After finding a measure of success in the latter 1980s in America, Hitchcock's lyrical and musical horizons broadened further to encompass a range of approaches while still retaining a recognisably surreal, but more serious, signature style.

He continues to tour and record prolifically and has earned strong critical reviews over a steady stream of album releases and live performances, and a dedicated "cult following"[3] for his unique body of work.

[10] Following his solo acoustic album I Often Dream of Trains in 1984, he formed a new band, The Egyptians, comprising former members of the Soft Boys (Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, supplemented at first by early keyboardist Roger Jackson), resulting in their 1985 debut Fegmania!, which featured typically surrealist Hitchcock songs such as "My Wife and My Dead Wife" and "The Man with the Lightbulb Head".

His work received a slight boost in 1995 when his back catalogue (including both solo releases and Egyptians albums) were re-packaged and re-issued in the United States by the respected Rhino Records label.

[15] The 1999 release Jewels for Sophia, also on Warner, featured cameos from Southern California-based musicians Jon Brion and Grant-Lee Phillips, both of whom often shared the stage with Hitchcock when he played Los Angeles nightclub Largo.

[17] In 2001, Hitchcock reunited and toured with Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and Morris Windsor for the Soft Boys' re-release of their best-known album, 1980's Underwater Moonlight.

Hitchcock celebrated his 50th birthday in 2003 with a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London at which his then-new solo acoustic album Luxor was given away as a gift to all those attending, and an original poem of his was read by actor Alan Rickman.

[21] He continued collaborating with a series of different musicians, as on the album Spooked, which was recorded with country/folk duo (and longtime Hitchcock fans) Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

In 2007, he was the subject of a documentary, Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death... and Insects, directed by John Edginton,[23] shown on the U.S. Sundance Channel and in the UK on BBC Four (and later released on DVD).

The filmmaker eavesdrops on Hitchcock at work on his latest collection of songs with contributors including Nick Lowe, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Peter Buck and Gillian Welch.

He also released the Propellor Time album, containing new material partially based on the "Sex, Food, Death" sessions shown in the 2007 documentary, but mainly featuring the Venus 3.

"[26] The pair subsequently toured, releasing another 7" single double A side with the songs "Love Is A Drag" and "Life Is Change", produced by Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake.

[28] Working with Brendan Benson as co-producer, the album saw a return to a full band sound after his previous release, with guest appearances from Gillian Welch and Emma Swift.

Hitchcock wrote the song "Sunday Never Comes" for the 2018 film Juliet, Naked, which was sung in the movie by Ethan Hawke's character, an aging, reclusive musician.

[32][33] He also appeared on Emma Swift's album of Bob Dylan covers, Blonde on the Tracks, recorded between 2017 and 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee and produced by Wilco's Pat Sansone.

[38] While at Winchester College, he is introduced to Aldous Huxley's autobiographical tale of drug use, The Doors of Perception,[39] and to the music of Bob Dylan,[40] The Beach Boys,[41] The Beatles,[42] Jimi Hendrix,[43] and Pink Floyd.

[44] Even though he objected to worship,[45] he joined in singing a "cornucopia of tunes" of Church of England hymns including "Eternal Father, Strong to Save", "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer", and "Jerusalem", which he describes as "fabulous, permanent songs".

[52] In his 2024 memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, Hitchcock stated "I am [as a boy] what would in the twenty-first century be called 'on the spectrum': it turns out that I have most of the symptoms of Asperger's, at the high-functioning end of autism.