Robyn, Martha; Martha, Robyn
Feb. 23rd, 2004 02:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetThis is taken from a song-introduction that Robyn Hitchcock did that was captured in the movie Storefront Hitchcock and given the track-listing "The song is its introduction." It has come up in conversation a few times, so I went ahead and transcribed it.
"I don't know why people ever actually introduce songs, because the song itself is its introduction to itself. It's like if you meet somebody named Martha they say "This is Martha." I mean that person happens to be known as Martha just as I might be called "Bloomingdales" or Denny might called "Staten Island," but that's only the beginning of the story. I mean Martha is a whole mass of molecules and complexes and things bound together by terrifying physical improbabilities and the truth is she could fly apart at any moment like some terrible pent-up lock that's waiting to snap and spatter her psyche across the universe. God knows I--it is disgusting, Denny, it's life y'know if it weren't for rib cages there would just be spleens a-go-go y'know. Not just you and me here with this live audience, but worse, imagine, there are people seeing this thing in art house movies all over the place and they're going to have to check their stomachs. Supposing they've managed to buy an ice cream, y'know, they could be sticking their fingers--at least they know if it's cold. But, I mean, you know, people are just held in by all this stuff and then they're called, almost insultingly, a single name. And the same with this song, I mean, I can say what this song is called, which isn't going to be much of a clue unless you've heard it before, or I can explain what it's about and I'm gonna be lying. So in the end there's not much point, really. OK, take a deep breath and yip a dang!"
"I don't know why people ever actually introduce songs, because the song itself is its introduction to itself. It's like if you meet somebody named Martha they say "This is Martha." I mean that person happens to be known as Martha just as I might be called "Bloomingdales" or Denny might called "Staten Island," but that's only the beginning of the story. I mean Martha is a whole mass of molecules and complexes and things bound together by terrifying physical improbabilities and the truth is she could fly apart at any moment like some terrible pent-up lock that's waiting to snap and spatter her psyche across the universe. God knows I--it is disgusting, Denny, it's life y'know if it weren't for rib cages there would just be spleens a-go-go y'know. Not just you and me here with this live audience, but worse, imagine, there are people seeing this thing in art house movies all over the place and they're going to have to check their stomachs. Supposing they've managed to buy an ice cream, y'know, they could be sticking their fingers--at least they know if it's cold. But, I mean, you know, people are just held in by all this stuff and then they're called, almost insultingly, a single name. And the same with this song, I mean, I can say what this song is called, which isn't going to be much of a clue unless you've heard it before, or I can explain what it's about and I'm gonna be lying. So in the end there's not much point, really. OK, take a deep breath and yip a dang!"
