Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 99 Send posts to fegmaniax@ecto.org Send subscribe/unsubscribe commands to majordomo@ecto.org Send comments, etc. to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@ecto.org FegMANIAX! Web Page: http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/ Archives are available at http://archive.uwp.edu/pub/music/lists/fegmaniax/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Topics: ------- ------- Group statistics - youngest member mucky muck the invisible pygmalian pug nubian slaves Re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 98 _gotta let this hen out!_ Re: Stones Lyrics (re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 94) Thanks! Re: nubian slaves I can remember Shakespeare, but God forbid I get a date right. Okay, so they're wide... nubian slaves Re: Stones Lyrics (re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 94) re:Thanks! Kay's Shindig Re: Hitchcock, A&M split Re: Okay, so they're wide... Re: Thanks! Re: _gotta let this hen out!_ ------------------------------ From: "920520- DANIEL R. SAUNDERS" Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 12:31:12 PDT Subject: Group statistics - youngest member Well I'm 16 now, but I'm still lurking on this list and I'm still a huge fan of Robyn Hitchcock. I would like to strongly thank whoever it was that sent me all those tapes in response to my "Introducing - me!" message a while ago. I was asking which album I should buy next, and this person offered to send me two tapes that he'd already bought the CD versions of (Element of Light and Eye) and a special compilation tape, for free. Well I got them, and ever since then I've been a rabid fegmaniac. I've bought four more albums since then, and I read this mailing list regularly. I've lost track of this person's e-mail address, so I'd like to say one last public thank-you. Now if I can only find some other Robyn Hitchcock people in my town (latent or otherwise)... Daniel Saunders They say that I'm weird, and disinfectant is the only thing I drink Well cleanliness of the soul is more important, don't you think? - Robyn Hitchcock, Underwater Moonlight ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 00:05:26 -0500 From: kenster@MIT.EDU (Ken Ostrander) Subject: mucky muck the invisible pygmalian pug to slither is divine. from that primordial goo that teams with lust superman found the milk for his rice krispies. since his tawdry affair with the invisible girl people have confused history with hits with the master of suspense. getting really mellow together with slurping slipping fishies quivvering in the jam 'round midnight ignoring everyone around them. some people make it and some people don't. mucky takes it very hard and rolls around in the slop with a greater compunction than passion. no one even notices. "you've got to be kidding!" quoth one of the sly nubian babes. "by my bucktoothed mucksleuth's barefoot shakespeare review, how do you work this thing?" was the only reply mucky could muster as he swithed the batteries around and, like a real smoothie, began to readminister the alkalie to her still vibrating corpusels. "five is a nice round number" she managed to let slip between gurgles of satisfaction and reached for more syrup, spilling it everywhere. "i'm gonna be more careful with you." "obviously." "i was born with trousers on, you know." she called from the bathroom where she had finally got around to seeing the statues scupted from toothpaste. "just about like everyone." he muttered; but she, too, had begun to ignore poor poor pitiful mucky as she rambled through the bureau. it seemed that all she really wanted was the spanner hidden there. until, in an adoring pose, she doned a shiney leather hood and began to apply the baluga just the way the porcine, clod-hoppered fiend likes it. later muck pulled out his kryptonite carapace lighter and they burned a couple of fags. in this horrible age of abuse and decay, it's good to know that somebody's looking ok. he had not forgotten about the invisible girl, though she was nowhere to be seen. p.s. "seemed like a stationary dude." >Two naked statues, a man and a woman, had been standing looking at each >other, in a park, for a hundred years. > >An angel came to visit them and said that since they had stood there so >patiently through all the summers and winters, they would be rewarded by >half an hour of human life to do what they had been wanting to do most. So >the two statues came to life, looked at each other, and laughed a bit and >said "shall we?" and "yes let's" and they slipped off behind some bushes >and there was a lot of rustling. > >After a quarter of an hour, they came out from behind the bushes all hot >and flustered and happy. The angel said they had only used half their time >and why didn't they start all over again. So the statues giggled a bit >and the man statue said to the woman statue, "OK, Let's do it again, only >this time we'll do it the other way around. I'll hold down the pigeon and >you crap on it!" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 21:43:00 -0400 From: flaky white stuff Subject: nubian slaves Also sprach RxBroome@aol.com: >...and in "This Could Be the Day", is Robyn saying that the tongues of fire >come from "MY Nubian slaves", or "Mynubian slaves"-- the first time he sings this part, i hear: "bells [balls?] of fire hissing through the dark and tropical night thrown *by* nubian slaves" it's "tongues of fire" the second time. +w ------------------------------ From: CooperTJ@aol.com Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 02:39:32 -0400 Subject: Re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 98 >2nd set (with band, Homer): >Tell Me Mama >Baby Let Me Follow You Down >Tom Thumbs Blues >Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat >One Too many Mornings >Thin Man >Rolling Stone >__ I see that this set is IDENTICAL with the Albert Hall bootleg order (actually recorded in Manchester, I believe). I don't know enuff to comment on the first set and encores. Were they also off the original set list, Dylan buffs? - Mike Godwin Nope, the erstwhile Royal Albert Hall alias Manchester Dylan show included the following acoustic set: 4th Time Around Desolation Row Just Like A Woman Mr Tamborine Man ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 22:24:48 -0500 From: kenster@MIT.EDU (Ken Ostrander) Subject: _gotta let this hen out!_ suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, robyn hitchcock found himself with an audience. in fairly short order (and after all but disappearing for two years) he'd released the brilliant _i often dream of trains_ and, reunited with the original rhythm section from the soft boys, _fegmania!_ meanwhile, the soft boys, who had barely dented the english music scene when they trod the boards, had so gestated in memory as to become modest legends. and so were born the egyptians: robyn hitchcock (vocals/guitar), roger jackson (keyboards), andy metcalfe (bass), and morris windsor (drums). robyn's longtime friend james fletcher, who had played sax on _fegmania!_ (partly a matter of friendship, partly the final hangover from robyn's second solo effort, groovy decay), had left before it came time to record gotta let this hen out! "hen out! was probably the most painless record to make of all," robyn remembers. "our manager at the time suggested that we record at a gig, and he was pals with whoever ran the marquee [in london], so they suggested that we do a gig there, and we could record it fairly cheaply. we also filmed it. i never liked the film very much. i had a peculiarly naff hairstyle, even by my standards, and i'd just shaved, so l had this sort of sweaty dead varnished chicken look. it was terribly hot, they had all these lights on us, and i wore my suit and shirt, so l was really uncomfortable for the whole gig. "and also, the marquee was really full. i think we'd just been on television in britain, and we were getting vaguely popular. we certainly sold out the marquee, which i suppose was about 600 people, and they were all going wild. especially these german kids up front. in fact our crowd generally is quite passive; they're a thinking crowd, rather than an achng crowd. they tend to take things in, rather than throw things out. our crowd going wild usually is just like the gentle rustling of plants in the breeze. but we had a couple of german guys up front who were just spinning around like air conditioners. and i thought they were going to slice up our nice, well-meaning british fans. not deliberately, but just by spinning around they'd lacerate them in some way." accustomed to more intimate settings for his music, robyn is shll uncomfortable today with large audiences. "i still feel sick when i'm standing aroumd the outside of a club and i see all these people going in, and i think, 'jesus, i l am what they're there for. i'm entertaining them.' it's just a frightening thought. you at least caused them to be there, and you've got to do what you can to them." that night at the marquee, robyn says, "i didn't even think once that we were recording. i was fizzing enough because there was a whole crowd of people in the room; it was unnerving. i don't know what part this has played in my career, but i've never really liked big audiences." still, gotta let this hen out! proved a simple, joyous release. "it was just a typical set," robyn says. "the egyptians had been going for not more than six months at that stage. we'd shed fletcher, because the sax didn't really fit in, and roger was solid enough that i could take my hands off the guitar and gesticulate a lot. we had a lot of the best of the soft boys-era songs, and the most action-friendly of the post-soft boys songs. so we were doing two songs from each album or something." it was the same set list robyn hitchcock & the egyptians would bring to america later that year. quite predictably, robyn dug out a song or two that hadn't quite found an audience the first time around -notably, "listening to the higsons," which had been a parhcularly well-hidden bside. "the higsons were long gone by then," he adds laconically, and then explains: "the higsons came from norwich. they were a whiteboy jazz-funk group in 198182 who were very popular on the indie circuit and they were much beloved by john peel and people like that. i heard them playing this song one night, and i thought it was 'cotta let this hen out,' when in fact it was 'cotta let this heat out.' it was like spandau ballet with a sense of humor played by students, rather than meatheads. in fact, one of the higsons, terry, is now a friend of ours, and he's even played with us live a few hmes. i was in a flat in norway when i realized what the correct title had been." for the rest, well, let's just spell it out. "sometimes i wish i was a pretty girl" comes from i often dream of trains. "acid bird" and "brenda's iron sledge" come from black snake diamond role. despite his antipathy toward the record, both "the cars she used to drive" and "america" originated on groovy decay. "my wife and my dead wife," "the fly," "egyptian cream," and "heaven" had just been released on fegmania! "kingdom of love" was a track from the soft boys' last masterpiece, underwater moonlight, while "only the stones remain" was one of the final recordings from those sessions. "leppo & the jooves" originated on the soft boys' can of bees ("it's a trimmed-down version; i think we lost a verse"). the final track, "the face of death," was first recorded during sessions for the debut soft boys album, give it to the soft boys. in fairness, hen out! isn't strictly a live recording. "the drums and the guitar and nearly all the vocals are live," robyn says. "andy repaired a bit of bass, and roger repaired bits of keyboard. i didn't repair any of the guitar solos or any of the rhythm guitar. andy and roger didn't really make any mistakes, to speak of, i think they were just a bit more particular about their parts than i was. and morris couldn't change anything because drums get all over the place. "we were firing on eight cylinders out of six. we had to dry-clean our shoes afterward-the closest i ever got to rock 'n' roll." -grant alden 1. sometimes i wish i was a pretty girl (2:08) 2. kingdom of love (4:16) 3. acid bird (3:39) 4. the cars she used to drive (3:01) 5. my wife and my dead wife (3:56) 6. brenda's iron sledge (3:08) 7. the fly (3:49) 8. only the stones remain (2:39) 9. egyptian cream (3:32) 10. leppo and the jooves (4:55) 11. america (4:18) 12. heaven (3:52) 13. listening to the higsons (2:58) 14. the face of death (3:35) (golda let this hen out! was originally comprised of tks 1-610-14 and issued as midnight music [ukj #chime 00.15 1985; tk 8 was originally issued on the 12~~ ep brenda s iron sledge, midnight music [uk] #dong 17, 2/86; tks 7-9 were later included as bonus tracks on the cd release of gotta let this hen out! [same #] 10/86) all songs written by robyn hitchcock. all songs published by emi virgin songs inc. (bmi)/two crabs music (prs), except only the stones remain published by watteau music (prs) personnel: robyn hitchcock: vocals, guitar; bass (tk 13) andy metcalfe: bass, backing vocals; drums (tk 13) morris windsor: drums, ice cream; guitar (tk 13) roger jackson: keyboards recorded live at the marquee april 27, 1985 mixed by pat collier roger jackson & andy metcalfe repaired at alaska thank you: frank riley/ randi blattberg - u.s. paul bolton/john gammon - u.k.; andy griggs; dave ros; the great one & richard bishop special thanks to chris cox cover parnting by robyn hitchcock reissue produced for release by jim neill a&r assistance: rick gershon research: patrick milligan & gary peterson legal assistance: jonathan earp remastertng: bill inglot & ken perry reissue art direction: coco shinomiya design: art slave special thanks: paul bradshaw/ mod lang cadging artwork t iogs robyn hitchcr ck. egyptians' top ten albums: robyn hitchcock: revolver the beatles highway 61 revisited bob dylan mr tambourine man the byrds clear spot captain beetheart please to see the king steeleye span barrett syd barrett heroes david bowie avalon roxy music the velvet underground shearwater martin carthy andy metcalfe: revolver the beatles parker iam sessions charlie parker striking it rich dan hicks sailing shoes little feat sergeant pepper the beatles surf s up the beach boys pretzel logic steely dan hegira toni mitchell steve mcqueen prefab sprout borderline ry cooder morris windsor: surf s up the beach boys decoy miles davis east side story squeeze i just can t stop it the (english) beat pretzel logic steely dan stranded rosy music there s a riot goin on sly and the family stone future days can the band greatest hits isley brothers ------------------------------ From: "Aaron J. Sparrow" Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 09:41:23 -0500 Subject: Re: Stones Lyrics (re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 94) >> "Stained glass elaborations collapse, candy floss evaporates, honey..." I always heard it as "candlelight evaporates, honey", but I haven't listened to it in a while, and anyway, my left brain has a tendency to converge on the most familiar sound it can make sense of. So basically, I'm saying listen to N. Rob Leas -- his left brain is probably more trustworthy. Aaron ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 May 96 18:50:55 CDT From: Truman Peyote Subject: Thanks! I already knew most of that information relative to "Gotta Let This Hen Out", but the information relevant to the genesis of "Higsons" was most excellent to find out (I always thought the Higsons represented some sort of archetypal stuffy middle-aged-type English couple- is it just me? Oh well :)). Also the Egyptians' top 10, interesting stuff. I was very excited to know that I own and love all of Robyn's picks (except the Martin Carthy, whom I alas know only as a name dropped in Bob Dylan biographies :)). I would have picked "Low" rather than "heroes" and "Country Life" over "Avalon", but hey, it's not MY top ten and who am I to argue with the Man, anyway. And since I'm mouthing off, thought I'd add my two cents worth on the "This Could Be The Day" question- I've always heard "FROM my Nubian slaves" though actually I think "thrown by" is a better line. Then again, I'm willing to swear on a stack of Biographs that everybody wants to DOZE when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, so what do I know? Susan I have to move tomorrow morning and I'm only half done, so naturally I have to put my two cents in on the list before I even THINK about finishing my packing :). ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 13:13:06 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: nubian slaves On Wed, 29 May 1996, flaky white stuff wrote: > thrown *by* nubian slaves" > 'My' or 'By'?; 'Mucky' or 'Bucky'? Notice any similarity? I think RH has a slight case of adenoids! - Bike Godwin ------------------------------ From: LORDK@library.phila.gov Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 9:23:54 -0400 (EDT) CC: LORDK@library.phila.gov Subject: I can remember Shakespeare, but God forbid I get a date right. Sillyme. In my last sign-off, I give the wrong date for the party. Fri, June 21st. No matter what else I say between then and now--that *is* the date. For those whove asked for directions--Ill be sending them out the week before. My husband will write them up, so they will be understandable and trustworthy. Ta K ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 00:29:24 -0400 Subject: Okay, so they're wide... Russ-- and it's really Russ this time-- says: "1. I enjoy Invisible Hits." Uh oh... I was criticizing "Invisible Hitchcock", not "Invisible Hits". "Hits" is a different ballgame... also uneven, but too full of essential stuff to ignore... And later: "BTW--anyone ever hear of a band called the Tall Boys?" Nope... just the Fat Boys. You are of course correct about the Wide Boys messing a bit... it just seems that the list can't go for more than a week without discussing masturbation in some way, and far be it from me to buck the trend. Or is that "muck the trend"? Rex ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 May 96 07:47:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: nubian slaves <> just thought thought I'd jump in and offer the COMPLETE lyrics to "This Could Be The Day", as I remember them: This could be the day, I've waited for all my life and it's dum dum dum This could be the day I dum da da dum dum dum da da dum dum dum dum da dum dum, dum dum dum da dum dum dum-da-da-dum da-da nubian slaves [repeat, throwing in the word "malignant" where appropriate] that's the way I'VE always sung it. But "Thrown By" sounds good to me too. -russ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 07:22:29 -0500 (EST) From: Tracy Aileen Copeland Subject: Re: Stones Lyrics (re: Feg Digest Vol 4 Num 94) > >> "Stained glass elaborations collapse, candy floss evaporates, honey..." > > I always heard it as "candlelight evaporates, honey" The lyrics are printed on the _Two Halves for the Price Of One_ cover as "candy floss." Candy floss is the excellent substance known in the US as cotton candy. Tracy "cotton toast, hmmm" Copeland ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 May 96 9:58:36 CDT From: Truman Peyote Subject: re:Thanks! Well, to tell you the truth all the Steeleye Span I have is dubbed, except for one not very good "greatest hits" type thing I picked up at a thrift store, so I really had no idea who was in the band. Shameful, no? Anyway, it sort of explains why I didn't know Martin Carthy was involved. Sort of. Anyway, I knew he was a "folk purist", if that counts for anything :). Thanks for setting me straight as to his identity. The aforementioned Steely Dan and Beach Boys records were favorites of Andy and Morris, I believe, rather than RH, in which case he would have no right to bin them. I mean, you can't go binning other peoples' favorite records just because you don't like them :). My roommates would have binned my RH recordings a long time ago (just for the crime of "aggravated overplaying" alone :)). Seriously though- I'm not that into the brothers Wilson myself, but do check out that groovy theremin sound on "Good Vibrations". Which reminds me, has RH ever played a theremin or used one on a recording? Just an idle question really, as I just saw the documentary about it awhile ago (four stars. Joe Bob says check it out :)). Susan P.S. Whoever says "Invisible Hitchcock" is dispensible (and is calling the author of "A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu" a looney), I shall have to ask you to step outs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 May 96 11:11:44 EDT From: "mark allen" Subject: Kay's Shindig Sorry, I told Kay I would post this last week, but I've been remiss (or missing, or, er, something!) Anyway, she had originally invited all you fegs to her Spring Fling on June 14th from 7pm to 10pm. Well that's been CHANGED to June 21, same time, same channel. All those who attend are cordially invited to move the party at 10:00 to the Mermaid Inn in Chestnut Hill, Pa., where my band, One Mind, will hold court. We'll also try to slog through a couple of Robyn's songs. If you would like further details contact me or Kay directly or via the list. And don't be NAFF! or is it naf? ------------------------------ From: TchdnJesus@aol.com Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 16:49:10 -0400 Subject: Re: Hitchcock, A&M split In a message dated 96-05-27 12:01:45 EDT, narten@VNET.IBM.COM writes: >But if A&M thought he was unsellable, why doesn't WB think the same? A) WB has a reputation of housing "unsalable" artists who are popular with other artists, which has in recent years been tarnished by administrative upheavals. signing someone like Robyn is a good step towards re-establishing/reinforcing that reputation B) WB has this big name rock band whose contract is up soon, who they would like to re-sign, and consists of notorious Robyn fans, and signing and treating Robyn well is certainly a good step to reassure them in particular that WB isn't going to be turned into MCA anytime soon (as it was the reputation mention in point a which led to them signing with WB in the first place). [for the denser of you, that big name rock band would, of course, be guns'n'roses] ------------------------------ From: TchdnJesus@aol.com Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 16:49:37 -0400 Subject: Re: Okay, so they're wide... In a message dated 96-05-31 05:14:42 EDT, RxBroome@aol.com writes: >You are of course correct about the Wide Boys >messing a bit... it just seems that the list can't go for more than a week >without discussing masturbation in some way........ well, it IS the internet.....I always thought it was Wight (as in Isle of ) Boys masturbate actually, but............. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 12:30:17 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: Thanks! Martin Carthy is involved in two of those top albums, as he was also a member of Steeleye Span. In the 60s he worked extensively with fiddle-player Dave Swarbrick (later to join Fairport Convention); his daughter Eliza also plays the fiddle and has released at least one record. He is very much a folk purist. Martin Carthy once sued Paul Simon for stealing his arrangement of "Scarborough Fair", but the court decided that it was a traditional song, and so free of copyright. I'm not too sure that the court got it right, because on a recent TV show on the Animals, they said that Alan Price apparently succeeded in copyrighting their arrangement of 'The House of the rising sun' (to the disgust of the rest of the band, who got no arranging royalties). - Mike Godwin PS I hope RH has binned all those dreadful Beach Boys and Steely Dan records now! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 14:40:29 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: _gotta let this hen out!_ Thanks for the info. I assume that all the 'concert' footage in the GLTHO video comes from this one "check suit" gig - it certainly looks as if it does. Do you know if the tracks on the video been 'improved' as well as the album tracks? And does a 'straight' concert video exist? The 'official' release has the concert broken up by pre-recorded tracks (e.g. America, MWTLH, IODOT) with freaky video footage of freeways, trains, lightbulb heads etc. Nice as it is to watch those anglepoise lamps cavorting together, I sometimes think I would just like to see the concert all the way through. Cheers - Mike Godwin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest.