Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift: Sweet Home Quarantine Week 9-David Bowie

Emma Swift and Robyn Hitchcock

Since the quarantine began, singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock and his partner Emma Swift have been performing concerts live from their couch in Nashville. You can view the concerts through the Stageit website on Wednesday evenings, 8PM in the Central Time Zone. I’ve watched about 4 or 5 of the shows, which Robyn and Emma have titled “Sweet Home Quarantine,” and they’re all very entertaining.

Last night’s show, which was week 9, was David Bowie-themed. As a huge Bowie fan, I was excited for this. Robyn has covered Bowie in concert fairly regularly, although I don’t believe he’s done any Bowie covers on his records. 

The show last night began with “Soul Love,” from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It’s a cool song that is probably one of the lesser-known tracks on that classic album. Robyn said that the saxophone solo is one of the few saxophone solos he enjoys. Next up was “Moonage Daydream,” with Emma taking the lead vocal, and it showed just what a fantastic song that is. One of the great things about Sweet Home Quarantine has been seeing and hearing Robyn and Emma sing together—their voices blend very well, and the harmonies really give his songs a different sound. Robyn and Emma have recorded a few songs together, but they haven’t made an album together, and I’ve still never seen Robyn and Emma sing together live. (At the last Robyn show I was at in 2018, Emma was handling the merch table, but didn’t sing with him.) 

Up next was another Ziggy Stardust track, “Starman,” which was a lot of fun to hear. “Starman” is just a great Bowie song, with that sing a long chorus. Then came two songs from Bowie’s 1971 LP Hunky Dory, “Quicksand” and “Life on Mars?” “Mars” featured Emma again singing the lead vocal, and she did a fantastic job on it. Robyn accompanied on his Fender Telecaster. Robyn then sang the iconic “Heroes,” but he gave it more of a Velvet Underground vibe, which was very cool, and very different from Bowie’s version. Robyn also sang “Sons of the Silent Age,” which has a very odd melody and is a hard song to sing. 

Robyn and Emma were back harmonizing together on the underrated “Drive-In Saturday,” and the lovely “The Prettiest Star,” both off Aladdin Sane. Robyn sang “Kooks,” Bowie’s sweet ode to his son Duncan, and “Golden Years,” another tricky one to sing, but they pulled it off quite well. Robyn and Emma got a verse or two into “Wild is the Wind,” with Emma on lead vocals, before they got cut off. (The Stageit concerts are 30 minutes, plus a 20-minute encore, but they cut you off right at 50 minutes, no matter where you are!) 

It was lovely to hear some great Bowie songs again, in the hands of two artists who clearly love Bowie’s music.