The Incredible String Band was formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK by folk musicians Robin Williamson, Mike Heron, and Clive Palmer (1943 - 2014). They recorded their eponymous debut album in 1966, a lighthearted affair which revealed only the merest hint of the psychedelic adventures to come. After that, the band broke up. Palmer decamped for the Trail to Afghanistan and Williamson visited Morocco from where he returned laden with exotic instruments like the famous gimbri, which was, much later, eaten by rats. In 1967 Heron and Williamson recorded 'The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion', an audaciously eclectic mix of bookish folk music, hippy love songs and Eastern modalities. They soon became the-name-to-drop-in-interviews for luminaries such as Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan, and in their annum mirabilis of 1968 they practically defined the hippy counterculture in the extraordinary albums 'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter' and 'Wee Tam and the Big Huge'. By then the group consisted of Williamson, Heron, Rose Simpson and Licorice McKechnie - the same line up played at Woodstock in 1969 at the wrong time, having refused to play in the pouring rain the previous day (seen by manager Joe Boyd as a great missed opportunity).
In 1970 Robin Williamson attempted to fuse the music with his theatrical fantasies in a quixotic multi-media spectacular at London's Roundhouse called 'U'. It was "a surreal parable in dance and song" and highlighted the fact that they were never destined to make much money out of things. After that they lasted another four years. By 1974 tension between Williamson and Heron, who was pushing the band into prog-rock territory, had become unbearable and they split up.
Williamson soon formed "Robin Williamson and His Merry Band" which toured and released three albums of eclectic music with a Celtic emphasis. Within a few years, he went on to a solo career, moving increasingly into traditional Celtic styles. He also produced several recordings of humorous stories. Heron formed the rock group "Heron" and later released occasional solo albums. Responding to a comment by Joe Boyd in 1997 that they hadn't spoken since the breakup in 1974, the pair got back together for two concerts. This was followed by a full reunion of the original three members plus Williamson's wife Bina and Lawson Dando in 1999. By 2001 both Robin and Bina Williamson had left. Heron, Palmer and Lawson, and new member Fluff toured regularly around the United Kingdom and internationally until an end to the tour was announced in 2006.
The music of the ISB ranges from quite conventional folk songs to innovative “art song” and hybrid forms that were a precursor to World Music. In 1967-8 they were sometimes described as part of pop music's "avant-garde", which had emerged in the wake of the more adventurous work of The Beatles, with whom they were often compared. Although they lacked the Beatles' broad pop appeal, the ISB showed a similar interest in extending the boundaries of their music. Both Mike Heron and Robin Williamson would break apart a traditional song structure, inserting seemingly unrelated sections in a way that has been described as "always surprising, laughably inventive, lyrically prodigious". While at times this resulted in a lack of conventional unity, it also opened up the song musically and thematically to allow greater depth and exploration. This aspect of their music, combined with Williamson’s soaring melismatic vocal ornamentation (perhaps influenced by Islamic chanters heard during his visit to Morocco, as well as by the Scots-Irish traditional singing with which he had grown up) made for music that still sounds fresh forty years later.
The Hedgehog's Song
The Incredible String Band Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That I never had a girl to love.
Many a fine girl I tried hard to know,
But I think I never tried enough.
Sitting one day by myself,
And I'm thinking, "What could be wrong?"
When this funny little Hedgehog comes running up to me,
Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
Every day when the sun go down,
And the evening is so very still,
Many a fine girl I've held in my arms,
And I hope there's many more that I will,
But just when everything is going fine,
And absolutely nothing is wrong,
This funny little Hedgehog's always around
And every time he wants to sing me this song.
Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
One day when the moon was full I thought I might settle down,
Found myself a pretty little girl,
And I stopped all my running around;
But just when the preacher come along,
And he's just gonna pop on the ring,
This funny little Hedgehog comes
Running down the aisle,
And I don't have to tell you what he did sing.
Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
I'm not the kind to complain
That I never had a girl to love;
Many fine girls I've tried hard to know,
But I think I never tried enough.
But now I'll be looking all my days,
And it isn't just me I got to please,
There's this funny little Hedgehog
Who's always around,
And the only words he ever sings to me are these.
Oh, you know all the words and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
The Incredible String Band's "The Hedgehog's Song" is a seemingly simple tune, but beneath it is a deeper meaning that explores the human search for love and the obstacles that prevent us from finding it. The singer is a character who has had his fair share of romantic endeavors but has never quite found the right fit. He is unhappy, and in his search for something more, he encounters a hedgehog who begins singing to him. The hedgehog's song is about how the singer has all the words and can sing all the notes, but he has never quite learned the song of love. The hedgehog's tune reminds the singer that he has searched for love in numerous places but has yet to find it. It is a reminder for the singer that true love requires more than just knowing how to sing the words but also feeling them.
The song's chorus, "Oh, you know all the words and you sung all the notes, but you never quite learned the song, she sang. I can tell by the sadness in your eyes that you never quite learned the song," expresses the idea that even when we know what love should look like, we may not be able to feel it or experience it fully. The hedgehog is a symbolic representation of the obstacles that keep us from finding love, even when it seems like we have everything we need.
Interestingly, the song also suggests that love is not just about finding the right person but also accepting that other things such as life's distractions may prevent us from experiencing love. The Hedgehog's Song reminds us that we need to be open and receptive to love and to see that it isn't just about finding the right person, but finding the right mindset to experience love.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm not the kind to complain
That I never had a girl to love.
I'm not the type of person who complains about not having a girlfriend.
Many a fine girl I tried hard to know,
But I think I never tried enough.
I've attempted to know plenty of lovely ladies, but my attempts weren't sufficient.
Sitting one day by myself,
And I'm thinking, "What could be wrong?"
When this funny little Hedgehog comes running up to me,
And it starts up to sing me this song.
One day, while alone with my thoughts, I was approached by a peculiar hedgehog who began to sing to me.
Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
You may know the lyrics to a tune and hum the melody, however, you do not understand the underlying meaning of the song. I can sense the sorrow in your eyes, which tells me you don't quite comprehend the song's significance.
Every day when the sun go down,
And the evening is so very still,
Many a fine girl I've held in my arms,
And I hope there's many more that I will,
But just when everything is going fine,
And absolutely nothing is wrong,
This funny little Hedgehog's always around
And every time he wants to sing me this song.
I've experienced moments of contentment when I held beautiful women in my embrace, and I aspire to experience it again. However, when things are going well, that peculiar hedgehog appears to remind me of the song's message.
One day when the moon was full I thought I might settle down,
Found myself a pretty little girl,
And I stopped all my running around;
But just when the preacher come along,
And he's just gonna pop on the ring,
This funny little Hedgehog comes
Running down the aisle,
And I don't have to tell you what he did sing.
On a night with a full moon, I believed it was time to settle down, so I found a lovely lady and stopped trying to court others. However, during the wedding ceremony, the hedgehog crashed the event and began to sing his familiar song.
But now I'll be looking all my days,
And it isn't just me I got to please,
There's this funny little Hedgehog
Who's always around,
And the only words he ever sings to me are these.
Oh, you know all the words and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
From now on, I'll search for love throughout the rest of my life, and it isn't just about making myself happy. The peculiar hedgehog is always with me, reminding me of the song's real message. It reveals that I have memorized the song's lyrics and melody but have failed to comprehend its true meaning, as evidenced by the sadness in my eyes.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MIKE HERON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
rukeyser
Karen Varian Take out that comma!!! The Hedgehog is not “she”!
There have been many discussions, and yes, Every on line lyric source gets it wrong.
But “Every time HE wants to sing me this song” makes it very clear that the Hedgehog is a HE. He sings “this song” about “ the song *she sung*” SUNG - past tense. The song she sung - the man narrating the story has “never tried enough” to learn the song of love each woman in his life has sung.
O you know all the words, and you sung all the notes, but you never quite learned the song she sung
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes that you never quite learned the song.
Oh you know all the words and you sung all the notes
ChuckDeFuque
I'm not the kind to complain
That I never had a girl to love.
Many a fine girl I tried hard to know,
But I think I never tried enough.
Sitting one day by myself,
And I'm thinking, "What could be wrong?"
When this funny little Hedgehog comes running up to me,
And it starts up to sing me this song.
Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
Every day when the sun go down,
And the evening is so very still,
Many a fine girl I've held in my arms,
And I hope there's many more that I will,
But just when everything is going fine,
And absolutely nothing is wrong,
This funny little Hedgehog's always around
And every time he wants to sing me this song.
Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
One day when the moon was full I thought I might settle down,
Found myself a pretty little girl,
And I stopped all my running around;
But just when the preacher come along,
And he's just gonna pop on the ring,
This funny little Hedgehog comes
Running down the aisle,
And I don't have to tell you what he did sing.
Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.
I'm not the kind to complain
That I never had a girl to love;
Many fine girls I've tried hard to know,
But I think I never tried enough.
But now I'll be looking all my days,
And it isn't just me I got to please,
There's this funny little Hedgehog
Who's always around,
And the only words he ever sings to me are these.
Oh, you know all the words and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song
Teena Schwartz
I play this and other Incredible String Band songs when I need to bring me back to who I am. Fabulous! I was kind of the odd girl out in the 60's and early 70's in my taste in music. '5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion' was my favorite album.
Ger McL
Just saw your message from last year,yeah wonderfully evocative stuff,hope you're still enjoying.
LizbethPlenty
Radically great reminder! Me too. It's good to be unique! Cheers to you
William North
I'm 14 and im repeating your experience haha
LindaRose Fisher
I do the same and was the odd girl too in the 60s and 70s
Something In The Air
😊 me too!
Karen Varian
Love, love, love this band and song. "you know all the words and you've sung all the notes, but you never quite learned the song, she sung, I can tell by the sadness in your eyes that you've never quite learned the song". Wonderful writing.
rukeyser
Karen Varian Take out that comma!!! The Hedgehog is not “she”!
There have been many discussions, and yes, Every on line lyric source gets it wrong.
But “Every time HE wants to sing me this song” makes it very clear that the Hedgehog is a HE. He sings “this song” about “ the song *she sung*” SUNG - past tense. The song she sung - the man narrating the story has “never tried enough” to learn the song of love each woman in his life has sung.
O you know all the words, and you sung all the notes, but you never quite learned the song she sung
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes that you never quite learned the song.
Oh you know all the words and you sung all the notes
Matthew Clarke
@rukeyser That makes more sense of the lyrics, but there is a pause in the chorus that suggests a comma.
Fletcher Lokey
@rukeyser Correct. It's ... "you never quite learned the song she sung." That is, you were missing the song she's singing to you. So yeah, you weren't listening to something important and you lost what you could have had.
I was a freshman in college, sitting in a friend's room, playing Risk, stoned of course, and this song came on the stereo. I quit paying attention to the game and asked "Who is that??" And from there I went in a whole different direction in my musical listening.
Precious moment for me.