Song of the Day (Shocktober): The Soft Boys “Underwater Moonlight”
Whenever I think of music to play for a Halloween party there are few artists that pop into my mind immediately – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Damned and the group featured today: The Soft Boys. Led by Robyn Hitchcock, The Soft Boys started in Cambridge, England (also home to another Halloween staple Pink Floyd‘s Syd Barrett) in 1976.
Even though they only released two LPs while they were together, The Soft Boys managed to put out some of the strangest and best music of the late ’70s/early ’80s. Just a glance at some of their song titles gives you an idea of their quirkiness: “Sandras Having her Brains Out”, “I Wanna Destroy You”, “He’s a Reptile” and “The Rats Prayer.”
The song I’ve picked out here is the title track from their 1980 LP, Underwater Moonlight. The whole albums is a classic and this review on the Vinyl District website sums it up better than I could. Underwater Moonlight influenced bands like REM, The Replacements and The Pixies who came just after them. Not sure exactly what the lyrics to this song mean, but instrumentally this song is tops and I loved it the second I heard it. Hope you like it too!
He was white and she was white
As only statues are
Fifty years they stood there looking
Stupid by a jar
One night in mid August when the moonlight got too strong
They climbed off their pedestal and then they sang this song
Past the gun emplacement and the
Bones as white as bleach
Through the rats and ivy til’ they
Came out on a beach
Out into the ocean til’ they disappeared from view
Honey when it gets you there’s just nothing you can do.
Underwater moonlight, sets the body free
Underwater moonlight, baby you and me
Underwater moonlight, underwater moonlight
He was pink and she was pink
And onward they did row
Didn’t see the giant squid, though
It was fairly slow
When they hit the bottom they were well and truly dead
The statues took their place, and then they rode back home instead
Underwater moonlight
Take your baby down
Underwater moonlight
Watch your baby drown
With love
And in the moonlight
Underwater moonlight
Underwater moonlight
Underwater moonlight
Underwater moonlight
Underwater moonlight
Sets the body free
Underwater moonlight
Baby you and me
Underwater moonlight
Underwater moonlight
Underwater moonlight
