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In The Spiritual Kingdom Of Love :: Robyn Hitchcock Dissects The Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight

One of my favorite albums, one of my favorite songwriters, and now, one of my favorite interviews. Head over to Aquarium Drunkard NOW to read my conversation with Robyn Hitchcock, wherein we examine all the microscopic details of the Soft Boys' 1980 masterpiece Underwater Moonlight. To get to chat with Robyn about all of this stuff was a dream come true and I thank him for patiently (and brilliantly) indulging my deeply geeky questions. I probably could've kept him on the line for another four hours, but I spared him ... at least we got this kind of anecdote, though:

Robyn Hitchcock: I had decided to do a version of “Sister Ray” acoustically with a sitar and maybe Morris on bongos [laughs]. We were going to reverse how “Sister Ray” is normally done. Same lyrics: “Too busy suckin’ on a ding-dong,” and all the rest of it.

AD: So it’d be like the Incredible String Band playing “Sister Ray”?

Robyn Hitchcock: Yeah, it would have been like the String Band — Robin Williamson and Mike Heron playing “Sister Ray”! That’s probably exactly what I was thinking.

AD: Wow, you’ve got to find a recording of this.

The Soft Boys - The Hope & Anchor, London, England, January 23, 1981

A few weeks back, we listened to the almost-Soft Boys opening for Yo La Tengo at the tail-end of 2024. Now, since a new 45th anniversary edition of the band's masterpiece Underwater Moonlight has just been announced, let's go back and listen to the 100% Soft Boys, live in London towards the end of their first run together (edit: seems like this is a Kimberley Rew-less affair! Thought he was just mixed low at first). A somewhat lo-fi document, but not bad when you turn up the volume — and anyway, where else are you going to hear a bunch lager-filled punters singing along with "Leppo and the Jooves"???

Underwater Moonlight was the Soft Boys' final LP (until the 2000s reunion), but by early 1981, the band had plenty of new material — much of which would end up on Robyn Hitchcock's debut solo album Black Snake Diamond Röle (often with the Boys providing backing). At the Hope & Anchor, the newies sound awesome, from a fried-and-floating "Acid Bird" to an even-more-manic-than-usual "I Watch The Cars." Most interesting of all is a rare live rendition of "Eaten By Her Own Dinner," a bonkers tune that wouldn't be released for another several years. It's hilariously nasty here.