Album: Underwater Moonlight
Year: 1980
. . .
And so Underwater Moonlight went through a slew of great songs, including three that I very much almost wrote about: the footstomping “Positive Vibrations” with its insane guitar hook, sitar solo and amazing coda; “Insanely Jealous” which featured not one, but two rave-ups without getting faster, and the instrumental with the inside-out guitars, “You’ll Have to Go Sideways.”
All of which are great, but just set up the final two songs, the first of which is the insanely gorgeous “Queen of Eyes,” the first of Robyn Hitchcock’s power-pop songs for the ages. “Queen of Eyes” opens with Hitchcock’s and Kimberly Rew’s guitars in an quantum entanglement sent straight from psychedelic heaven, and a song that is on the short list of Prettiest Songs Ever Recorded, Psychedelic Power Pop Division.
Blinking on and off, it’s the Queen of Eyes
With a carapace shell and her black lace thighs
I don’t know why she never gets anywhere with you
At some point after this song came into my life, I had a massive unrequited crush on a girl with utterly gorgeously alive eyes, and this song always reminded me of her, though the rest of the lyrics outside of “queen of eyes” didn’t really have anything to do with her, but that wasn’t the point, I guess.
Also the point: those guitars. Completely ravishing on every single level, as were the harmonies on the bridge, as those guitars rang out and Morris Windsor double-timed his snare.
Here I am again, it’s no surprise
Locked in orbit round the Queen of Eyes
All I ever got from her was lies
This all sets up the final verse, which contains one of the funniest couplets Robyn Hitchcock will ever write.
In this horrible age of abuse and decay
It’s good to know that somebody is looking okay
I don’t know why she never gets anywhere with you
This is followed by a short but effective guitar break where first Hitchcock does a quick curly-cue call followed by Rew’s stinging ringing response. After that, they repeat the opening verse, finishing it with:
I don’t know why she never gets anywhere
I don’t know why she never gets anywhere
I don’t know why she never gets anywhere with youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
And as they all hold the long “yooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu” with the guitars jangling every which away in the background and the drums pushing forward, it’s one most lovely moments anybody has ever committed to record and never ever fails to wreck me.
“Queen of Eyes”
“Queen of Eyes” Live in Italy 2003
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