March 2007, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga.
I first came across Robyn Hitchcock in 1985 after hearing “My Wife & My Dead Wife,” still one of the weirdest songs I’ve ever heard. I can’t say I know what the song is about (above the obvious), but I was taken by how commonplace he makes the unordinary. He sings “ ‘Robyn,’ she said/‘You know I don’t take sugar!’/My wife and my dead wife/Am I the only one that sees her?” and you wonder “Who thinks of this?”
Robyn Hitchcock would make a career of this, taking esoteric ideas and writing interesting songs to surround his odd lyrics. In “Balloon Man” he writes one of the best similes ever — “And it rained like a slow divorce” — and as someone who grew up in families of divorce, I know what that rain feels like.
He is also, as it turns out, a musical compatriot of one Peter Buck, who we’ve established is one of my musical heroes. Robyn Hitchcock is R.E.M. family — like Warren Zevon and Scott McCaughey — and if he’s good with the Athens boys, he’s good with me.
And on this tour, Buck and McCaughey served as two of the Venus 3 (with drummer Bill Rieflin, who took over some drumming duties from Bill Berry when he left R.E.M.) as the third. A show with these guys, at the 40 Watt, could provide all sorts of guest appearances. But having Robyn Hitchcock was more than enough.
If I was ever famous (and I’m running out of time), I’d want to be Robyn Hitchcock famous. Well respected for my craft with ardent fans but still able to go to the grocery store. On this night at the 40 Watt, some 300 or so showed up, and while it doesn’t seem like many, they were all full-in Robyn Hitchcock fans.
He came out alone, guitar in hand, and opened with “Surgery,” a rare B side that first appeared in a 1985 video but wasn’t released until 10 years later. Why? Because he’s Robyn Hitchcock, and that’s what he does.
Soon enough Buck, McCaughey and Rieflin joined the fray, as the band played songs from the just released Olé! Tarantula, as well as gems from the past including “Queen Elvis,” “Balloon Man,” “Madonna Of The Wasps” and “I Often Dream Of Trains”. Robyn told stories and bantered with the guys in the band, it wasn’t a show as much as a gathering of 300 friends, enjoying the moment while playing songs now and then.
He ended the night playing “Give It To The Soft Boys,” the first song on the first album with his first band The Soft Boys. An odd choice, sure, but who are we talking about?
Which made it the perfect choice.
