| Blabblab-re
Robyn's banter.
Eb brought up the fact that he wasn't terribly happy with robyn's onstage flights of fantasy and that opened up a whole can of worms . The discussion went on for days.
Eb Subject: Re: Blabblab Charles wrote: >Robyn was quite talkative.... I tell ya, I'm utterly sick of the contrived off-the-wall ramblings between songs. Why can't he tell us something REAL about the song to come, rather than just showing off how eccentric/whimsical/tangential he is? Or just talk less, period? Robyn's playing out here on the 30th, and I think I'm going to skip it. I just think of another acoustic show listening to him prattle on endlessly between tunes, and I cringe. Sorry, Robyn -- maybe next tour. Eb
Hal Brandt Subject: Re: Blabblab While I feel that his sets/raps have become a bit repetitive of late (compared to the free-wheeling setlists of the "EYE" Tour, let's say), I think what he actually says when setting up a tune HAS become more"real". The Knoxville, TN. show on 2.23.97 included an anti-pornography rap right after the second book reading that was the most real he's ever gotten. I've even heard him intro a song using the REAL TITLE a few times, something unheard of until recently. Maybe you should catch a new show after all, Eb.
Bayard Subject: Re: Blabblab It's kind of fun to figure out on one's own what the song is really about, I think. Though I guess it's a bit more work. As a collector, I grow tired of hearing the same description half a dozen times, but even still he varies things a bit, and he comes up with some pretty interesting things. Though personally I didn't think much of the book readings, it seemed like a contrived "Mad Libs". > I just think of another acoustic show listening to himyou'll never know unless you go... IMHO a robyn show with a silent robyn btw songs would be no robyn show at all, impersonal and almost scary... one might as well go see Tom Petty. Just remember, he still talks just a fraction as much as Billy Bragg or Dick Dale.
"Charles Gillett" Subject: Re: Blabblab Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 Eb wrote: >Charles wrote:I mentioned his talkativeness because at his last MN show he wasn't very talkative at all and seemed somewhat surly. >I tell ya, I'm utterly sick of the contrived off-the-wall ramblingsI think that's just the way he is. Would you like it if you were just doing your thing and someone came up to you and said, "Hey, buddy, give it a rest--we're sick of your old schtick" or something like that? - Charles
From: Eb > Subject: Re: Blabblab Charles wrote: >Would you like it if you wereOf course I wouldn't. But Robyn opens himself to such comments by being a public artist. Comes with the territory. Just as he must submit to blathering idolatry/panty-flinging on the other end of the spectrum. ;) Bayard wrote: >you'll never know unless you go... IMHO a robyn show with a silent robynI saw the Billy Bragg/Robyn Hitchcock bill last year. Yes, Billy talks more, but he talks more than ANYONE. And I disliked Billy's "schtick" a lot more. I never have claimed to be a big Bragg fan (though Back To Basics is an excellent piece of work). I don't want Hitchcock to be SILENT -- I just want him to quit reciting these carefully crafted "spontaneous" monologues from show to show. They ring extremely hollow to me for the most part, and only serve to fuel his (supposedly unwanted?) "eccentric" image. Also, I want him to quit playing "The Wind Cries Mary." Get it out of your system already, darn it! Eb, who thinks there are lots worse things in this world than Tom Petty and who coincidentally just got the new Are You Experienced? reissue
From: "Mark \"the rubber chicken of love\" Gloster" Subject: re: Blabblab I've probably heard nearly every one of Robyn's songs. I love to hearthem again and again, but I go to his concerts for something more, and his wacky between song tales really help me want to come back each time he makes it to my little dot on the map. If someone has to blabblab, I'd like them to do it like Robyn. He keeps a good music/blab ratio going for those who don't like one or the other. -Markg
From: Mississippi Malcolm McDowell <sdodge Subject: Re: Blabblab On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote: >. But Robyn opens himself to such comments by being aFor the record, I have never flung panties at -anyone-! :) You know what, Eric? I get the distinct impression that you think that there has been too much worship around here lately, and you'd like to take us all down a peg :). Either that or you want to take away my status as provocateur, which I will -not- have :). I love Robyn's stories. I don't give a flying f**k if they're not "spontaneous" or even if he repeats them, since I'm not going to every single show on the tour and consequently won't have a chance to get bored with them :). They're part of the performance, and as such, it's not a crime if he rehearses them. He rehearses the -songs-, doesn't he? > ring extremely hollow to me for the most part, and only serve to fuel hisAnd you would have him say something "real". Like what? His views on animal rights? His feelings for his girlfriend? His feelings about air travel versus auto travel? I don't really think that would be appropriate, and furthermore, I bet you'd flay him alive with your critical whip for doing -that- too. Lay off. Love on ya, Susan
Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 From: Eb Subject: Re: Blabblab >Either that or you want to take away my status asEek. OK, continue to revel in being the list's carrot-on-a-stick femme fatale. I think it's a bit sick, but don't let me stop you. ;P >And you would have him say something "real"..... Lay off.Oh, take a breath already. Barbra Streisand uses long, scripted introductions to her onstage songs. I'd just rather not see Robyn put himself in the same boat. I wouldn't even care if the bits were scripted, as long as they communicated something beyond "Lookie, I'm wacky 'n' witty." When I saw Hitchcock last year, his comments before "1974" were very interesting -- about 1974 being the final death blow to '60s idealism and all. The rest of the "stories," you can have. He shouldn't feel like he HAS to supply a bunch of offbeat spew between songs -- apparently he does. If he held it down to just a couple of monologues, it would be much more resonant, less grating and less forced. Eb,
Tracy Aileen Copeland Subject: Re: Blabblab On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote: > I'd just rather not see Robyn putWhen I first got to know Hitchcock's music he either wasn't repeating himself from show to show, or wasn't repeating himself as much. I thought the stories and banter were sort of the verbal equivalent of a light show - fun and impressive while it's happening, and fairly forgettable afterwards. When I got hold of some concert tapes and had the chance to listen to the monologues more than once I found that most of them just didn't hold up to multiple listenings. It was always impressive to hear these intricate, unpredictable stories when you didn't know how they were going to turn out, had the feeling Hitchcock didn't know either, and yet by the end they'd been bent into something that was recognizably a narrative (well, sometimes.) During the more recent tours, though, Hitchcock seems to be writing his material ahead of time and doing the same stories at every stop. But they're no better than the ones he was making up as he went along, and they don't have the spontaneous charm of the older ones. It's like "Cherry Red Daughter", the song he improvised in Ann Arbor a couple of years back - it was fun while it was happening, but would you have rather heard him play the same thing the same way at a different show, or a new improvised song, or one he'd actually put some work into? Tracy "And to this end, Mistress ..." Copeland
Mississippi Malcolm McDowell <sdodge Subject: Re: Blabblab On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote: > Eek. OK, continue to revel in being the list's carrot-on-a-stick I'd rather be the list's cherry popsicle, if that's ok :). > femmeDid anyone ever tell you to lighten up? I suspect they have, but if not, let me have the privilege of being the first :) :). > Oh, take a breath already. Barbra Streisand uses long, scripted > introductions to her onstage songs.Are they about frozen shards of pig? I've got to start checking her out then :). >I'd just rather not see Robyn putNo, I wouldn't either. I'd rather he put himself in a boat with -me-. > I wouldn't even care if the bits were scripted,But may I venture to suggest that he -is- in fact witty? I find the stories amusing, myself. There actually weren't that many at the Chicago show, and they were new to my ears, and I greatly enjoyed them. So put that in your pipe and smoke it! :) Love on ya, Susan
John Subject: Re: Blabblab
>I tell ya, I'm utterly sick of the contrived off-the-wall ramblings between Wow, I'm left speechless at this comment. Robyn's stream-of-consciousness stories are 50% of the reason I attend so many of his shows. I always thought that if you were a fan of Robyn, it was based in part on the between song banter. I've had arguments with friends about the whole thing being contrived. I stand firm on the grounds that it is not. Its not an act, his mind actually works like that and you can tell just by having a conversation with him. He uses analogies and metaphors that I never in a million years would come up with. The past leg had more banter than I can ever remember at a show, and apart from the deletion of the readings, I don't think its changed much for this tour. There was a point in time where he cut back on the stories (in 1991), because after the banter of the Eye tour, every review and article written about him had the words "wacky" "quirky" & "eccentric" in it. I think he said in an interview that it started to overshadow the music, with people yelling out "Tell us another one of them weird stories!" instead of shouting song requests. So until we come back around full circle again, maybe you SHOULD stay home. John
Bayard > Subject: Re: Blabblab On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote: > I don't want Hitchcock to be SILENT -- I just want him to quit recitingok, what would you like him to recite, then? I think the talking is part of who he is, not a "schtick", and if he's running out of ideas, maybe we should compile a bunch and send them to him. I'll volonteer to collect these. Bayard, who has never understood these fourth-person-perspective sigs
Eb Subject: Re: Blabblab John wrote: >Wow, I'm left speechless at this comment. Robyn's stream-of-consciousnessYou must find those banterless Robyn albums TERRIBLY frustrating. ;) here endeth the first part of this mammoth thread, click HERE to go to the second
abblab
Eb wrote:
> I tell ya, I'm utterly sick of the contrived off-the-wall ramblings between > songs. Why can't he tell us something REAL about the song to come, rather > than just showing off how eccentric/whimsical/tangential he is? > I just think of another acoustic show listening to him > prattle on endlessly between tunes, and I cringe.
While I feel that his sets/raps have become a bit repetitive of late (compared to the free-wheeling setlists of the "EYE" Tour, let's say), I think what he actually says when setting up a tune HAS become more "real". The Knoxville, TN. show on 2.23.97 included an anti-pornography rap right after the second book reading that was the most real he's ever gotten. I've even heard him intro a song using the REAL TITLE a few times, something unheard of until recently. Maybe you should catch a new show after all, Eb.
hal
Bayard <walden@universe.digex.net> Subject: Re: Blabblab
Eb wrote:
> I tell ya, I'm utterly sick of the contrived off-the-wall ramblings between > songs. Why can't he tell us something REAL about the song to come, rather > than just showing off how eccentric/whimsical/tangential he is?
It's kind of fun to figure out on one's own what the song is really about, I think. Though I guess it's a bit more work. As a collector, I grow tired of hearing the same description half a dozen times, but even still he varies things a bit, and he comes up with some pretty interesting things. Though personally I didn't think much of the book readings, it seemd like a contrived "Mad Libs".
> I just think of another acoustic show listening to him > prattle on endlessly between tunes, and I cringe.
you'll never know unless you go... IMHO a robyn show with a silent robyn btw songs would be no robyn show at all, impersonal and almost scary... one might as well go see Tom Petty. Just remember, he still talks just a fraction as much as Billy Bragg or Dick Dale. "Charles Gillett" <gill0042@gold.tc.umn.edu> Subject: Re: Blabblab Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 17:57:24
On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb <gondola@deltanet.com> wrote: >Charles wrote: >>Robyn was quite talkative.... > >So what is new? ;)
I mentioned his talkativeness because at his last MN show he wasn't very talkative at all and seemed somewhat surly.
>I tell ya, I'm utterly sick of the contrived off-the-wall ramblings >between songs. Why can't he tell us something REAL about the song to >come, rather than just showing off how eccentric/whimsical/tangential >he is?
I think that's just the way he is. Would you like it if you were just doing your thing and someone came up to you and said, "Hey, buddy, give it a rest--we're sick of your old schtick" or something like that? *8^>
-- Charles
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Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 16:43:03 -0700 From: Eb <gondola@deltanet.com> Subject: Re: Blabblab
Charles wrote: >Would you like it if you were >just doing your thing and someone came up to you and said, "Hey, buddy, >give it a rest--we're sick of your old schtick" or something like that?
Of course I wouldn't. But Robyn opens himself to such comments by being a public artist. Comes with the territory. Just as he must submit to blathering idolatry/panty-flinging on the other end of the spectrum. ;)
Bayard wrote: >you'll never know unless you go... IMHO a robyn show with a silent robyn >btw songs would be no robyn show at all, impersonal and almost scary... >one might as well go see Tom Petty. Just remember, he still talks just a >fraction as much as Billy Bragg or Dick Dale.
I saw the Billy Bragg/Robyn Hitchcock bill last year. Yes, Billy talks more, but he talks more than ANYONE. And I disliked Billy's "schtick" a lot more. I never have claimed to be a big Bragg fan (though Back To Basics is an excellent piece of work).
I don't want Hitchcock to be SILENT -- I just want him to quit reciting these carefully crafted "spontaneous" monologues from show to show. They ring extremely hollow to me for the most part, and only serve to fuel his (supposedly unwanted?) "eccentric" image. Also, I want him to quit playing "The Wind Cries Mary." Get it out of your system already, darn it!
Eb, who thinks there are lots worse things in this world than Tom Petty and who coincidentally just got the new Are You Experienced? reissue
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Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 16:44:44 -0700 From: "Mark \"the rubber chicken of love\" Gloster" <rubrshrk@tigermonkey.com> Subject: re: Blabblab
I've probably heard nearly every one of Robyn's songs. I love to hear them again and again, but I go to his concerts for something more, and his wacky between song tales really help me want to come back each time he makes it to my little dot on the map.
If someone has to blabblab, I'd like them to do it like Robyn. He keeps a good music/blab ratio going for those who don't like one or the other.
BTW, Mick just asked me to go bungee jumping with him. I think I'll pass.
-Markg
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Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 20:09:05 -0500 (CDT) From: Mississippi Malcolm McDowell <sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu> Subject: Re: Blabblab
On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote:
> Of course I wouldn't. But Robyn opens himself to such comments by being a > public artist. Comes with the territory. Just as he must submit to > blathering idolatry/panty-flinging on the other end of the spectrum. ;)
For the record, I have never flung panties at -anyone-! :)
You know what, Eric? I get the distinct impression that you think that there has been too much worship around here lately, and you'd like to take us all down a peg :). Either that or you want to take away my status as provocateur, which I will -not- have :).
I love Robyn's stories. I don't give a flying fuck if they're not "spontaneous" or even if he repeats them, since I'm not going to every single show on the tour and consequently won't have a chance to het bored with them :). They're part of the performance, and as such, it's not a crime if he rehearses them. He rehearses the -songs-, doesn't he?
> ring extremely hollow to me for the most part, and only serve to fuel his
And you would have him say something "real". Like what? His views on animal rights? His feelings for his girlfriend? His feelings about air travel versus auto travel? I don't really think that would be appropriate, and furthermore, I bet you'd flay him alive with your critical whip for doing -that- too. Lay off.
Love on ya, Susan
Who was it on this list that recommended "The Greatest Living Englishman"? I picked it up yesterday and I really like it a lot. Could you tell me some more about this Newell character?
******************************************************************************* "The worship of the beautiful always ends in an orgy"- Benjamin Disraeli, "Lothair", lxxvii *******************************************************************************
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Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 18:40:14 -0700 From: Eb <gondola@deltanet.com> Subject: Re: Blabblab
>Either that or you want to take away my status as >provocateur, which I will -not- have :).
Eek. OK, continue to revel in being the list's carrot-on-a-stick femme fatale. I think it's a bit sick, but don't let me stop you. ;P
>And you would have him say something "real". Like what? His views on >animal rights? His feelings for his girlfriend? His feelings about air >travel versus auto travel? I don't really think that would be appropriate, >and furthermore, I bet you'd flay him alive with your critical whip for >doing -that- too. Lay off.
Oh, take a breath already. Barbra Streisand uses long, scripted introductions to her onstage songs. I'd just rather not see Robyn put himself in the same boat. I wouldn't even care if the bits were scripted, as long as they communicated something beyond "Lookie, I'm wacky 'n' witty."
When I saw Hitchcock last year, his comments before "1974" were very interesting -- about 1974 being the final death blow to '60s idealism and all. The rest of the "stories," you can have. He shouldn't feel like he HAS to supply a bunch of offbeat spew between songs -- apparently he does. If he held it down to just a couple of monologues, it would be much more resonant, less grating and less forced.
Eb, bummed because Brainiac's Timmy Taylor apparently died in a car wreck over the week Tracy Aileen Copeland <toast@indy.net> Subject: Re: Blabblab
On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote:
> Barbra Streisand uses long, scripted > introductions to her onstage songs. I'd just rather not see Robyn put > himself in the same boat. I wouldn't even care if the bits were scripted, > as long as they communicated something beyond "Lookie, I'm wacky 'n' witty." > What she said. When I first got to know Hitchcock's music he either wasn't repeating himself from show to show, or wasn't repeating himself as much. I thought the stories and banter were sort of the verbal equivalent of a light show - fun and impressive while it's happening, and fairly forgettable afterwards. When I got hold of some concert tapes and had the chance to listen to the monologues more than once I found that most of them just didn't hold up to multiple listenings. It was always impressive to hear these intricate, unpredictable stories when you didn't know how they were going to turn out, had the feeling Hitchcock didn't know either, and yet by the end they'd been bent into something that was recognizably a narrative (well, sometimes.) During the more recent tours, though, Hitchcock seems to be writing his material ahead of time and doing the same stories at every stop. But they're no better than the ones he was making up as he went along, and they don't have the spontaneous charm of the older ones. It's like "Cherry Red Daughter", the song he improvised in Ann Arbor a couple of years back - it was fun while it was happening, but would you have rather heard him play the same thing the same way at a different show, or a new improvised song, or one he'd actually put some work into?
Tracy "And to this end, Mistress ..." Copeland Mississippi Malcolm McDowell <sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu> Subject: Re: Blabblab
On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote:
> Eek. OK, continue to revel in being the list's carrot-on-a-stick
I'd rather be the list's cherry popsicle, if that's ok :).
> femme > fatale. I think it's a bit sick, but don't let me stop you. ;P
Did anyone ever tell you to lighten up? I suspect they have, but if not, let me have the privilege of being the first :) :).
> Oh, take a breath already. Barbra Streisand uses long, scripted > introductions to her onstage songs.
Are they about frozen shards of pig? I've got to start checking her out then :).
>I'd just rather not see Robyn put > himself in the same boat.
No, I wouldn't either. I'd rather he put himself in a boat with -me-.
> I wouldn't even care if the bits were scripted, > as long as they communicated something beyond "Lookie, I'm wacky 'n' witty."
But may I venture to suggest that he -is- in fact witty? I find the stories amusing, myself. There actually weren't that many at the Chicago show, and they were new to my ears, and I greatly enjoyed them. So put that in your pipe and smoke it! :)
Love on ya, Susan
John <jojones@mailbox.syr.edu> Subject: Re: Blabblab
>Charles wrote: >>Robyn was quite talkative.... > >So what is new? ;) > >I tell ya, I'm utterly sick of the contrived off-the-wall ramblings between >songs.
Wow, I'm left speechless at this comment. Robyn's stream-of-consciousness stories are 50% of the reason I attend so many of his shows. I always thought that if you were a fan of Robyn, it was based in part on the between song banter.
I've had arguments with friends about the whole thing being contrived. I stand firm on the grounds that it is not. Its not an act, his mind actually works like that and you can tell just by having a conversation with him. He uses analogies and metaphors that I never in a million years would come up with.
The past leg had more banter than I can ever remember at a show, and apart from the deletion of the readings, I don't think its changed much for this tour. There was a point in time where he cut back on the stories (in 1991), because after the banter of the Eye tour, every review and article written about him had the words "wacky" "quirky" & "eccentric" in it. I think he said in an interview that it started to overshadow the music, with people yelling out "Tell us another one of them weird stories!" instead of shouting song requests.
So until we come back around full circle again, maybe you SHOULD stay home.
John
Bayard <walden@universe.digex.net> Subject: Re: Blabblab
On Sun, 25 May 1997, Eb wrote:
> I don't want Hitchcock to be SILENT -- I just want him to quit reciting > these carefully crafted "spontaneous" monologues from show to
ok, what would you like him to recite, then? I think the talking is part of who he is, not a "schtick", and if he's running out of ideas, maybe we should compile a bunch and send them to him. I'll volonteer to collect these.
show. They > ring extremely hollow to me for the most part, and only serve to fuel his > (supposedly unwanted?) "eccentric" image. Also, I want him to quit playing > "The Wind Cries Mary." Get it out of your system already, darn it! > > Eb, who thinks there are lots worse things in this world than Tom Petty and > who coincidentally just got the new Are You Experienced? reissue
I just meant if you wanted to see someone who looks vaguely like robyn, (according to my roommate and "retinal damage") who probably talks about what the songs are really about or not very much at all, TP is probably yer best bet.
Bayard, who has never understood these fourth-person-perspective sigs
Eb <gondola@deltanet.com> Subject: Re: Blabblab
John wrote:
>Wow, I'm left speechless at this comment. Robyn's stream-of-consciousness >stories are 50% of the reason I attend so many of his shows. I always >thought that if you were a fan of Robyn, it was based in part on the >between song banter.
You must find those banterless Robyn albums TERRIBLY frustrating. ;)
Eb
Eb <gondola@deltanet.com> Subject: Re: Blabblab
Bayard wrote:
>I just meant if you wanted to see someone who looks vaguely like robyn, >(according to my roommate and "retinal damage") >who probably talks about what the songs are really about or not very much >at all, TP is probably yer best bet.
I suspect that Fegflinger Susan may hand you your head on a stick for saying Tom Petty looks vaguely like Robyn Hitchcock. ;)
Eb A fruity belch from Robyn is worth more than the entire recorded output of both Yes and The Sex Pistols. Bah. I'm going back to lurking.
-- Charles eddie; blabblab: i come down on the side that LOVES the stories. and i think they do hold up very well with repeated listenings. i could listen to LIVE DEATH or THOTH BOYS or the o'donoghue interview about twenny times a day i think. further, i would just LOVE to see every album spectrefied. the most disenchanting thing to me, Eb, is that you don't consider robyn to be an infallible being. seriously. i thought there were no casual robyn fans, just those that hadn't heard him and those that are SUPERFANATIC. also, even if you don't like the stories, you really should go see him to hear the songs, man. when he was here in november, i was blown away. his playing, and especially his voice, have never been better. it certainly didn't seem to me then that he was getting sick of it. finally, listening to stories, but more often interviews, it's really fun to hear him say something so outrageous or interesting or whatever that he even amazes himself. he really is a conduit, and as someone else said, it would be horrible to try to rein him in. would probably destroy him Eb <gondola@deltanet.com> Subject: Re: there's only yourself
Eddie wrote:
>further, i would just LOVE to see every album spectrefied.
You lost me there. Huh?
>the most disenchanting thing to me, Eb, is that you don't >consider robyn to be an infallible being. seriously.
Add the recent sneer that "one fruity belch from Robyn is worth more than the entire Yes/Sex Pistols catalog," and I think it's safe to say that RobynGodthink is alive and well. ;)
>i thought there >were no casual robyn fans, just those that hadn't heard him and those >that are SUPERFANATIC.
No, believe it or not, some folks hear Robyn and just aren't into it. Or there's other folks who just kinda like "that song about the balloons."
I wouldn't say I'm a casual fan. After all, I do own 19 Hitchcock/Soft Boys albums. But of those, I guess I'd say (let's see...) that I'd grade two of them "A," four of them "A-," two of them "B" and the rest "B+." So I guess that means I think he's a B+ artist on the whole. <shrug> General sameyness -- both lyrically and musically -- would be my chief complaint. And perhaps an inability to truly "rock."
>also, even if you don't like the stories, you >really should go see him to hear the songs, man. when he was here in >november, i was blown away. his playing, and especially his voice, have >never been better. it certainly didn't seem to me then that he was >getting sick of it.
Well, first, I didn't say he was "getting sick of it." That was someone else. I don't agree with that, actually. I just said *I* was getting sick of it. Second, I think I've seen RH about five times, starting around 1987. So I've certainly tasted the fruits of RH's live performances. I guess I enjoy the band gigs more -- I think my favorite RH show I've seen was on the Respect tour. Can't really say why -- that one just really made my toes tingle at the time. And just in case you think I'm always Mr. Negative, it's my impression that I like Respect more than just about anyone else on this list. here endeth the first part of this mammoth thread, click HERE to go to the second
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