Wednesday night’s “Sweet Home Quarantine” show, with Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift, was another all-request show that ventured through the deep back catalogue of Robyn’s work. Robyn opened with “Serpent at the Gates of Wisdom,” from 1993’s Respect album. He then played a real rarity, “The Abandoned Brain,” a track that was first released on the 1986 compilation Invisible Hitchcock. I have it on the Yep Roc box set I Wanna Go Backwards, but I haven’t listened to that song in a very long time.
Emma then joined Robyn for another track from Respect, “The Yip Song,” which references the death of Robyn’s father, painter and novelist Raymond Hitchcock. The song also mentions Vera Lynn, the World War II singer who recently died at age 103. Emma added some lovely harmonies to “Glass Hotel,” one of my favorite tunes from 1990’s Eye album. Emma then sang “Queen Jane Approximately,” from her new album Blonde on the Tracks. I got my copy about a week ago, and I can tell you, it’s fantastic. If you’ve enjoyed hearing Emma sing Bob Dylan songs, or any kind of songs, you’ll love Blonde on the Tracks. You can order Blonde on the Tracks here from Emma’s Bandcamp page.
Robyn sang a new song, judging from the chorus, I would say it’s called “One Day,” but Robyn told us it’s actually called “It’s Been Scheduled.” Emma then joined Robyn for “Mad Shelley’s Letterbox,” from 2017’s Robyn Hitchcock album. It’s a fun song, and one that I often mis-hear as “My Chinese Letterbox.” I learned from the chat that I’m not the only person who hears it that way. Robyn and Emma also sang “Sayonara, Judge,” another song from the Robyn Hitchcock album.
The “Sweet Home Quarantine” shows have been filled with more banter between Robyn and Emma the last few weeks, and after Robyn was going on about something this week, Emma told him, “You get more and more insane each week.” Which might be the slogan of 2020.
The show ended with two terrific songs, the beautiful and haunting “Airscape,” and the fun “Adventure Rocketship.”
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