Album: Gotta Let This Hen Out!
Year: 1985
. . .
So while I played Fegmania! a lot on KFSR, I utterly wore out Gotta Let This Hen Out! playing pretty much the whole record: things like “Kingdom of Love,” “Brenda’s Iron Sledge,” “The Cars She Used to Drive,” “My Wife and My Dead Wife,” were at least the equal and usually much better than their original studio versions as pared-down arrangements plus the excitement of live performance pushed them higher..
And the highest push was for “Heaven,” which went from being one of the better songs on the relatively weak Fegmania! to being one of the better songs on one of Robyn Hitchcock’s masterpieces.
It’s probably safe to say that “Heaven” wasn’t an answer song to either the Talking Heads or Psychedelic Furs songs of the same name — though Robyn would later reference David Byrne in “Freeze” and much much latercover the P-Furs “Ghost in You,” so he was clearly aware of both artists and their takes.
Which, of course, was uniquely Robyn Hitchcock’s:
You’ve got heaven
Heaven in your hand
You’ve got heaven
Running through your land
Why don’t you fight for it?
You’re right for it, you know
Why don’t you kill for it
Get ill for it also?
Unlike the mid-tempo on Fegmania! this “Heaven” was much faster, though it was still dominated sonically by Roger Jackson’s organ, which was playing just a gigantic wash of sound, especially on the chorus, where Hitchcock was joined by some wonderful harmonies by Andy Metcalfe.
You’ve got heaaaaaaaa-aaa-aaa-vunnnnnnnnnnn
You’ve got heaaaaaaaa-aaa-aaa-vunnnnnnnnnnn
You’ve got arms and you’ve got legs and you’ve got heaven
It’s quite lovely, and when, on the second chorus, Robyn interjects “getting closer” and “almost there!” with a palpable sense of excitement, it’s almost cathartic. Maybe my arms and legs are heaven.
That certainly seems to be what Robyn is on about during the breakdown at the end, when the guitar and organ drop out and Metcalfe starts doing cool runs as Robyn starts ranting about arms and legs and fingers, molecules and memories as the full band kicks back in everybody getting more and more excited by the moment until he crashes into the end of the song.
“Heaven (London 04-27-1985)”
“Heaven” (Official Music Video)
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