Give Me a Spanner, Ralph Releases Gigs Lyrics Comments

Details

Author
Robyn Hitchcock
According to our records, Robyn has played this song 22 times, most recently at Robyn and Emma's house on December 28, 2022. He first performed it at Alma on November 06, 1976, 46 years and 1 month earlier.
Title Artist Label Type Year
Black Snake Diamond Role Robyn Hitchcock Armageddon Records Album 1981
Zinc Pear Robyn Hitchcock & The Soft Boys Armageddon Records Promo 1981
Live At The Portland Arms The Soft Boys Midnight Music Album 1983
Invisible Hitchcock Robyn Hitchcock Glass Fish Records Album 1986
I Wanna Go Backwards Robyn Hitchcock Yep Roc Records Album 2007
Venue Billed As City State Country Date
Alma Dennis and the Experts Cambridge England UK 11/06/1976
Icknields Hall The Soft Boys Letchworth England UK 09/09/1977
Hope & Anchor The Soft Boys London England UK 03/29/1978
Hope & Anchor The Soft Boys London England UK 04/15/1978
The Portland Arms The Soft Boys Cambridge England UK 11/01/1978
KUSF Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians San Francisco California US 11/17/1986
McCabe's Robyn Hitchcock Santa Monica California US 05/26/1990
Maxwell's Robyn Hitchcock Hoboken New Jersey US 01/09/2004
Schuba's Robyn Hitchcock Chicago Illinois US 11/06/2004
Great American Music Hall Robyn Hitchcock San Francisco California US 03/03/2005
Largo Robyn Hitchcock Los Angeles California US 07/09/2005
Berklee College of Music Robyn Hitchcock Boston Massachusetts US 11/13/2014
The Bowery Ballroom Robyn Hitchcock & Yo La Tengo New York New York US 03/01/2017
The Fillmore Robyn Hitchcock & Yo La Tengo San Francisco California US 09/29/2017
Regent Theatre Robyn Hitchcock & Yo La Tengo Los Angeles California US 10/01/2017
The Portland Arms Robyn Hitchcock Cambridge England UK 10/30/2018
Robyn & Emma's house Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift Nashville Tennessee US 08/26/2020
Robyn & Emma's house Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift Nashville Tennessee US 08/28/2020
Robyn and Emma's house Robyn Hitchcock London England UK 06/25/2021
Robyn and Emma's house Robyn Hitchcock London England UK 08/06/2021
Robyn and Emma's house Robyn Hitchcock London England UK 09/01/2021
Robyn and Emma's house Robyn Hitchcock London England UK 12/28/2022

Comments

In an interview with Jim Rogatis, Robyn commented that this song is the earliest of his that is in his recognizable style, and that he wouldn't be embarrassed by. There were a couple other similar-sounding songs written around the same time, "Harmony" and "Moody Norway".

Lyrics

You know one time I knew a guy called Ralph
Seems like a really long time ago now, but
He was a friend

Well there's guys like Hoyst
That gotta be moist
Girls like Joanna
With a modern day manner
Mamas like Joyce
With her turned up voice
The eyes-apple handles
That taste of a triple banana
O, Ralph, give me a spanner
That's what I want

Well, there's guys like Raymond
That gotta be dim
Cats like John
That gotta be dumb
Unlike him
You come in
With the guys that can handle the pace of a young iguana
Please, Ralph, give me a spanner
Come on, Ralph, that's what I want

<Notes>
"Spanner" is the British word for what we in the States call: a wrench