1986
The Groovy Man With Exploding Lightbulb Trains
by Frank Beeson
British-born Robyn Hitchcock emerged in 1977 as the leader of The Soft Boys, a band which in that Punk-dominated period insisted on indulging in Syd Barrett/Velvet Underground-influenced Rock. After the group disbanded in 1980, Hitchcock embarked on a solo career, recording such offbeat albums as Black Snake Diamond Role, Groovy Decay, and the 1985 LP I Often Dream Of Trains. A peculiarly twisted and ingeniously humorous lyricist, during this period he also became involved in writing lyrics for ex-Damned leader Captain Sensible. In summer 1985 he scored his first Stateside release via Slash with the lauded Fegmania! album, and played several U.S. dates until succumbing to illness (although later making good on several missed engagements). His new band The Egyptians includes two ex-Soft Boys, Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe. Late-1985 saw the release of a live album, Gotta Let This Hen Out!, by Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians, put out domestically by Relativity Records. A live picture disc, Exploding In Silence, was recently released on the same label.
How would you compare the perspective of Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians to that of The Soft Boys?
The sound of it, you mean? It's more homogenous, I think. The Soft Boys had an experimental phase and a, sort of, Pop song phase, and never really meshed the two together very comfortably. I think the selection of material we play now is generally more at ease with itself, and doesn't go off into so many tangents.
You've been referred to as one of the godfathers of the "New Psychedelia", although your emphasis seems to be more in Witty Pop.
Probably, yeah. I don't think it's quite as comfortable as Nick Lowe. It's bursting with self-deprecating nuances and self-twists. I won't say it's as cozy as Nick Lowe, although I don't think he would like to be called "cozy". Or like Ray Davies. It seems to be true to Britain as its eternal expatriate. It's Wilfred Hyde-White set to music.
How do you view your UK success versus that of the United States?
I don't have the perceptual faculties, so I don't know how I'm perceived in Britain. I don't see behind everybody's eyes. I think I'm better-received over here than in Britain. But having said that, that's Britain as a whole. Southern England is very good. Northern England's a waste of time!
What are some favorites you've recorded?
"Acid Bird", "Love", "Do Policemen Sing?", "Insanely Jealous", "The Face Of Death", "Fifty Two Stations". I like a lot of my songs. I quite like them, or I wouldn't have written them. I'm not quite sure that I've got a standout favorite.
You've been favorably equated with Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. How do you feel regarding them?
I've got no interest in Zappa whatsoever. I think Beefheart is a natural and that Zappa is a, kind of, grafter, or calculating person who to an extent has presented the Beefheart attitude in a commercial way. But then I'm perhaps just being sore on Beefheart's part because Zappa's made all the money and Beefheart hasn't. I'm sure Beefheart is probably a very difficult person to deal with, and maybe tends to be like Zappa. But I'm not moved by Zappa's music at all.
How did you come to write lyrics for Captain Sensible?
He blundered onstage with us one night, and was very drunk. He offered to join us in a version of "Sandra's Having Her Brain Out" as an encore. He sang a couple of lines, grabbed my hair, threw water over the audience, fell over, was thrown off by our roadies, and then shoved down into the street by the management. He rang me up about six months later, said he was making a record, and would I like to help? So having cemented our relationship, I went along and worked on the last two albums (and I'm working, I hope, on the present one).
Wasn't your song "The Man With The Lightbulb Head" originally written only to be a film short?
Yes. I thought we'd film it and have a song to go with it. As a result of doing that, I recorded Fegmania! as well. Originally what I was going to do was make six little films and do six songs. I wasn't going to go on tour. But it turned out not that easy. It required less effort to form a band and go on tour than it did to make the films. In the film it's a little girl, but it's actually meant to be a boy whose voice hasn't broken. They're an American twosome. It's a father-and-son song. The song's about a father threatening his son's sexuality, or a father-and-son threatening each other's sexuality. It's a fear of castration by your own father. The father is scared as the kid's potency grows because his own sperm count is dropping. The son is terrified that while he's still small his father will cut off his genitals!
How do you relate to the presence of violence in some of your material?
I don't think I've got any gems of wisdom to answer on human violence. It's just there whether you want it or not. But I think if you glorify it too much you pay for it. Some people just need to be violent. You got to be violent somewhere. It just depends where you do it. You can be violent in the tennis court, in the bathroom, out in the street, under the bed, or even in the shower!
You've been regarded as having strong opinions about this country because of the song "America".
That song wasn't just about America by any means. It was about a person, but America pops up in the chorus. The reference to America there is in terms of America's financial, political, and military dominance of the Western world. If I was in Poland, I'd probably be writing something about Russia and wouldn't be allowed to sing it. I walk around baffled about America, about how there's so many things you can buy. I don't think I've ever seen such a proliferation of things you can buy!
"My Wife And My Dead Wife" conveys a Pop-oriented arrangement with bizarre lyrics. How did this cross-perspective come about?
I wrote a short story, and it seemed like a good enough idea to transcribe the short story into a song -- which I did. I've never done that before or since, which is why that song is particularly coherent. I had a whole plot of scenario worked out for it. Probably if I'd written stories about the "Insect Mother" and "The Man With The Lightbulb Head" they'd be a bit more focused as well. But they might be more unpleasant. They'd be more graphic about what happens. In the rest of them, I can't skirt it, whereas the dead wife makes no bones about the fact that the guy's having a schizophrenic breakdown because he can't tell the difference between the living and the dead. But I think a lot of people can't! A lot of people are obscured by phantoms either of their own desires or those of other people. They are as much obsessed by the unreal as the real. The dead wife could actually be a metaphor in Britain for imperial greatness, or a metaphor in America for political credibility throughout the world (or something like that).
You appear to have a deep fascination in respect to insects, with such songs as "The Fly" and "Insect Mother".
There's theories of how thousands of years ago very, very large spiders, and, and things like that, walked the earth. And that we have a hereditary memory of these things of the time when they were dangerous. That is why we're afraid of spiders and ants -- which is possible. In which case what we are seeing now are miniatures. Conversely, if you believe that race-memory extends to the future as well as the past -- so that you have a sort of telepathic inkling of your demise -- there may have come a time when spiders, ants, and things are dangerous and indeed huge. For instance, they're natively one of the few things that might successfully survive atomic radiation. There's been lots of science fiction and things about that.
You similarly appear to have a major enchantment with the subject of death.
Yes. I'm always watching for it with open eyes. I'm sure when it comes, I'll be the first to run away. It's so terrifying you can't really avoid being interested in it.
Is it true you wrote a song called "All I Want To Do Is Fall In Love" specifically in mind for Roger McGuinn?
I was quite a big Byrds fan, yes. They were one of those groups that people at the time didn't take very seriously because they were one-hit wonders, and there were lots of other psychedelic groups that kind of took over. McGuinn was seen as a guy that always followed every trend, and the rest of it. Actually, looking back at it, up to a certain point they really did some very good stuff. I'm sure it must have been a very difficult group to be in.
Psychedelia was only a mid-phase aspect for The Byrds. How would you define the term "Psychedelia"?
Anything that changes when you look at it closely. It'd probably be good for nearsighted people -- but they'd have to see it close up. It's bad for farsighted people. Actually, I don't think it's psychedelic anymore. If anything, it's psychological.
Aren't you planning on reissuing some of your earlier material?
What happens is that Richard [Bishop, Robyn's manager] has got us a deal with Important, whereby our own label is going to be distributed in The States. It's called Living Cream Records, and it's coming out with lots of stuff -- going back eight-ten years -- including things like Maureen And The Meatpackers, the very first Soft Boys demos, and an album of outtakes of mine called Invisibile Hitchcock.
Do you perceive yourself to be artistically fulfilled?
Oh, yes, because I'm now painting and drawing. It's dangerous when people who are good at one thing say they want to start doing something else, because Rock singers want to become actors, etc.. Painting I'm only learning to do now, but drawing I was always good at. But I'd like to make a film. I think it would be terrific! I'd like to make a proper film, but I don't know if you can do it without training. So it'd probably be a matter of collaborating with some people on a film script, or acting small parts. But I'd like to make a film before I die -- and all the other things that go with it. Apparently Beefheart's been making one.
What other current projects occupy your time?
Sorting out the Living Cream catalogue, which is going to be quite extensive. We'll be busy when we get back, doing things like remixing A Can Of Bees and Underwater Moonlight for compact disc with assorted outtakes. In fact, sorting out the compacts and sorting everything out on computer so that everybody gets paid their back-royalties. Then when that's all done we can make another record, decide what to put on it, who to make it with, where it's coming out, when to put it out, what to call it, what songs are going to be on it, and what we're going to do about recording it. But we've got to get through a lot of bureaucracy to get to it.
What are your goals in music?
What keeps me going is habit. You keep breathing to stay alive. It's the same thing for songwriting. It's just a habit of what I do. The same as a bird lays eggs. I only hope people don't fry my songs! I'm not afraid of this leading me to major success as long as I can control it!
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