyn Hitchcock speaks with Paul Byrne of Movies.ie about making Rachel Getting Married (which sounds like a whole lot of fun) and about Sex, Food, Death, and Insects.
Byrne: During [Sex, Food, Death, and Insects] you said at one point, "At heart I'm a frightened, angry person -- that's why my stuff isn't totally insubstantial, I'm constantly deep down inside in a kind of rage..." And it made me think, well, here you've got people like Gillian Welch and... Jonathan Demme's a fan... you've been playing music for a long time, The Soft Boys and everything, and I was thinking does that make it easier? Because for a lot of artists, to have some kind of recognition, some outlet, you know, eases the soul a bit, I don't know whether, is it still true that you have that rage in you? I guess you only said it last year so maybe it is still true... Hitchcock:
I haven't had enough therapy to get rid of it completely, you know, just enough to find it... Yeah, everybody is at some level of discomfort. Even the people you mention. And some people are in more pain than others, some people know what to do with their discomfort. You know, I mean I could be playing with my hair, I could be, you know, picking on an E♭ or something like that, I could be smoking except it's illegal to smoke now; there's all these manifestations of what to do with your own dis-ease... For me, I turn it into music, and a lot of other people I know; that's how we metabolize. We breathe in life and we breathe out music; it keeps us sane and it seems to be somehow good for the environment, you know, like plants take in CO2 and produce oxygen, we take in the anxiety of life and give out music. And I'm very happy to be able to do that.
posted evening of March 19th, 2009: Respond
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Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Thanks Jer for sending me this link! Robyn Hitchcock posted a playlist on Rhapsody a couple of years ago (October
'06), which I didn't know about until today. It's got a nice mix of old and new, stuff I know and stuff I've heard of and stuff I have not.
- "Wang Dang Doodle," by Howlin' Wolf
- "Say Man," by Bo Diddley
- "Champagne Supernova," by Oasis
- "Lucifer Sam," by Pink Floyd
- "Finest Worksong," by R.E.M.
- "In Liverpool," by Suzanne Vega
- "Look At Miss Ohio," by Gillian Welch
- "Happiness," by Grant Lee Buffalo
- "Slow Dog," by Belly
- "God," by John Lennon
- "The Red Telephone," by Love
- "Kicks," by Lou Reed
- "The Lark in the Morning," by Steeleye Span
- "Station To Station," by David Bowie
- "To Turn You On," by Roxy Music
- "Lately I've Let Things Slide," by Nick Lowe
posted evening of March 17th, 2009: Respond
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Tuesday, March third, 2009
 56 years old today and absolutely in his prime musically.
posted afternoon of March third, 2009: Respond
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Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Driving home from work, I was listening to Robyn Hitchcock's April 3 1999 show at the Largo (in LA? I think so) and some of his patter caught my attention. And I thought hey, it's been a little while since I posted a transcription of Hitchcock's stage patter, why not give it a whirl? So here you go. Note: I don't think Robyn is really at the top of his game in this concert -- he sounds tired and probably drunk, and the music and patter both have a lot of rough edges -- I think he is acknowledging this when he says, after "Viva Sea-Tac", "Man, I am so rocking. Not even." He manages to come up with some interesting ideas amid the incoherence though. Patter below the fold.
↷read the rest...
posted evening of February 25th, 2009: 4 responses
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Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Robyn Hitchcock was on BBC Radio 4's Material World last Thursday, on Darwin's birthday -- the show does not usually feature live music, but they marked the occasion with Robyn singing "We Evolve". What you call God
I call evolution.
What you call fate
I call mum and dad.
They drive you mad... Download the podcast from the BBC -- music begins about 15 minutes in.
posted evening of February 18th, 2009: Respond
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Monday, February 9th, 2009
Robyn Hitchcock's playlist this morning included a Beatles title I didn't recognize, "Rain" -- I asked Ellen about it this morning and she hummed a few familiar-sounding bars; I thought I'd look into it. Turns out "Rain" is the B-side of "Paperback Writer" from 1966. It is by John; it was not released on an album until "Hey Jude" in 1970. According to Wikipædia, it is the first commercial recording to feature backwards vocals. Sweet sounds! Here is video of the boys inventing MTV:
posted evening of February 9th, 2009: Respond
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Saturday, January 31st, 2009
YepRoc Records has posted video of Robyn and friends singing "Up to Our Nex", from the November 22nd show at Symphony Space -- presumably this is part of the documentary film they're making of that tour.
On stage with Mr. Hitchcock are (from left to right) Amir El Saffar, Terry Edwards, Gaida Hinnawi, and Tim Keegan. The song will be released on Goodnight Oslo. Thanks for the link, Woj!
posted afternoon of January 31st, 2009: Respond
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Friday, January 30th, 2009
This seems a little weird to me, but I've been seeing news squibs for the past couple of days claiming that Robyn Hitchcock is planning to produce a musical stage adaptation of Magnum Force -- the only Hitchcock-Dirty Harry connection I really knew of already was the song (from Olé! Tarantula) "(A Man's Got to Know his Limitations) Briggs" -- now I see him quoted as saying, "It's a film that seemed to be on all the time when I was on tour. By the fifth time [I saw it], I became addicted to it. It's taken a very strange hold on my life." Interesting... Here's the Grauniad article, which is the most detail I've seen so far. (Not much but still.)
posted morning of January 30th, 2009: Respond
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Saturday, December 13th, 2008
 Listen to the song available on this page, while looking at the image on this page. Fun, right?
 (Thanks to a couple of people on the Fegmaniax list...)
posted evening of December 13th, 2008: Respond
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Kate Beaton has two posts up today about the War of 1812: a 