Album: Globe of Frogs
Year: 1988
. . .
“Chinese Bones” might just be my favorite Robyn Hitchcock song. At the very least, it’s on the short list of the Prettiest Songs Ever Recorded, Robyn Hitchcock Division.
In a post on his Facebook page, he called it “a Halloween song, for those of use who dance internally”, and said it was influenced by Roxy Music’s Avalon.
Watching Romeo dissolve I was tempted to join him
By the mirror of the lake where the statues unfurled
I had never seen a man so abuse his reflection
As the light shines through your Chinese bones
To me, it was his first great use of Peter Buck, who was tossing out flawless arpeggios in great infinite circles, defining a song that was hypnotic and psychedelic, and anchored by Morris Windsor’s lazily drifting snare drum, which alternated between half-beats on the verses and double backbeats on the chorus without even breaking a sweat.
Watching Juliet implode I would hasten toward her
But around her feet I saw that her serpent was curled
And her eyeballs had rolled up so her pupils had vanishedAnd the light shines through your Chinese bones
As the light shines through your Chinese bones
Of course, by this time, Peter Buck wasn’t really playing guitar like this on R.E.M. records, so that might have been part of my attraction to “Chinese Bones:” hearing the old jangle in this brand new context. And it probably was, but honestly, my attraction to “Chinese Bones” definitely had to do with the typically gorgeous melody that Hitchcock came up with. And, of course the words.
I met an interesting dwarf and I told him a story
As he walked towards the east then the shadow was right
Something Shakespeare never said was “You’ve got to be kidding”As the light shines through your Chinese bones
As the light shines through your Chinese bones
While the “interesting dwarf” borders on the problematic to the point where Hitchcock has changed it to “interesting door” in some live performances, that’s not the line that grabs me in this verse. Not when it contains “Something Shakespeare never said was ‘you’ve got to be kidding'”, which never ceases to crack me up. Definitely a top 5 Hitchcock line, as far as I’m concerned.
Almost as brilliant is the bridge:
The line between us is so thin I might as well be you
And everywhere I’ve ever been I know you’re going to
After that, “Chinese Bones” drifts towards its conclusion, guitar jangling, piano tinkling, Robyn singing the title in a weird falsetto. You know, the usual.
I always felt it was a bit of a shame that A&M chose “Balloon Man” as the single instead of “Chinese Bones,” I understand why, of course: “Balloon Man” is a fun, bouncy pop song, perhaps more on brand with how the public saw Robyn Hitchcock. But it was also kinda generic, whereas “Chinese Bones” — even with the Buck jangle — was totally and utterly Robyn Hitchcock.
Oh, and while Robyn Hitchcock never got the single that broke him, but a pair of people who had just had unlikely hit singles the previous years — Suzanne Vega and The Grateful Dead — teamed up in early 1988
“Chinese Bones”
“Chinese Bones” performed live solo 2007
“Chinese Bones” performed live solo, 2010
Suzanne Vega & The Grateful Dead perform “Chinese Bones,” 1988
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