Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift: Sweet Home Quarantine Week 12: the 1980's Show

Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift returned to Stageit on June 10^th for week 12 of their at-home concert series, “Sweet Home Quarantine.” The theme was the 1980’s. It was great fun to see and hear Robyn and Emma singing some of their favorite songs from that decade.

Robyn wore a checked jacket that he bought in San Francisco in 1984. It definitely fit the bill for an 80’s show. Robyn opened the show solo with R.E.M.’s “You Are the Everything,” which he heard them play nearly every night when he opened for them in the late 1980’s. That was followed by Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer,” which might strike you as an unlikely song for Robyn to cover. But he did a great job, and his guitar playing was outstanding. Hearing “The Boys of Summer” played with just the guitar obviously strips the song down to the marrow, and you hear the song in a different way, isolated from the 1980’s production of the hit record. 

Emma Swift joined Robyn for “Charlotte Ann,” by Julian Cope, and two excellent Psychedelic Furs songs, “Love My Way,” and “The Ghost in You.” As always, Robyn and Emma’s voices blended superbly on these songs. Robyn previously covered “The Ghost in You” on his 2014 album The Man Upstairs, which I reviewed here. 

Emma then got a magnificent solo turn as she sang “I Drove All Night,” made famous by Cyndi Lauper, and also sung by Roy Orbison and Celine Dion. It was fantastic and makes me hope that Robyn and Emma record some of these quarantine songs and put them on an album. Or two. Or three. The Quarantine Sessions!

Robyn sang solo on Roxy Music’s “To Turn You On,” which he also covered on The Man Upstairs. It was a beautiful version of a great song. One of the things that makes Robyn’s version so interesting is that whereas Bryan Ferry’s original sounds like the smooth pick-up line of a confident lover-man, Robyn sounds like an earnest suitor, offering a sincere token of his love.

Emma then absolutely killed it with a beautifully haunting rendition of the Smiths’ “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” I’ve never really listened to much of the Smiths, and I had never heard this song before hearing Emma sing it, and I was knocked out by it. Correction—the internet tells me I heard the Smiths’ version in the movie (500) Days of Summer, with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Oops. Well, Emma’s version was the first time the song stuck with me.

Robyn and Emma duetted on a great version of “Walking on Sunshine,” which was written by Robyn’s Soft Boys bandmate Kimberley Rew. It was odd to hear this song, one of the poppiest feel-good tunes of the 1980’s, sung by Robyn Hitchcock, but it was a fun tribute to Robyn’s friend and former bandmate. As Robyn said, “that song was brought to you with a cherry of nihilism on top—that would be self.” Thinking of Robyn as a cherry of nihilism brought a smile to my face. 

The last tune of the evening was the Traveling Wilbury’s “Handle with Care,” complete with Robyn donning a top hat, ala Tom Petty. Another enjoyable evening of tunes from Nashville.