Album: Element of Light
Year: 1986
. . .
I guess it could have gone either way, couldn’t it have? When Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians recorded Fegmania! they were just coming together as a band — keyboardist Roger Jackson didn’t play on half of the songs — and you could kinda tell it.
Of course, by the time they recorded Gotta Let This Hen Out! they’d figured out how to gel together, but it was a bit of a question as to whether or not that cohesion would continue the next time they went into the studio.
And “If You Were A Priest” answered that question almost instantly, as it roared out of the gate with all four members on full blast: Robyn Hitchcock playing a rumbling rhythm guitar, Roger Jackson’s organ on full stun mode and the rhythm section of Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe adding power and color to one of Robyn’s more Dylanesque lyrics.
If you were a priest
I would wait at least
Up unto confession time and
Crawl into your box
Breathing like a fox
Hunting for obsession time and
And almost instantly, Robyn sets his guitar to arpeggio — clearly, he’d been listening to R.E.M. — and jingle jangles around one his most catchy choruses.
I’ve thrown a lot of time away to be with you
So please don’t lock away your eyes
Kids, in 1986, this chorus hit me like a ton of bricks, one of those things that I would walk around singing for days, just trying to get it out of my head. Failing miserably, but that was OK, too. Meanwhile, there’s a terrific guitar solo in the middle and one final verse.
If you were a ghost
I would treasure most
Time I never spent with you and
Wander through your head
The words I never said
Till I knew what I meant to you andI’ve spent a lot of time on this to be with you
So please don’t lock away your eyes
And then they take a great thing and make it even more perfect, as Robyn starts chanting “So please don’t lock away” and Metcalf and Windsor finish off “away your “eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyees” and Robyn now also singing “time on this” and Metcalfe and Windsor are singing and they’re all singing in and around each other in a utterly gorgeous round robin that lasts through the fade.
Obviously, “If You Were a Priest” was a hit nohwere except for on college radio, but I’m pretty sure we all played the shit out of it on KFSR. I know that I did.
“If You Were a Priest”
“If You Were A Priest” (Live in L.A. 2017)”
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