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

I like this one, it follows a similar cello-led theme on this album but has a lovely melody on the chorus and some nice vibrato on the guitars. The lyrics are good too and contain some interesting London references.

For those who don't know, Fuller's Ales are brewed in Chiswick not far from Hammersmith and have been a staple of the capital's pubs since the mid 19th century. Their most famous pint is London Pride which goes down a treat. Fulham Palace Road runs south from behind the Eventim Apollo aka Hammersmith Odeon and parallel with the River Thames past Craven Cottage home of Matthew Seligman's* team Fulham FC, then down towards Putney Bridge. W6 is the postcode (zip code) for the Hammersmith area.

August In Hammersmith 4/5.

* I forgot to mention in my post about the St Albans gig that RH referred to Matthew's death a couple of time and this, understandably, is probably why he's so concerned about masks and social distancing.

 

August in Hammersmith

This is an interesting one. It starts off with something almost like a martial beat in the verses, but then it softens a lot in the chorus. Robyn sounds great, especially in the chorus, as does the cello combined with the firmly strummed acoustic guitar. The lyrics have some nice images, although I can’t make overall sense of what he’s trying to say. But there’s a little too much of that martial-like beat to make this song one I can listen to more than one time through in a sitting, as it gets repetitious without the virtue of becoming hypnotic.

3.5/5

 

This is one of my favorites on the album. It has a real air of mystery, even more than Old Man Weather....I can't quite grok the scenario, but it's like it's just outside the circle of light.

"Until the seas roll back"....some kind of high tide scene, talk of floods....hmmm

One of the best things on the album

4.8/5

 

August -- 4/5. I think I'm starting to just embrace the overall vibe of the album with the cello and female background singers because it makes it sound different than almost every other RH album. This may result in me giving higher ratings than I might usually give.

 

I agree that this is one that needs some more variation in either the music (maybe throw in a middle 8 or bridge), or the arrangement (maybe shifting from the martial beat in the verse), but it does have a strange propulsive feel to it. I also don't fully grasp what the scenario is - a woman has done something maybe bad and is waiting for someone she doesn't know - is it the singer, or is the singer watching her wait for another man she doesn't know? The music of the verse is very tense, which gives the waiting suspense, but the chorus is celebratory, which may just be a stalker's joy. So I don't know quite what to make of this, but I like it: 3.5/5.

 

I'm mainly off-grid camping at the moment so I'm going to very quickly give my thoughts on the last few tracks.

Erasing your life - not as good as some others but still enjoyable. I wondered if it might be about going to a place where tou used to live and seeing other people erasing your memories as they make the place their own? 4.1/5

August in Hammersmith is one of my favourites, it does that very Hitchcocky trick of painting a picture that is both very specific and evocative, yet also quite vague and leaves you scratching your head a bit at the end. I love the "la la la la W6" harmonies, even if they are a bit silly. 4.8/5

Everything about you - I like the bluesy slightly psychedelic vibe (the most Barrett-y) thing he'd done in a while, but it drags a bit. Probably my least favourite on TK 3/5

Godnatt Oslo - a bit of a novelty really. I prefer the more electric instrumentation on the V3 version. Not being Norwegian, I also prefer the lyrics on that one, too... still a great, evocative tune though. 3/5

 

What about the Abyss? ^^^ @MattR

Erasing Your Life is my head now, maybe I like it more than I thought

 

Doh! I like that one best of all! It takes me somewhere else, especially when that melody suddenly jumps up higher for quivering/flickering. 5/5 for The Abyss.

 

"August In Hammersmith" to me is a classic Robyn lyric with an unsuually pop-friendly melody and arrangement. Very pretty, perhaps a bit too repetitive, but, yes, that little drum/guitar hook and of course the cello definitely make it a better than good song.

4.3/5

 

Our votes for "August In Hammersmith"

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Average: 4.1125

 

The opening riff of August In Hammersmith has a nagging familiarity which has been bugging me since yesterday. Finally I have discovered what it reminds me of, it's none other than naff hit of the 1970s Daddy Cool by Boney M.

 

Today's song is "Everything About You" (I said that that was today's song yesterday, but it wasn't, today's song is) written by Robyn Hitchcock and produced by Paul Noble. Recorded by Marc Waterman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzsbNNs4U7w

Robyn Hitchcock: vocals, guitar
Paul Noble: bass, guitar, vocals
Jenny Adejayan: cello
Stephen Irvine: drums
Jennifer Macro and Lucy Parnell: vocals

 

Robyn Hitchcock – Everything About You Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

There's a slight, ever-so-slight, old Soft Boys vibe on this one, isn't there?

Maybe just me.

It's a cool, almost menacing album track, with a lyric that....I don't really get. But the dark vibe and loping bluesiness of it sounds cool and I like Robyn's kind of devil-may-care vocal.

3.5/5

 

I find this one slightly at odds with the rest of the album. It sounds like something from Invisible Hitchcock to me and has a very Lennonesque feel, although it bleeds into Dylan in places. Rather like Savannah it's too long at five and a half minutes and there isn't enough light and shade to justify that duration. But I like the low-key guitar in the background and "the empathy of the torturer who has no choice" is an excellent line, although I'm not entirely sure what or who the lyrics are about; maybe the death of a loved one. All in all one of the album's weaker tracks.

Everything About You 2.8/5

 

Missed 'August..' - August in UK cities is always a bit strange and different. I agree with the overall score!

I like Everything About You; definitely a throwback to an older, sharper feeling. The Lennon vibe is due to the echoed vocal (Instant Karma); lyrically I sense a return to schooldays, maybe darker ones..... 3.5/5

 

Everything -- doesn't click with me at all this morning. 2/5

 

Everything About You

As I’ve said every time we get to a blues song in this thread, I don’t really like blues. This is okay for what it is, but it’s not really my thing.

2.5/5

 

"Everything About You" - The music is just too repetitive on this one, and hookless, to keep me that interested, though the guitar(?) sound effects in the background are nice ear candy. As ChrisM mentioned, this seems to be about a bad boarding school, or perhaps some other abusive relationship where one person has a lot more power than the other, but Robyn keeps it deliberately vague and distant enough, in the lyrics and his vocal, that we just get his subdued, decades-old rage, honed to a fine contempt. Maybe some of these subjects that Robyn is reluctant to fully describe in a song would be better addressed in a memoir, though Robyn seems too much the uptight Englishman to actually write one that reveals anything (which may be why the songs are the way they are). 2.5/5.

 

I have mixed feelings about Everything About You...I'm enjoying it this morning, but it is long....3.3/5

 

Our votes for "Everything About You"

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Average: 2.8714

 

Today's song is "The Abyss", written by Robyn HIthcock and produced by Paul Noble. Recorded by Marc Waterman.


Robyn Hitchcock – The Abyss Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

Robyn Hitchcock: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Paul Noble: bass, guitar, vocals
Jenny Adejayan: cello
Stephen Irvine: drums
Jennifer Macro and Lucy Parnell: vocals

 

A beautifully paced song with a suitably sparse arrangement and pointed lyrics reflecting existential angst in a more interesting way than most. Even when R's voice rises awkwardly it's counterpointed by the cello, with subtle guitar stylings beneath, and a harp that Dylans out to good effect. 4.5/5

 

Yes this is a beautiful song, one of the best on the album. I really like Stephen Irvine's drumming throughout this record, it's wonderfully restrained and compliments the arrangements really well. Here it's perfectly paced to give a platform to more simply wonderful cello playing. The singing is great too and I agree that the rising inflections work really well, which isn't always the case with RH.

The lyrics seem to speak of the dangers of temptation or even reckless compulsion, as exemplified by the last verse: "When you hear the serpent hiss/And you're aching for the kiss/And you're in a place like this/In the abyss ".

The Abyss 4.5/5.

 

Love the Abyss. Beautiful vocal delivery. 4.2/5.

 

Yeah this is great. I love his high vocalizing, the only thing that annoys me some times is the whispery fry stuff. The cello is fantastic here.

4.7/5