1 00:00:01,466 --> 00:00:02,400 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] It's your fault for bringing it up. 2 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:03,333 You mentioned the TARDIS. 3 00:00:03,333 --> 00:00:04,866 [ROBYN HITCHCOCK] Oh, yeah. 4 00:00:04,866 --> 00:00:05,666 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] Which Doctor Who is your favorite and why? 5 00:00:05,666 --> 00:00:06,833 (audience laughs) 6 00:00:06,833 --> 00:00:08,166 [HITCHCOCK] My favorite Doctor Who, 7 00:00:08,166 --> 00:00:11,533 since you ask, is Tom Baker. 8 00:00:11,533 --> 00:00:13,933 I'm not the familiar with the more recent ones, 9 00:00:13,933 --> 00:00:17,500 but I thought Tom Baker had that 10 00:00:17,500 --> 00:00:20,766 sort of cosmic insolence perfect. 11 00:00:20,766 --> 00:00:24,066 He was a bit like if Harpo Marx could speak. 12 00:00:24,066 --> 00:00:27,300 He had the awful, terrible, curly hair 13 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:31,633 and he, also in real life, got off with his co-star. 14 00:00:31,633 --> 00:00:36,600 Um, but I loved all the early Doctor Whos. 15 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,533 Did you ever see the very first one, 16 00:00:39,533 --> 00:00:40,766 William Hartnell? 17 00:00:40,766 --> 00:00:42,000 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] Yeah, sadly, I've seen 18 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:43,400 probably almost every episode. 19 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:44,866 (audience laughs) [HITCHCOCK] Of all of them? 20 00:00:44,866 --> 00:00:46,133 [EVAN SMITH] He says "sadly." Why is that sad? 21 00:00:46,133 --> 00:00:47,366 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] I mean, the ones 22 00:00:47,366 --> 00:00:48,200 that are available post-BBC fire. 23 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,733 [HITCHCOCK] Oh, okay. 24 00:00:49,733 --> 00:00:51,066 Yeah, well, it all adds to the legend, doesn't it? 25 00:00:51,066 --> 00:00:54,066 Black and white, incineration, the rest of it. 26 00:00:54,066 --> 00:00:57,066 It's like they did it on purpose. 27 00:00:57,066 --> 00:00:58,466 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] But Tom Baker's my favorite, too, 28 00:00:58,466 --> 00:00:59,733 so I'm really happy right now. [HITCHCOCK] Really? 29 00:00:59,733 --> 00:01:01,333 What's your favorite recent Doctor Who? 30 00:01:01,333 --> 00:01:02,433 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] Uh, it's not a fair question, 31 00:01:02,433 --> 00:01:04,433 we still air some of those, um. 32 00:01:04,433 --> 00:01:05,833 [HITCHCOCK] Who would you recommend 33 00:01:05,833 --> 00:01:07,833 that I should watch or avoid? 34 00:01:07,833 --> 00:01:09,200 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] Eggleston's probably the one 35 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:10,666 you're gonna like the best, 36 00:01:10,666 --> 00:01:14,300 and last one before, the last two, the most current two. 37 00:01:14,300 --> 00:01:15,733 [HITCHCOCK] Uh huh. 38 00:01:15,733 --> 00:01:18,233 Have they got back to having older people in it yet 39 00:01:18,233 --> 00:01:19,400 or is it still hot young Doctors? 40 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:20,633 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] There was, and then they 41 00:01:20,633 --> 00:01:21,566 actually finally have a woman. It's great. 42 00:01:21,566 --> 00:01:22,766 [HITCHCOCK] Have a woman, right. 43 00:01:22,766 --> 00:01:23,700 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] So, the show's great. 44 00:01:23,700 --> 00:01:24,900 [HITCHCOCK] Thank goodness. 45 00:01:24,900 --> 00:01:26,300 (audience laughs) 46 00:01:26,300 --> 00:01:27,533 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] Only took a hundred years. 47 00:01:27,533 --> 00:01:29,333 [HITCHCOCK] Well, you know, then hopefully 48 00:01:29,333 --> 00:01:31,300 the presidency will follow suit. 49 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:32,633 (audience laughs, applauds) 50 00:01:32,633 --> 00:01:34,700 Sadly we've had a couple of, 51 00:01:34,700 --> 00:01:37,400 we've had a couple of female prime ministers in Britain 52 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,000 and they haven't been such great Doctors. 53 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:41,966 (audience laughs) 54 00:01:41,966 --> 00:01:43,233 [SMITH] Hasn't taken, huh? 55 00:01:43,233 --> 00:01:44,633 [HITCHCOCK] It hasn't taken the way it should, 56 00:01:44,633 --> 00:01:46,166 but you know, that's good. 57 00:01:46,166 --> 00:01:48,100 Oh great, okay, thank you for your advice on that. 58 00:01:48,100 --> 00:01:50,366 [SMITH] Thank you. 59 00:01:50,366 --> 00:01:51,633 Who else? 60 00:01:51,633 --> 00:01:53,066 Come on, yeah, ask a question, please. 61 00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:56,166 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] I was just curious, have you, 62 00:01:56,166 --> 00:01:58,233 I imagine you heard the cover of 63 00:01:58,233 --> 00:02:01,133 "Madonna of the Wasps" by Neko Case? 64 00:02:01,133 --> 00:02:02,666 [HITCHCOCK] Yeah, yeah. 65 00:02:02,666 --> 00:02:04,233 [AUDIENCE MEMBER] What was your impression with that? 66 00:02:04,233 --> 00:02:06,933 [HITCHCOCK] Oh, it sounded good, it sounded like her, 67 00:02:06,933 --> 00:02:09,700 and it sounded like the song I wrote 68 00:02:09,700 --> 00:02:11,233 but it was, uh-- 69 00:02:11,233 --> 00:02:13,500 [SMITH] You don't feel like if 70 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:15,433 somebody else covers your stuff 71 00:02:15,433 --> 00:02:16,933 that it's obligated that they 72 00:02:16,933 --> 00:02:18,366 make it sound like the original? 73 00:02:18,366 --> 00:02:20,333 You want it to sound like them? 74 00:02:20,333 --> 00:02:22,133 [HITCHCOCK] I want it to, 75 00:02:22,133 --> 00:02:24,300 well, like I said, I don't think that I have a sound, 76 00:02:24,300 --> 00:02:27,133 so I wouldn't expect them to sound like me. 77 00:02:27,133 --> 00:02:30,533 But, I mean, I'm always slightly embarrassed 78 00:02:30,533 --> 00:02:31,933 when people cover my songs, 79 00:02:31,933 --> 00:02:33,666 which I shouldn't be but I kind of-- 80 00:02:33,666 --> 00:02:34,900 [SMITH] Why? 81 00:02:34,900 --> 00:02:36,500 Well, you cover so many people's songs, right? 82 00:02:36,500 --> 00:02:38,433 [HITCHCOCK] Yeah, but I don't know them. 83 00:02:38,433 --> 00:02:39,666 (audience laughs) 84 00:02:39,666 --> 00:02:42,166 Or they're dead, you know, I mean I... 85 00:02:42,166 --> 00:02:45,933 Plus, I don't cover, I don't interpret people's songs, 86 00:02:45,933 --> 00:02:47,733 I simply channel them. 87 00:02:47,733 --> 00:02:51,800 So I take what I think is, that person was doing 88 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:53,233 and I become it. 89 00:02:53,233 --> 00:02:56,666 I'm like a sort of method actor or an actor. 90 00:02:56,666 --> 00:03:01,333 I simply try and amplify that, the feeling I got from them, 91 00:03:01,333 --> 00:03:03,400 so I'm not trying to Robyn Hitchcock-ize it. 92 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,500 I actually, to me, 93 00:03:07,500 --> 00:03:10,433 I'm going into character if I can. 94 00:03:10,433 --> 00:03:12,366 I wanna become that song. 95 00:03:12,366 --> 00:03:15,566 I don't want that song to become part of me, you know? 96 00:03:15,566 --> 00:03:18,433 But I'm, essentially I'm like, 97 00:03:18,433 --> 00:03:21,266 someone described me as the Peter Sellers of rock, you know? 98 00:03:21,266 --> 00:03:22,100 (audience laughs) 99 00:03:22,100 --> 00:03:23,633 There is no me. 100 00:03:23,633 --> 00:03:26,900 There is simply what I love 101 00:03:26,900 --> 00:03:29,300 and I absorb, I think. 102 00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:31,333 [SMITH] Do you have a favorite cover of one of your songs, 103 00:03:31,333 --> 00:03:34,066 is there one that you like particularly that someone did? 104 00:03:34,066 --> 00:03:36,133 [HITCHCOCK] No, I listen to each of them once 105 00:03:36,133 --> 00:03:39,366 and I think, "Well, that's very nice they did that" 106 00:03:39,366 --> 00:03:41,233 and I get a little bit of royalties for it. 107 00:03:41,233 --> 00:03:42,466 [SMITH] All right, how about the inverse? 108 00:03:42,466 --> 00:03:43,733 iI there a song of somebody else's 109 00:03:43,733 --> 00:03:44,933 you've covered that you like especially 110 00:03:44,933 --> 00:03:47,533 that you think was especially successful? 111 00:03:47,533 --> 00:03:49,166 [HITCHCOCK] You mean, my cover of someone else's songs? 112 00:03:49,166 --> 00:03:50,633 [SMITH] Of someone else, yeah. 113 00:03:50,633 --> 00:03:53,166 [HITCHCOCK] Not really, I don't think they're that good, 114 00:03:53,166 --> 00:03:57,800 but they're more just, they're part of me, so. 115 00:03:57,800 --> 00:03:59,566 Like for instance I've been listening to 116 00:03:59,566 --> 00:04:03,166 "Visions of Johanna" by Dylan since I was, 117 00:04:03,166 --> 00:04:04,966 before I had a guitar. 118 00:04:04,966 --> 00:04:08,833 So I still play that quite regularly as an encore 119 00:04:08,833 --> 00:04:10,866 and I'm still working on the performance 120 00:04:10,866 --> 00:04:12,766 of "Visions of Johanna" [SMITH] Yeah. 121 00:04:12,766 --> 00:04:15,933 [HITCHCOCK] It probably has become Robyn Hitchcock's now. 122 00:04:15,933 --> 00:04:17,633 Over the years, I think it's, 123 00:04:17,633 --> 00:04:20,033 but I still sing the words so you can hear 'em, 124 00:04:20,033 --> 00:04:21,433 so that differs from Dylan's. 125 00:04:21,433 --> 00:04:22,766 [SMITH] That's a big distinction, right, exactly. 126 00:04:22,766 --> 00:04:23,966 (audience laughs) [HITCHCOCK] And I still follow 127 00:04:23,966 --> 00:04:26,366 what I think Bob Dylan's melody was. 128 00:04:26,366 --> 00:04:29,200 So I would take my version of "Visions of Johanna" 129 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:30,133 over Bob Dylan's current one. 130 00:04:30,133 --> 00:04:31,366 [SMITH] Over his own, actually. 131 00:04:31,366 --> 00:04:32,833 [HITCHCOCK] Yeah, but that sadly goes 132 00:04:32,833 --> 00:04:36,400 for an awful lot of Dylan's performances but that's, 133 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:41,233 Dylan, the paint never dries on his compositions 134 00:04:41,233 --> 00:04:43,900 so I think after about 20 years they just, 135 00:04:43,900 --> 00:04:46,366 it's like wax just melts, it's gone. 136 00:04:46,366 --> 00:04:48,400 You know, it's up to someone like me to come in 137 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,000 and go, "Oh, here it is, 138 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,666 "I'm reconstructing 'Visions of Johanna,'" you know? 139 00:04:53,666 --> 00:04:54,833 But that's the thing with songs. 140 00:04:54,833 --> 00:04:57,700 If songs spend enough time inside you, 141 00:04:57,700 --> 00:04:59,466 they kind of become part of you. 142 00:04:59,466 --> 00:05:03,166 And even if you didn't write them, 143 00:05:03,166 --> 00:05:06,333 they're sort of... 144 00:05:06,333 --> 00:05:08,233 They're you, I mean, in some ways 145 00:05:08,233 --> 00:05:12,800 those songs are as much me as anything I've written. 146 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,633 I sort of feel very passive about it all, 147 00:05:15,633 --> 00:05:17,433 I just keep the money. 148 00:05:17,433 --> 00:05:18,900 (audience laughs) But I sort of like, 149 00:05:18,900 --> 00:05:22,166 as far as what's me and what's somebody else, 150 00:05:22,166 --> 00:05:25,266 I don't know, maybe the appeal of it is 151 00:05:25,266 --> 00:05:30,266 that you can actually transcend yourself or escape yourself. 152 00:05:31,833 --> 00:05:35,333 You start to merge with something when you sing a good song. 153 00:05:35,333 --> 00:05:38,500 So but I'm just very touched that Neko recorded it. 154 00:05:38,500 --> 00:05:39,533 [SMITH] Well, she's terrific, absolutely. 155 00:05:39,533 --> 00:05:40,466 [HITCHCOCK] She did a good job. 156 00:05:40,466 --> 00:05:41,400 [SMITH] You're telling me that 157 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,600 we have to stop? Okay, good. 158 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,100 Sorry about that, 159 00:05:45,100 --> 00:05:46,333 we started a little bit late. [HITCHCOCK] Okay, universe. 160 00:05:46,333 --> 00:05:47,500 [SMITH] We know that Robyn needs to get on 161 00:05:47,500 --> 00:05:48,433 to his show tonight at the Cactus, 162 00:05:48,433 --> 00:05:49,900 so please give him a big hand. 163 00:05:49,900 --> 00:05:51,833 (audience applauding) Thank him for being here. 164 00:05:51,833 --> 00:05:54,833 Thanks to all of you, we'll see you.