Album: Underwater Moonlight
Year: 1980
. . .
All things considered, “Kingdom of Love” is far more representative of the charms of Underwater Moonlight — and Robyn Hitchcock’s music in general — than “I Wanna Destroy You.” A mid-tempo choogle with surreal lyrics and some utterly great guitar playing, “Kingdom of Love” also keeps the quality level way high.
It starts with Robyn’s guitar playing choppy rhythm in one speaker with Kimberley Rew supporting in the other while Matthew Seligman plays some aggressively hooky bass, over which Hitchcock quietly sings.
In the spiritual kingdom of love
You’re the one that I’m thinkin’ of
Yeah, in the spiritual kingdom of love
Well that all seems kind of normal, doesn’t it? Which is why the chorus jumps out out so much, with Hitchcock and Rew harmonizing both vocals and guitar after every single line.
You’ve been layin’ eggs under my skin
Now they’re hatching out under my chin
Now there’s tiny insects showin’ through
And all them tiny insects look like you
Ah, now that’s more like it!! But you might not even have a chance to think about it, because Robyn then uncorks an utterly majestic long guitar line that twists away from the song and spirals right back, while drummer Morris Windsor supports with some cool rolls. Interestingly enough, both the Soft Boys live version from 1980 and the Egyptians live version from 1985 — as preserved in the epochal Gotta Let This Hen Out! — have the song opening with that guitar line, like they almost instantly rethought the arrangement after recording it.
As the verses progress, “the spiritual kingdom of love” becomes “the primitive jungle of love” becomes “the physical kingdom of time”, which on Gotta Let This Hen Out is slowed down to a crawl with spooky keyboards.
There’s also an utterly amazing bridge after the second chorus where Windsor double-times his snare, the guitars twist and tangle around each other and everybody sings.
Ain’t no way I’m gonna be
Anything I oughta be
All I want to do is be your creature
Ain’t no way I’m gonna be
Anything I wanna be
All I want to do is be your teacher
And finally, after the “physical kingdom of time” verse, one last chorus.
You know I would ramble all through time and space
Just to have a butcher’s at your face
You’re the one I love or so it seems
Because you’ve confiscated all my dreams
After that, Hitchcock lets out a “yeahhhhhhh,” and spend the rest of the song playing circles around his long guitar line until they bring it all to an end.
“Kingdom of Love”
“Kingdom of Love” Live with The Egyptians, London 1985
“Kingdom of Love” Live with the Soft Boys, Italy 2003
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