Radio 4
July, 1995
Kaleidoscope Interview
by Paul Allen
[DeChirico Street]
Not having the powers of your own town planning organisation, you've named your song after this man. And this is Giorgio DeChirico, the pre-surrealist surrealist.
That's right, yeah.
So why?
Well, he painted all these very looming pictures during -- especially during -- the first war. There was a lot of presence in the pictures. But there was hardly anyone in them. You know, there'd be all these things like punchballs and grandfather clocks. Punchbags...
The one I know is Mystery & Melancholy Of A Street, which has got a girl with a hoop. But right -- and a long avenue of arches -- and right at the top, there's this looming shadow. And there's a sense that something's going to happen to the girl, maybe.
I think something's always going to happen in those pictures -- but nothing quite does.
Is that one of the things that appeals to you, as a songwriter -- is using patterns of words to suggest things that...you know, sentences that which would constitute normal speech could never do? Your songs aren't boy-meets-girl-meets-man, whatever. They are weird images.
I don't know. You have to condense things with a song. You've got to get it all done in three minutes. So maybe you can't afford to use that many conventional sentences.
But do you like the idea of strange juxtapositions?
Well, you've got to keep people awake. [Allen laughs] But on the other hand, if your juxtapositions are too strange, people just don't notice.
Errr, yes...
Unfortunately, that's why Trout Mask Replica isn't playing in Selfridges.
The Captain Beefheart classic. Now, now, that again we're on to things that aren't by you, but you have...now you've bizarrely got, you've got nine CDs out simultaneously, all featuring new material. This is, errr...what's happening here, Robyn?
[Chuckles] Well, most of them are old. They're all old records (but they've got little extra bits tacked onto them).
New bits?
Well, things that were recorded at the time and weren't released (or whatever).
And including an album of previously never-ever-before-heard stuff.
Stuff that was lost and I didn't realise it was lying around. I had a load of demo tapes [Allen laughs] from 1987 or so. The cassette broke, so I didn't realise I had them.
Is this because...you know, let's be honest: you write songs faster than we the public can possibly consume them.
I write a lot of stuff, yeah. But I think you have to, errrm...the casualty rate...you know, I write...I put ten songs on an album, but I write forty songs for it. I mean, think of the amount of footage that you shoot for a film. I don't know what it is...you're lucky if you keep two minutes a day (or something). You know: in the cans. Some with songwriting. I mean, I bet even George Michael has got loads of old stuff lying around. But...but maybe he doesn't choose to release it.
Okay, well let's hear something from the director's cut [Hitchcock laughs] of your CD Eye. This is called...
Okay, this is called "Glass Hotel".
[Glass Hotel]
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