Help me find a Robyn Hitchcock song

alex matson · Post by **alex matson** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 2:36 pm

Several years ago, I heard a beautiful song on the radio by Robyn Hitchcock. I got home and called the radio station, and the dj told me the song was called 'Cam' - at least that's what I thought. It was sort of a beatlesy mellotronish slow pretty number. I've never been able to track it down. I once spent a couple of fruitless hours auditioning every track I could on Amazon, but nothing seemed to be the one. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I'd be everso.

BeepBeep · Post by **BeepBeep** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 5:00 pm

Do you remember any of the lyrics?

mrclean · Post by **mrclean** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 7:46 pm

If you remember any lyrics - I have almost everything by Robyn on disc...

lg · Post by lg » Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:02 pm

http://www.robynhitchcock.com/index.htm

i don't know of a song of his by that title. i seem to recall one called 'the can opener' which i think is on 'element of light', but i don't have it here and can't recall what it sounds like. probably not your tune anyway.

good luck, let me know if you find it.

alex matson · Post by **alex matson** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:17 am

I know I've given you all little to go on...but R.H. is one of those people I've read about for years but don't know. Forget the 'Cam' part...just think Across The Universe.
Can you tell me the best candidates, or your personal favorites for sheer beauty?

apropos of nothing · Post by **apropos of nothing** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 12:23 pm

Your description sounds to me like something off of "I Often Dream of Trains" or "Element of Light".

lg · Post by lg » Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:36 pm

alex matson wrote:Can you tell me the best candidates, or your personal favorites for sheer beauty?

oh. sheer beauty is gonna be tough, 'cause there are so many. maybe i try instead to match your description (tho these are all, as it were, beautiful). here goes:

Aquarium (Eye)

Raining Twilight Coast (Eye)

Luminous Rose (Globe of Frogs...absolutely gorgeous)

Chinese Bones (Globe of Frogs)

Flesh Number One/Beatle Dennis (Globe of Frogs)

Swirling (Queen Elvis)

One Long Pair of Eyes (Queen Elvis)

A Skull, A Suitcase, And A Long Red Bottle Of Wine (Invisible Hitchcock, tho apparently he was trying to sound like Lou Reed)

You & Oblivion (Moss Elixer)

other favorites:

Trams of Old London (ok, well, pretty much everything on I Often Dream of Trains)

Egyptian Cream (Fegmania!)

My Wife and My Dead Wife (Fegmania!)

Unsettled (Globe of Frogs)

Lysander (Perspex Island)

tons more, but that's a start...happy hunting!

Blort · Post by **Blort** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:10 pm

I think it might be "Trams of Old London" off I Often Dream of Trains. (Rhymes with "Cam" at least.) It's incredibly beautiful and spooky either way. So is "I Used to Say I Love You" from the same record. The thing with RH is that, even on an otherwise mediocre record, there's bound to be at least one song that'll haunt you.

You could start with the aforementioned, or with Eye. (That one goes a long, long way.) The new one (Ole! Tarantula) is actually pretty fucking awesome, too. The first two songs rock like the dickens.

Blort · Post by **Blort** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:19 pm

I can't restrain myself!

"Winchester" from Element of Light is pure beauty, in spite of the intrusive fretless bass playing.

lg · Post by lg » Tue Dec 26, 2006 12:07 pm

'eye' is great. can't go wrong with that one. that and 'i often dream of trains' might be the best intro to robyn's surreal swirling universe. first time i saw him live (solo show, mcCabes guitar shop, mid to late '80's, i think), he finished his set with an incredible cover of "More Than This". i've never been the same since.

thereminman · Post by **thereminman** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:49 am

Hey LG, this wasn't the show at McCable's in which he stepped onto the stage down those little stairs and immediately picked up the bunch of carrots laying on the floor of the stage, placed them in front of his face and began one of his surreal off-the-cuff monologues
about being in the bushes or something?
I remember that he played a couple times at McCabes in this era (that was the ony show there of his that I saw)----but what makes the story so trippy, is that my friend's wife was the one who went and laid the bunches of carrots on the stage before the show----who knows why. She is funny and surreal in her own humor, and lots of his albums had had vegetables and stuff on the covers .....it just blew my mind that he immediately incorporated that random act into his show.
[I think he also did either Strawberry Fields at this show....or was it I am the Walrus?]

pantone247 · Post by **pantone247** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:33 am

he's playing in Dublin next week!

been a long time since I've been this excited about a gig... that is all...

yay!

lg · Post by lg » Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:04 pm

thereminman wrote:Hey LG, this wasn't the show at McCable's in which he stepped onto the stage down those little stairs and immediately picked up the bunch of carrots laying on the floor of the stage, placed them in front of his face and began one of his surreal off-the-cuff monologues
about being in the bushes or something?
I remember that he played a couple times at McCabes in this era (that was the ony show there of his that I saw)----but what makes the story so trippy, is that my friend's wife was the one who went and laid the bunches of carrots on the stage before the show----who knows why. She is funny and surreal in her own humor, and lots of his albums had had vegetables and stuff on the covers .....it just blew my mind that he immediately incorporated that random act into his show.
[I think he also did either Strawberry Fields at this show....or was it I am the Walrus?]

sorry, for the late pick up on this thread. i do remember something with vegetables. i saw him several times at mcCabes back then. funny, i was just in there today looking for a tamborine. didn't find one, of course. looking for the big 15" dia. kind the monks used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB4KhCG-kHM

lg · Post by lg » Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:07 pm

pantone247 wrote:he's playing in Dublin next week!

been a long time since I've been this excited about a gig... that is all...

yay!

so how was it?

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