It’s Australia Day and I’m in London.
I’m keen to celebrate but my options are limited. It’s my turn to look after Daisy, you see, so I can’t just go to a Walkabout and drink snakebites like most other Aussies in the UK. And I can’t take her to the Zoo to look at the kangaroos because Sally wants to do that as a family.
So I thought I’d trawl through iTunes and play songs that remind me of home. I was trying to avoid the most obvious ones like Downunder and Khe Sahn just in case Sally lets me go to the Redback once she gets home. They’ll be on constant rotation there, I guarantee.
The first thing that struck me was that there are two kinds of Aussie songs. There are the melancholy ones where you put your arm around a mate and sway from side to side. And the rockier ones where you purse your lips and nod your head, all while cradling a beer in your crossed arms.
The second thing I realised was that I’ve got way too many songs to make a definitive list. So I thought I’d list a few of my favourites and then throw it open to you guys. What song reminds you of Oz? And why?
Here’s my quick list:
To Her Door – Paul Kelly
London Still – The Waifs
Alone with You – The Sunnyboys
A Thousand Miles Away – Hoodoo Gurus
Tojo (Never Made it to Darwin) – Hoodoo Gurus
Throw Your Arms Around Me – Hunters & Collectors
(Baby) I’ve Got You On My Mind – Powderfinger
Blush – The Hummingbirds
Shelter – Falling Joys
Knockbacks in Halifax – Weddings, Parties, Anything
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Well, you are certainly right – there would be to many of them to list all, but since I lived in Sydney for almost six years and now am back to Russia, which I am a native of, I can’t help but throw my five cents in
My music preferences are not so “trendy’ as yours, Peter, so please don’t be too harsh on me.
There is “Down Under” by Men at Work, not because it’s an unoficial Aussie anthem, but because I was in Sydney, during the Olympics.
There is also Richard Marx (yes, sorry) with “Right Here Waiting” (a taxi taking a person I cared about so much to to Sydney airport to leave Australia for good, this song on the radio and him mumbling this song, should I say more)
“It’s in your eyes” or almost any song by Kylie, because you could hear them everywhere you go.
I could go on, but wouldn’t wanna bore you too much
)
Good luck with writing and bringing up your baby daughter!
Well mate you just answered my question I posted from the previous post.
Songs that remind me of Australia;
Great Southern Land – Icehouse
Calypso – Spiderbait
And The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda – Eric Bogle
Roll on Summer – Paul Kelly
Surfcity Limits – The Fauves
Streets of Your Town – The Go Betweens
The Wine Song – Cat Empire
Walk in the Light Green – Redgum?
Right enough of this Im off to the Walkabout. Ciao… (er sorry been living here to long) what I meant to say was see ya mate, have a good one.
Hey Tim,
It was your post yesterday that inspired me to write this one – cheers! And btw, that blog you directed me to. Is it really your friend’s – or is it yours and you were too modest to say? Regardless, it was a good read.
And Natalia – thanks for your comment. I hope you had a good time in Oz. Definitely a bit warmer than Russia at the moment.
Re: my ‘trendy’ list. I was looking at it and thinking how distinctly ‘untrendy’ it was. But if there’s one thing I know it’s that you can’t help the songs that remind you of places. That’s why I was happy to see a Richard Marx song in your list!
I just spoke to Sally on the phone – I think she was checking up on me to make sure I hadn’t dragged Daisy off to a Walkabout after all. She wants me to add So Beautiful by Pete Murray to the list. It’s the song that reminds her most of Australia. And it’s definitely one you sway to!
Agree wholeheartedly on Great Southern Land, anything by Bogle (Nobody’s Moggy!) and Redgum. The Waifs too.
Aussie hip-hop so reminds me of home, with that unmistakable accent:
The Herd – 77% (with the lines “This country needs a fucken shake up/These cunts need a shake up” — works well with us exiles)
2 Up – Club Shakers (all about going down the RSL)
The Herd – Burn Down the Parliament (wot us, tall poppies?)
And for some rockin:
The Spazzys – Paco Doesn’t Love Me (The Ramones reincarnated as chicks from Melbourne.)
Regurgitator – I Sucked A Lot of Cock to Get Where I Am
INXS – What You Need
AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long
Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning
Midnight Oil – US Forces
Where you livin’ these days Peter? I’m doing Aussie burgers (yes, with beetroot!) round mine tonight. Barons Court. Rugrat welcome.
Paul Kelly – Midnight Rain … yeah well I’m a Kiwi but … anyway it’s a combination of the accent and the rain at the start.
Hunters and Collectors – Throw Your Arms Around Me …. so very very good up loud after a bottle of red.
Reminds me of New Zealand …
Weather with You – Finns
Loyal – Dave Dobbyn
Hey Di,
Anything special planned for Waitangi Day on Feb 6?
Hey Shermozle, (great name!)
I’m up in North London. Don’t think I can get across to Baron’s Court but must admit the promise of beetroot is tempting. That was one of the things Sally, as a Pom, could never come to grips with. Beetroot on a burger. Or a steak sandwich. Which was a bit tough when we were driving around Oz. That’s all the roadhouses served!
I totally forgot it was Australia Day, but as a reformed temporary Australian, I hope you’ll forgive me. Anyway, I’m in Kuwait so I’m kind of alone in celebrating this.
Maybe I’ll make some ANZAC biccies for Saturday at the office (yes, that’s our Monday). Introduce Kuwait to the charms of coconut and golden syrup. Surely I can find golden syrup somewhere in this city.
I have Waifs and Paul Kelly on my iPod. I promise to listen to that starting right now.
Yeah I made a big batch of ANZACs last night to bring into work. Always goes down well and the big secret is they’re possibly the easiest biccies on earth to make!
Molasses, treacle or honey would probably substitute for golden syrup, but not really.
Easy to make and in fact, I have made them in the middle of a national park in Uganda!! (Golden syrup acquired in Kampala.) They went over real well with the Uganda Wildlife Service workers.
(I’m secretly American, but crikey, don’t tell anyone. They might not eat my biccies then.)
Waitangi Day … i’d have to blush and admit that since changing hemispheres that I have no clue about ‘special NZ days’ anymore … as far as I intuitively understand it, we’re in July at the moment …
And anyway, how is it you know about Waitangi Day …
Did the British Museum make you a receptacle of knowledge.
But teasing aside, I had forgotten … I’m not good with time and the acutality of it passing … I probably couldn’t answer any questions about ‘special NZ days’ in a quiz. :S
Yes, there is another Tim – modest isn’t the first word that springs to mind when describing the above Tim.
I’d just like to add “Because I Love You” by Masters Apprentices and “Days Like These” by the Cat Empire to the above Tim’s list.
Thanks for the compliment by the way…
OK so I’ve missed the boat a bit but I love the song Melting by Paul Kelly (with Monique Brumby). It oozes heat and sweat and cicadas and that intangible Australian sexiness..
“Run to Paradise” by the Choir Boys is definately the one song that I pull out on Australia Day…I also play alot of the Party Boys along with the other common songs already mentioned.
So did you end up getting out when Sally got home, Pete?
The Hamburger song by the Whitlams – Reminds me of Tripple J circa 1995.
OMC – How bizzare about the same time – was played a lot around the backpacker haunts in Cairns
Funny, I loaded up the iPod shuffle with all australian stuff for Australia Day.
Had a great time listening to Paul Kelly, The Mavis’s (hey, I’m a Ballarat boy who somehow ended up in London), Hoodoo Gurus, Crowded House, Tex, Don and Charlie, The Whitlams, Hunters and Collectors and finally Midnight Oil.
Just saw an article in the Age today that mentioned the Beasts of Bourbon are touring Europe in April. Can’t wait for tickets to go on sale.
Oh yeah, as for my Australia Day – I washed up in the Wimbledon Walkie and stumbled home about midnight (must have only just made the last tube) wearing my Fosters straw hat. It’s no wonder people were laughing at me on the tube…..
Thanks for your website. ‘Alone with you’ reminds me of the 1984 Bangtail Muster at the Closeburn Hall, Sandford outside Brisbane. The ‘Sunnyboys’ played so it was a B & S crossed with a rock concert. Like many other University of Qld students, we came home with our dinner suits covered in mud and 1000 funny recollectins. It was a great night and one of the most memorable. Apparently the locals still talk about the noise! No doubt a few Queenslanders will remember this….. everytime I hear that song, it makes mer smile.
As a fellow WPA tragic, can’t go past “Under The Clocks” – is there anywhere you’d rather be than with me at the MCG? So very Melbourne!
Kewl blog you got goin on up here.
Peace, JiggyWittit