Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift: "Sweet Home Quarantine" Jewels for Sophia and A Star for Bram, July 15, 2020

Last Wednesday July 15^th, Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift continued their Stageit series “Sweet Home Quarantine” with a look back at Robyn’s 1999 album Jewels for Sophia, and it’s attendant collection of outtakes, 2000’s A Star for Bram.

Robyn opened the show with one of his more humorous songs, “Gene Hackman,” an ode to the actor that appeared as a hidden track at the end of Jewels for Sophia. (Remember hidden tracks on CD’s?) Robyn then sang “Daisy Bomb” before he was joined by Emma for “Mexican God,” which Robyn dedicated to Donald Trump. Key line: “Time will destroy you, like a Mexican God.”

Robyn and Emma harmonized on “Antwoman,” easily one of his oddest songs—and that’s saying a lot! Robyn sang “Judas Sings (Jesus and Me)” solo, it’s one of those songs that I haven’t listened to in a long time and had forgotten about. It’s a good one. Robyn then sang the lovely “I Saw Nick Drake,” a great tribute to the singer/songwriter. Emma returned to join Robyn on “Sally Was a Legend.”

And then Robyn played a song I’d requested! A Sweet Home Quarantine first! Emma gave me a shoutout, along with the other folks who’d requested “Viva! Sea-Tac,” Robyn’s exuberant ode to the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area. Confession: I’ve never actually been to Seattle, but I just love the song. As the chorus says, “And the Space Needle points to the sky/the Space Needle’s such a nice guy.”

Next up it was time to ring “The Cheese Alarm,” a delightful ode to cheeses of all kinds that Robyn sang solo. Robyn said, “These songs are as dismal as any I wrote,” although “The Cheese Alarm” and “Viva! Sea-Tac” are really very chipper tunes. Emma returned to harmonize on “No, I Don’t Remember Guildford,” which she said is in her top 5 Robyn Hitchcock songs. It’s a beautiful, hauntingly melancholy song that debuted over the closing credits of the concert film Storefront Hitchcock. The evening ended with “You’ve Got a Sweet Mouth on You, Baby.” It was fun to revisit an old Robyn album twenty years after it’s release, hopefully one of these weeks we’ll get a show devoted to Ole! Tarantula or Love from London, to name two of my favorite recent Hitchcock albums.