Wey Wey Hep a Hole Ding Dong: Robyn Hitchcock the song by song, album by album thread

Yes, but you've given birth to a very useful repository of info!

 

Indeed and thank you for all the info you’ve provided!

 

The sad thing is, and I shouldn't say this... but I know who this was.

 

Is it somebody else’s arm? Looks like it’s on backwards or something.

 

"I Got the Hots For You" - I agree this a really nice riff, Robyn's singing is a little off at times but this is still very enjoyable. The vocal delivery reminds me of A Skull, a Suitcase, and a Long Red Bottle of Wine (which is a good thing).
4/5

 

'I Got the Hots' is one of the (great) average songs on the album which helps to give it some range and texture, and your comment made me think that it might be the only song on the album that could have been written and released at any point in Hitchcock's career. Could have fitted of A Can of Bees, or I Often Dream of Trains, or Eye, or Luxor, or Shadow Cat, or. . .

 

"Hots" is one of the meh songs on the album. It serves as a slow break after the first three great songs. It's one of the few I could delete and not miss it. 3/5

 

Our votes for "I Got the Hots for You"

1-0
2-0
3-1
4-6
5-0
Average: 3.85

 

Today's song is "Insanely Jealous", written by Robyn Hitchcock and produced by Pat Collier.

Spotify: Insanely Jealous of You
Lyric.

• A demo version of this song, recorded in 1979 was released on 1976-81 compilation in 1993; our discussion of that is here.
• In addition, another rehearsal of the song was released on the Underwater Moonlight...And How It Got There release from 2001. Here is the Spotify link to that: Insanely Jealous
• A live version recorded in January 1994 was released on the live cassette album Where Are the Prawns.
• Another live version, recorded in May 2017 by Robyn Hitchcock and His Country Squires was released in April 2018.

Violin is played by Gerry Hale. There are two bass guitars on this, but I'm not sure who is playing the second one: Kimberly Rew or Robyn Hitchcock. Or perhaps both of them and Seligman on guitar. Both Rew and Hitchcock are credited with playing bass on the album; but not on which songs.

Anybody know?

 

Here's Robyn and His LA Squires, from April 27th, 2018.

 

oops I forgot to link to our earlier discussion of the demo. HERE>Wey Wey Hep a Hole Ding Dong: Robyn Hitchcock the song by song, album by album thread

 

The lyric of this song is really some very dark, but very nice, poetry. There's a really misanthropic rejection of love and sex itself, somehow intertwined with this tale of resentment, jealousy and pent up sexual frustration.
It's breathtaking.

And the way the edgey arrangment builds and builds into the slow-motion explosion of the guitar freak-out is just sublime. It's very post-punk this song, lyrically and musically; yet doesn't sound like anybody but the Soft Boys/Robyn Hitchcock. There are lines in this song, lyrically that are just amazing...

I particularly love this verse:

Paint is cracked and dry
The name is now illegible
And everything is lost upon the cracked and misted hull
Beneath a yellow sky
The lovers trip beside a ship
But all I hear when they embrace is just the kiss of skulls

God, another huge 5/5, the song is black as night and just as beautiful.

 

I'm late to this party, and have a lot of catching up to do. Shame to have missed the Can of Bees discussion - I'll try not to hark back to it too much. But this song is a masterpiece of seething paranoia... It's definitely Robyn on bass. I can track down more precise references... Kimberley Rew said something like, "He only wrote three songs on the bass and they're all good ones."

 

Yes, must be RH on bass as Kimberley's guitar dominates the end of the track, couldn't be anyone else.
Not much to add, classic song, by concentrating on one emotion and driving it to its limit it goes places most others can't reach. 5/5. By the way I always thought it was 'cracked and blistered hull'....

 

I'm sure it is. These sites are often wrong; the more elliptical the lyricist, the more mistakes I find.

 

I Got the Hots for You

4.4

Funny verses and dreamy chorus. The deadpan delivery of the verses remind me of Ian Dury a bit.

 

IJ -- one of the best (if not the best) songs on the album. Can not be a stronger 5/5 than this one.

 

Insanely Jealous - 5/5
Really fantastic build & release of tension and still plenty of melodic hooks. Robyn has honed his ability to be creepy to perfection and this is the result.

 

Meant to add that Gerry Hale's violin shouldn't be underestimated on this and Moonlight. GH was one of the previously mentioned bluegrass stalwarts at the Portland Arms club, winner of fiddle competitions and a founder member of Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators, a country humour/Dan Hicks sort of group.

 

Same one he used in the SB.

 

Insanely Jealous - As others have said, this is a dark song. I like the lyrics more than the music, which is bit too “noisy Velvet Underground” in places for me. (I do love VU, but they can get a bit too “pure noise” for me sometimes.)

3.5/5

 

I was there!

 

This is definitely a good one but I don't get it on the same level as a lot of people, I guess. "Insanely jealous" seems like a banal phrase, the lyrics are great otherwise of course, musically it sounds great but not much song there, really, just one note mostly...

3/5

 

I am insanely jealous of you!!

 

I hear "cracked and blistered hull". I see somebody else got there first!

I think I'll give this a 5 too. It's not a song I'm always in the mood for, but it's so well done, and the playing and arrangement is such a perfect match for the lyric.

My favourite part is probably when the singer's mask of sanity almost slips on the word "out" in "I just can't let it out."