Human Music Releases Gigs Lyrics Comments

Details

Author
Robyn Hitchcock
Performances
71

Releases

Title Artist Label Type Year
A Can of Bees The Soft Boys Two Crabs Music Album 1979
Live At The Portland Arms The Soft Boys Midnight Music Album 1983
The Day They Ate Brick The Soft Boys Polarad Electronics Corporation Bootleg 1987
Maxwell's, New York, 1980 The Soft Boys Handmade Productions Bootleg 1998
Patreon 2021 Robyn Hitchcock Internet 2021

Gigs

Billed As Venue City State Country Date
The Soft Boys Hope & Anchor London England UK 05/06/1978
The Soft Boys Marquee London England UK 05/25/1978
The Soft Boys Nags Head High Wycombe England UK 05/27/1978
The Soft Boys Rafters Manchester England UK 06/09/1978
The Soft Boys Marquee London England UK 06/18/1978
The Soft Boys Nashville Rooms London England UK 07/02/1978
Leppo & the Jooves Hope & Anchor London England UK 08/26/1978
The Soft Boys Alma Cambridge England UK 08/28/1978
The Soft Boys Nashville Rooms London England UK 09/15/1978
The Soft Boys Hope & Anchor London England UK 10/06/1978
The Soft Boys Nashville Rooms London England UK 10/14/1978
The Soft Boys Hope & Anchor London England UK 10/20/1978
The Soft Boys The Portland Arms Cambridge England UK 11/01/1978
The Soft Boys Nashville Rooms London England UK 11/16/1978
The Soft Boys Lady Mitchell Hall Cambridge England UK 11/27/1978
The Soft Boys Hope & Anchor London England UK 12/08/1978
The Soft Boys North East London Polytechnic London England UK 01/11/1979
The Soft Boys Rock Garden London England UK 03/10/1979
The Soft Boys Hope & Anchor London England UK 03/24/1979
The Soft Boys Brillig Arts Centre Bath England UK 04/21/1979
The Soft Boys Canterbury College of Art Canterbury England UK 05/01/1979
The Soft Boys Huddersfield Polytechnic Huddersfield England UK 05/08/1979
The Soft Boys Warwick University Coventry England UK 05/12/1979
The Soft Boys Norbreck Castle Hotel Blackpool England UK 05/23/1979
The Soft Boys Nashville Rooms London England UK 06/02/1979
The Soft Boys Hope & Anchor London England UK 03/28/1980
The Soft Boys The Africa Centre London England UK 05/22/1980
The Soft Boys Maxwell's Hoboken New Jersey US 09/06/1980
Robyn Hitchcock McCabe's Santa Monica California US 07/29/1988
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians Great American Music Hall San Francisco California US 07/15/1992
Robyn Hitchcock Knitting Factory New York New York US 03/15/1997
The Soft Boys The Three Kings London England UK 03/11/2001
The Soft Boys Austin Music Hall Austin Texas US 03/17/2001
The Soft Boys Fletcher's Baltimore Maryland US 03/19/2001
The Soft Boys 9:30 Club Washington DC US 03/21/2001
The Soft Boys Maxwell's Hoboken New Jersey US 03/23/2001
The Soft Boys Irving Plaza New York New York US 03/24/2001
The Soft Boys Paradise Rock Club Boston Massachusetts US 03/26/2001
The Soft Boys The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto Ontario Canada 03/28/2001
The Soft Boys St. Andrew's Hall Detroit Michigan US 03/29/2001
The Soft Boys Metro Chicago Illinois US 03/30/2001
The Soft Boys Richard's on Richards Vancouver British Columbia Canada 04/03/2001
The Soft Boys Crocodile Café Seattle Washington US 04/04/2001
The Soft Boys Pine Street Theatre Portland Oregon US 04/05/2001
The Soft Boys The Fillmore San Francisco California US 04/07/2001
The Soft Boys Knitting Factory Los Angeles California US 04/10/2001
The Soft Boys The Junction Cambridge England UK 04/18/2001
The Soft Boys Pavilion Theatre Brighton England UK 04/20/2001
The Soft Boys The Basement Nottingham England UK 04/23/2001
The Soft Boys Electric Ballroom London England UK 04/26/2001
The Soft Boys Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth England UK 04/29/2001
The Soft Boys The Evershot Village Hall Evershot England UK 09/15/2001
Robyn Hitchcock McCabe's Santa Monica California US 10/05/2012
Robyn Hitchcock McCabe's Santa Monica California US 06/20/2014
Robyn Hitchcock The Drake Hotel Toronto Ontario Canada 09/11/2014
Robyn Hitchcock City Winery New York New York US 11/19/2016
Robyn Hitchcock's New Melbournian Softest of the Soft Boys The Tote Melbourne Victoria Australia 12/20/2016
Robyn Hitchcock Union Chapel London England UK 10/29/2019
Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift Robyn & Emma's house Nashville Tennessee US 09/02/2020
Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 12/02/2020
Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 04/09/2021
Robyn Hitchcock Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 07/07/2021
Robyn Hitchcock Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 08/04/2021
Robyn Hitchcock Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 08/18/2021
Robyn Hitchcock Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 02/16/2022
Robyn Hitchcock Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 03/16/2022
Robyn Hitchcock Knuckleheads Kansas City Missouri US 04/14/2022
Robyn Hitchcock Pioneertown Motel Pioneertown California US 05/26/2022
Robyn Hitchcock [unknown venue] London England UK 06/09/2022
Robyn Hitchcock Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 10/12/2022
Robyn Hitchcock Robyn and Emma's house London England UK 02/15/2023

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