English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock has created cult records all the way back to his days in The Soft Boys in the late 1970s. The Soft Boys began their recording career in Cambridge, and Hitchcock’s closest frame of reference has always been Cambridge’s Syd Barrett, best known as the first front-man of Pink Floyd.
1986’s Element of Light follows two of my favourite Hitchcock discs – the solo, acoustic I Often Dream Of Trains brings out his Syd Barrett influence, while 1985’s excellent Fegmania! is his first disc with backing band The Egyptians. Element of Light is a worthy follow-up, although one of its most immediate, energetic tunes is buried among the bonus tracks as a b-side.
When interviewed by Robyn Ware about his b-side ‘Tell Me About Your Drugs’, Robyn Hitchcock stated that:
I was walking over a flat area, and it was the middle of winter, and there were lots of dead things on the ground. And I was going over an area of flat paving stones, and I was vibrating internally — as is my wont — because I’d just had a cup of coffee (believe it or not). And I thought, ‘Oh yes, Tell Me About Your Drugs, that would be a good song to write.’ So I whipped back inside, and I wrote down the song ‘Tell Me About Your Drugs’ in about three minutes.
Robyn Hitchcock
Hitchcock also noted that people liked ‘Tell Me About Your Drugs’ because it’s one of his simplest songs. It’s simple enough that the band members were able to swap instruments – drummer Morris Windsor presumably plays the guitar break (“tell me Morris!”).
Do you believe in the Holy Grail?
Tell me about your drugs
Do you know anyone in jail?
Tell me about your drugs
Do you wake up on somebody’s floor?
Tell me about your drugs
And you just can’t take it anymore?
Tell me about your drugs
Ah, we all get hit by forces that we just don’t understand
Do you believe in the Holy Ghost?
Tell me about your drugs
Do you like the things that hurt you most?
Tell me about your drugs
Do you wish you were somebody else?
Tell me about your drugs
But you wake up and you’re still yourself
Talkin’ about your drugs
Ah, we get messed up by forces that we just don’t understand
Well, now tell me about your drugs, come on (Bop bop shoo bop, a-wop bop shoo bop)
Why don’t you tell me about your drugs?
I’d love to know more about your drugs
Why don’t you get intimate about your drugs
Why don’t you call me up and go on for hours ‘n hours ‘n hours ‘n hours ‘n hours ‘n hours ‘n hours about your drugs
Tell me Morris
Do you believe in the endless sleep?
Tell me about your drugs
Do you believe in human sheep?
Tell me about your drugs
WIth their curly little whirly tails?
Tell me about your drugs
So they hang themselves when all else fails
And they’re thinkin’ about their drugs
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I know I’ve heard that one somewhere before but I can’t remember where. Maybe I was telling someone about my drugs at the time.
It’s a b-side, so I wonder where you’d have heard it.
If you had told me the song was sung by Mark E Smith I wouldn’t have blinked. Both the vocal and lyrical repetition remind me of his band The Fall. Not that I’m in any way an expert on either! Just my two cents.
‘Tell Me About Your Drugs’ is more abrasive than most of Hitchcock’s stuff, and he kind of does the disdainful -uh at the end of “drugs” in this song. But normally he’s a more musical singer than Smith.
Tell Me About Your Drugs is a good song but from the sound of it I think I’ll enjoy Hitchcock’s other stuff even more
Robyn is the bomb.
Yes, I will write more about him one day. Often Dream of Trains and Fegmania are both amazing.
Me too
Strangely enough, I’ve just been getting into his most recent album over the last week or so. Still so much of his stuff that I haven’t heard (most of it, actually). This is a great tune, though… I love the driving rhythm… reminds me of Lanegan’s Driving Death Valley Blues… I wonder if Lanegan’s tune was a nod to it.