Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – “My Wife And My Dead Wife”

Join us for our annual Halloween Spooktacular episode as we take a haunting journey through the whimsical world of Robyn Hitchcock, focusing on his classic “My Wife and My Dead Wife.” With a blend of the mundane and the macabre, we explore how Hitchcock weaves a tale of domesticity intertwined with the supernatural. From the catchy chorus to the clever lyrics, we dissect the song’s unique storytelling and how it captures the listener’s imagination. We’ll also dive into Hitchcock’s musical roots, his time with The Soft Boys, and the quirky charm of his solo work. Whether you’re a long-time fan or new to Hitchcock’s artistry, this episode delivers a mix of chills and thrills!

“My Wife And My Dead Wife ” (Robyn Hitchcock copyright 1984 August 23rd Music/Bug Music)

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome, all you ghouls, goblins and goofballs, to our annual Halloween Spooktacular episode. I am Brad Page, your gross host with the most ghosts, here on the Pantheon Podcast network, with the annual “I’m In Love With That Song” Halloween episode. I’ll pick a song with a particularly spooky vibe and we’ll have some fun taking a closer look at it. This time we’re revisiting one of my favorite songwriters, the great Robyn Hitchcock, and one of his early classics, a song called “My Wife and My Dead Wife”.

Robyn Hitchcock was born in Paddington, part of Westminster, England, in March of 1953. He went to Westminster College, where he discovered the music that would change his life, in particular the music of Bob Dylan. He studied art in London and then moved to Cambridge, where he joined his first bands, eventually landing in The Soft Boys in 1976. The Soft Boys were a seminal British 70’s band. There was really no one else quite like them. Along with Hitchcock on guitar and vocals, The Soft Boys included Andy Metcalfe on bass– He would continue to work with Hitchcock and he played with Squeeze for about nine years– Morris Windsor was on drums, and another guitarist, a gentleman named Kimberly Rew, who would later go on to found Katrina and the Waves and wrote their massive hit “Walking on Sunshine”. Here’s a track from the first Soft Boys album, a song called “Leppo and The Jooves”.

The Soft Boys released two albums and then split in 1981. Robyn went solo, releasing some solo albums, and then formed the band Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, releasing their first album, “Fegmania” in 1985– a Neo-psychedelic, surrealist classic record.

One of the tracks on the “Fegmania” album is “My Wife and My Dead Wife”. It was written by Robyn Hitchcock, and features Andy Metcalfe on bass and keyboards and Morris Windsor on drums, they’re both former members of The Soft Boys; and of course Robyn Hitchcock on guitar and vocals. The album was produced by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians. The song begins with Robyn’s vocal.

I love the way he lays out the story here; Making coffee for his wife. And then the story takes a twist, and then he asks the question that should be in the listener’s mind.

Makes you curious as to what’s going on here, right? Let’s hear the rest of the first verse.

I think it’s a nice touch that he uses his own name there– his dead wife addresses him as “Robyn”. And the fact that this is just a mundane, everyday disagreement about whether she likes sugar in her coffee. It’s this juxtaposition of the ordinary with the bizarre, the fact that he’s having this conversation with a ghost or spirit. Robyn does this kind of thing so well. Here comes the first chorus.

In the background of the chorus, you’ve got this spooky keyboard part, sounds like a Theremin. It’s that classic 1950s horror movie ghostly effect. And then the chorus wraps up with this nice little tag at the end.

I like that xylophone bit there. Let’s move on to the second verse, but first let’s just listen to the instrumental backing, particularly to Andy Metcalfe’s bass part. He is the secret weapon of the Egyptians. So many great bass parts on these records.

The transition between the second verse and the chorus is different this time around. It’s more of a dramatic build up. Let’s hear that again, this time with the vocals.

That brings us to the next chorus. Let’s bring up Robyn’s vocal and listen to that.

Next up is a short bridge, and notice the background vocals here. Almost a pseudo-Beach Boys kind of thing.

There’s also a nice little instrumental break right in the middle there that’s reminiscent of something The Who might have done.

And that brings us to the third final verse. Notice the background vocals here, too.

Here, they extend the last line of the verse to build into the final choruses. You’ll notice that each verse is a little different; little changes each time so that there’s always something fresh. It’s not totally predictable. It just makes it a little more interesting. These are all great songwriting tricks to keep pleasantly surprising the ear of the listener. There’s also some fun with the backing vocals here, too.

And some more quirky background vocals are added here.

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians – “My Wife And My Dead Wife”

Robyn Hitchcock has never had a hit album or a hit single, but he’s had a long career and a, dedicated fan base, and he’s been very influential. He’s inspired many artists, including REM, who are big Robyn Hitchcock fans. He’s been the subject of two documentaries, 2007’s “Sex, Food, Death and Insects”, directed by John Edgington, and the concert film “Storefront Hitchcock”, directed by none other than Jonathan Demme, in 1998.

Last year, Robyn released his book “1967”, an autobiography of one key year in his life, 1967, along with an album of the same name where he covered some of his favorite songs from that year. I highly recommend both.

I hope you enjoyed this slightly spooky Halloween edition. We’ll be back in two weeks with another new episode. Until then, you can get caught up with all our previous episodes– there’s over 190 of them to choose from– and you’ll find all of them on your favorite podcast app; whether it’s Apple, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, Google, we’re out there on all of them. Or you can go to our website and find all of our episodes there. That’s lovethatsonngpodcast.com.

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So that is a wrap on this Halloween edition featuring Robyn Hitchcock with “My Wife And My Dead Wife”. I will see you back here next time. Trick or treat.