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BARBED WIRE BALLADS
- Songs of Australia' by Graham Seal
Unvarnished Productions,
PO Box 284, Mt. Hawthorn WA 6016.
($12.00 + p&p).
TRACK LIST | LYRICS | REVIEW
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TRACK LIST
Humping the Drum
Adapted from an anonymous poem, a couple of verses added to bring the story up to the Great Depression and set to an Irish tune. Originally recorded by Steam Shuttle and, more recently, by Shane Howard.
Lost Babe in the Wilderness
A song about that still-troubling miscarriage of justice usually referred to as 'the Azaria Chamberlain affair'. As a nation we haven't come out of it very well at all. Baby Azaria is still lost.
Sailortown
Western Australia's great seaport, Fremantle, is an intriguing town that appears in this song as a metaphor of life.
Lament of the Eureka Women
We rarely hear about the women who made the Southern Cross flag of the Eureka Stockade in 1854. This song restores the balance a little.
The River Ran Like Murder
Once called 'The Battle of Pinjarra', Governor James Stirling's attack on a band of Nyungar people in 1834 is more accurately remembered as 'The Pinjarra Massacre'.
Australia's Bonny Boy
In the last few years of his short but glorious life Les Darcy dominated Australian boxing and may have been a world champion. The tragedy of his death in America during World War 1 still lives in Australian tradition.
Chrissy's Song
A confession of failure - mine and just about everyone else's.
The Country Knows the Rest
The bloody events of December 1929, centring on the Rothbury coalmine in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, still echo down Australia's long history of struggle.
Little Danny Downer
Every town and suburb has a kid like this. Danny Downer was ours. Maybe it turned out better than it began.
Eucalyptus Christmas
We have imposed the calendar of the northern hemisphere on southern seasons, but the meanings of this tradition remain the same.
Doing it Tough
Set - more or less - to the tune of 'The Broken-Down Squatter', this song is a mini-history of Australia's battlers and 'the bloody banks'.
Banana Republic
Inspired by Paul Keating's infamous utterance, this satirical pseudo-calypso just gets updated each year. Amazing.
Salt of the Earth
The world's refugee 'problem' has suddenly arrived on our north-western coasts.
The Great South Land
Once called 'the unknown south land', the Australian continent remains that way for most of us. But we have nowhere else to go.
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