Written by Robyn, Morris, Alan and Andy per the "Where are the Prawns" cassette J card. The unusual spelling of "Brane" was reportedly inspired by the "Molesworth" books by Ronald Searle and Geoffery Willans. Kimberley Rew indicated this in his Soft Boys Scrapbook, and said that in 1978 he bore a resemblance to the character Peason. (p5, p11). See also "Skool Dinner Blues."
From Robyn on Patreon in 2025
Here are two more songs from the early Soft Boys repertoire fed through the meat grinder of 1978 and recorded for an unreleased Radar Records album.
1977 saw the UK colonised by punk: bell-bottom trousers were banished to the Welsh Borders and the furrows of Lincolnshire, while beards fell off young faces, mine included. But the following year saw the consolidation of the New Wave police: now a band could actually be penalized for using harmonies in their music, or attempting a proper guitar solo. The new rules were being nailed to the door by the fashionistas of the day, and woe betide those who didn’t comply.
We in the Soft Boys loved both harmonies and guitar solos. However, playing live we were so loud that we couldn’t hear ourselves harmonise, and the guitar solos became crazed sonic duels between Kimberley and myself. Being a far better guitarist than me he deserved to win, which he usually did.
These two tracks are retreads of songs on our 1977 EP Give It To The Soft Boys’infused with the manic angst of 1978. But at least we got the harmonies in tune…
HEAR MY BRANE
(Words by Hitchcock, music by Hitchcock, Davies, Metcalfe and Windsor)