Four: Four Seasons in One Day

Crowded House: Four Seasons in One Day

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New Buffalo (Sally Seltmann): Four Seasons in One Day

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Paul Kelly and Angus Stone: Four Seasons in One Day

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The songs of Neil and Tim Finn have be come so familiar that I sometimes forget that they are from Australia. Their songs have been covered by artists worldwide, and I am more accustomed to that treatment for American, English, or Canadian artists. Four Seasons in One Day makes no specific reference to Melbourne, but the song was inspired by the changeable weather there. For the singer, the uncertain weather is a mirror of the uncertainties in his own life. The video expands brilliantly on this idea, by regarding the seasons in the title as the seasons of a man’s life.

Does it matter that the songs of the Finn brothers are written and sung by men, or are they more universal? In 2005, the label EMI decided to find out. They recruited a roster of female artists from Australia and New Zealand to record their versions of Finn songs. They called the resulting album She Will Have Her Way. For the occasion, Sally Seltmann recorded Four Seasons in One Day under her stage name of the time, New Buffalo. She has recorded her more recent material under her own name. Her take on Four Seasons in One Day sounds like Laurie Anderson may have been is much of an inspiration as the Finns. Reviewers of the album on Amazon seem to either love it or hate it, and this song will probably get similar reactions.

In any case, the album was enough of a success that EMI decided to release a companion album in 2010. He Will Have His Way features all male artists this time, but still from Australia and New Zealand. You might have expected similar results, but reviewers on Amazon who loved the previous album seem to hate this one, and vice versa. Paul Kelly and Angus Stone deliver a Four Seasons in One Day that is certainly truer to the original than Seltmann’s version, but they still make some artistic choices of their own. The brass section is an especially nice touch.

In summary, I leave this post as a case study in the art of the cover song. The artists on both tribute albums offer a wealth of quality original material from their own catalogues as well; I invite you to seek that out and enjoy.

Offbeat Holiday Music: How to Make Gravy

Paul Kelly: How to Make Gravy

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While this song isn't necessarily "offbeat," it's one that you won't
normally hear during the North American version of holidays. Paul
Kelly is an Australian singer/songwriter who I think is massively
underrated in the northern hemisphere. In this song the narrator, Joe,
is in prison, and is making a phone call to his friend Dan. Joe is
genuinely regretting and lamenting whatever he did to get himself in
trouble, and is asking Dan to kiss his kids on Christmas, to look
after his girlfriend, to give his best to a number of other friends,
and to not screw up the gravy for the roast. As one of my friends from
down-under pointed out, Australians celebrate Christmas just as the
English do, but it is summer during that time of year so after
Christmas dinner everyone hits the beach. Except for those who are
incarcerated, of course.


Guest post by Rock Star Aimz

Resolutions: I Won't Be Your Dog Anymore

Paul Kelly: I Won't Be Your Dog Anymore

[recent web-only recording; purchase alternate live version here]


For every battered woman who keeps promising herself that this time, she's going to leave.

For every man who compromises his ethics daily just to make that next paycheck.

For everyone who has ever been a dog.

May this be your year.

April Fools: Dumb Things

Paul Kelly: Dumb Things

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At heart, I live in constant fear that everybody knows I'm faking it all, making stupid choices, doing dumb things one after another. I've been told such inner doubt is essential to the human condition, and I guess I have to believe it just to go on. But there are days when I suspect they all say those things just to make me feel better about being an oaf, a laughingstock, and a nigh perfect fool.

Which is why I'm so grateful to aussie singer-songwriter Paul Kelly for making the facts of history which make my own angst palpable both universal and perfectly danceable, if a little desperate. If nothing else, it's nice to know my litany of stupidities has a decent rhythm, not to mention a wailing harmonica accompaniment.

Bonus points to Kelly for releasing Dumb Things in 1988, during the height of my adolescence. That it hit #16 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts was a powerful validation that others felt the same way.

Civics Lessons: From Little Things Big Things Grow

Paul Kelly: From Little Things Big Things Grow

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Civic pride has caused our comments to swell with debate; without the glare of the TV lights and a high-polish moderator, things seem to have flared up, both modeling and threatening to overwhelm any chance we might have of returning to a normal state of musical celebration. I take partial responsibility, both for fanning the flames and for "calling" this week's theme without considering how quickly we might turn to the right to protest, and those things protested, as if that was all that civic engagement had to offer us.

But there are as many ways to take up the citizen's mantle as there are moments of change. Voting is a civic task -- mind the voting box to our left. So is writing your congressperson, or co-creating a bill, or running for office yourself.

So is making peace.

In the interest of civility, then -- an etymologically relevant term -- I thought a turn to songs of reconciliation would be appropriate. And there's none better than Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody's co-written history of the Gurindji strike, and how a few brave Black Australian cattlemen and house servants walked off their jobs and, instead of holding out for merely the right to run Casino palaces and cigarette stands in tiny havens throughout the country, staged an eight year sit-in on their own land in order to get it back. The event sparked and focused the Indigenous Australian land rights movement, and the above image shows the end result: Whitlam, the government rep, pouring the land back into the outstretched hand of indigenous activist Vincent Lingiari, and through him, to the culture he represented.

Kelly and Carmody's protest song never charted, but it has become a sort of anthem for change in the land down under since it's release, helped along recently by a new version of the song featuring a cast of thousands and a heavy set of speech fragments from Prime Ministers old and new. Of the many "original" recordings of this song, though Kelly's original is nice and folky, complete with banjo plunks and charm, I much prefer the live version released this year through Kelly's free A-Z downloads project. To further show its strength, here's a pair of other Aussie bands taking a turn on the song: The femmefolk harmonies of The Waifs and the mystical trancejam of Okapi Guitar each bring a new tone to the poignant tale of sitting as change.

The Waifs: From Little Things Big Things Grow [purchase]

Okapi Guitars: From Little Things Big Things Grow [purchase]

We are all tribes, with naught but civility keeping our speech from becoming war. But nations within nations pose a special problem for citizenry, especially vis a vis issues such as loyalty, allegiance, and fairness; here more than elsewhere, in order to keep balance, it falls to the powerful to be generous and good, or in the end they will be forced to act anyway, lest they lose the faith and confidence of the populace. When nations swallow nations whole, and then mistreat them, the best any of us can do is to know where we stand in the law, and walk the walk, and trust that -- as the song says -- if we fall, others are rising. And that's not nothing. From little things, big things grow.

2:42 - You Can't Take It With You

Paul Kelly and the Messengers, You Can't Take It With You

[purchase]

A study in tracktiming and popular song: this 2:42 original from iconic Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly was never released as a single, but thanks to a nice direct lyric, a poppy country and rock-fueled pace, and a simple yet political sentiment, the song helped make So Much Water So Close To Home Kelly's first album to hit the Australian top ten.

A decade later, Kelly rerecorded You Can't Take It With You on Smoke, an album which set many of his hits in the bluegrass mold. Despite a rousing fingerpickin' sound and the addition of some sweet harmony courtesy of Melbourne bluegrass band Uncle Bill, the new version of the song came in just a few seconds longer. The album topped out at #36 on the Australian charts. Not a single song charted.

Just goes to show you what a difference a decade, a few seconds, and a shift from rock to bluegrass can make.

(Note: Kelly Willis does a good version of You Can't Take It With You, too, at just a hair over three minutes.)

City Songs: Every Fucking City

Paul Kelly: Every Fucking City

[purchase]

Australia’s favorite son Paul Kelly has been delivering the goods to the masses for 27 years and on over 22 albums. In that time, he’s traveled the world over and again, playing to a very loyal fan base in many a city. Paul pays homage to this and to the globalization of the world‘s cities on this track I offer you. This live version was taken free from Paul’s website. Inspired by his concerts over the past years entitled, A to Z , every letter of the alphabet is released in succession and selected live tracks from his catalog are offered to download for free at his website. This all started back in January and now that it’s May we are up to the letter E. Head over to his website, for more info on how to get the E songs free and future letters of the alphabet from this gifted Australian icon.

Reader submission from Kevin