Human Music Releases Gigs Lyrics Comments

Details

Author
Robyn Hitchcock
According to our records, Robyn has played this song 72 times, most recently at Robyn & Emma's house on February 05, 2025. He first performed it at Hope & Anchor on May 06, 1978, 46 years and 9 months earlier.

Comments

In his intro to this song on Live at the Portland Arms (the first known live performance of the song, 01 November 1978), Robyn summed it up as "a song[...] of total disgust and alienation from humanity"

From video posted on Robyn's Facebook
Human Music - Live From London - June 9, 2022
I wrote Human Music in Cambridge on a dark windy Sunday evening in February 1978. In the Soft Boys we recorded it three times at least that year. It was my first truly dismal song, stepping away from the hyperactive mania that was our hallmark around that time. We were very loud at that period - Kimberley’s guitar and mine were locked in a Fender duel, which he always won as he was a louder and better player than I was.
The angels - what can you do about them? They’re pests of a kind - rats of the air, like seagulls. They can give you reassurance, but always at a price: surrender to a principle, surrender to a phantom, surrender to faith: jeez - do I have to? But, of course, the angels know best…

Lyrics

I've forgotten what it's like
If I ever knew at all
I have slept on broken glass
And drooped against a wall
I hung the phone up many times
On angels when they rang
Their melodies were sickly sweet
Like overripe meringues
I was born with something missing
But I know your lip was made for kissing

Oooh, baby when that human music plays I don't know why

The wind explodes and rips itself
To pieces everywhere
It itches in the chimney and
It suffocates the air
The angels try to anchor but
They never get the chance
Their limbs are numb and twisted so
They're going to have to dance
What scares you most will set you free
That's what the angel said to me

He said:
Oooh, baby when that human music plays you don't know why

I had a girl the shape of you
I loved her with my breath
But I wouldn't admit that romance
Likes to end in death
And darkness is the shore of light
The truth is framed with lies
And a girl can smile sweetly, though
Her mouth is stuffed with flies
When you're thin and damp and shoddy
Just remember that you're in a body

Oooh, baby when that human music plays I don't know why