# The Big Five - Aussie Songs 🎸🇦🇺 (ft. Paul Kelly!)

An episode of [The Howie Games](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1146329262), 21 Jun 2026, 1 h 19 min.

Audio: https://enrichment.soundstack.com/4vjqq8/episode.flightcast.com/xknn9b858r1n2d0vdthavs8r.mp3

What are the five greatest Australian songs of all time? 🎵🇦🇺 On this special episode of The Big Five, Howie and The Chief, Jason Dunstall, are joined by Australian music legend Paul Kelly to tackle one of the biggest debates in Australian culture - the greatest Aussie songs ever written. From iconic anthems and pub classics to timeless storytelling masterpieces, the trio count down their personal top five and make the case for the songs they believe belong on Australia's ultimate playlist. Along the way, Paul shares stories from a remarkable career, The Chief delivers a few surprises, and Howie may or may not pull out his guitar for a sing-a-long. 😳 What's in your Big Five? 🎤🎶🇦🇺 🎵 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST WITH HOWIE, CHIEF & PAUL'S TOP 5 🎵 SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS IN THE OFFICIAL BIG 5 SURVEY: https://forms.gle/9d9M7XddvMkYJWns6 NEW BIG FIVE EPISODES EVERY MONDAY! NEXT: Big 5 Australian Sporting Moments Subscribe to The Howie Games on LiSTNR, Spotify or Apple Podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] a listener production.
[0:04] Now, just before you tune in to what may be my favourite episode of all time on the Howie Games, yep, true story, we have created a Spotify playlist with all the songs mentioned in this podcast accessible via the link to Spotify in the show notes or you can Google as you go and get a vibe for some of those tunes you may not know.
[0:26] All righty, let's go.
[0:36] Big, big five.
[0:38] Got a nice beat to it, hasn't it, Chief?
[0:40] You're starting to groove that little opener, aren't you?
[0:41] You weren't sure early, but it's...
[0:43] It's warming.
[0:44] It's warming on me.
[0:45] Welcome along to the Howie Games.
[0:46] Big five with my sporting hero, a man that kicked 1,254 goals.
[0:50] Used to have a magnificent mullet, Jason Dunst.
[0:52] Would you miss that hair?
[0:54] I miss any hair.
[0:55] Don't care what style.
[0:56] Any hair would have been good, Howie.
[0:59] Today...
[1:01] When I first thought about this concept and hoped that you would be involved, this topic was designed for you and you alone.
[1:09] It's also the one that I've grappled with the most.
[1:11] I've got no doubt.
[1:12] It's upset me at times.
[1:13] We're talking big five Aussie songs.
[1:16] Before we get to the preamble...
[1:20] What's your love of music?
[1:21] Where's it from?
[1:22] Because you love music and you have an encyclopedic knowledge of it.
[1:25] I don't know why.
[1:26] I've just always loved music, loved listening to it, worked in radio a long time, so you're around music, grew up going to see bands.
[1:35] So when I grew up, when I was a teenager,
[1:38] It was the hotspot for Australian bands.
[1:40] I'm talking.
[1:42] Dragon, Chisel, Aussie Crawl, The Oils, In Excess, The Sunny Boys, The Radiators.
[1:48] You name it.
[1:49] It was awesome.
[1:51] I'm worried about our age gap.
[1:52] I've never heard of the radiators.
[1:55] This is where we could have a problem.
[1:56] Yeah, I know.
[1:56] What were the radiators all about?
[1:58] You see...
[1:59] Oh, mate, the radiators and the Sunnyboys used to play up at Bombay Rock and the playroom on the coast.
[2:04] Some of the joints you'd go.
[2:06] In fact, last time I walked into the playroom, I was just a teenager, a guy was coming out with blood pouring from his face.
[2:12] He'd just been glassed.
[2:13] These are the sort of establishments we were going to back then.
[2:16] But, you see, the problem I have with this topic is there are thousands of songs.
[2:22] You can only pick five.
[2:23] But your favourites change over time.
[2:27] And it's funny because doing the research into this brought back songs I hadn't heard for ages going, oh, my God, I love that song.
[2:36] And so it automatically gets elevated.
[2:39] And then there are others that you hear too often that get down the order, but they're great songs.
[2:44] So trying to come up with an order of five, and I've got an apology list longer than my arm.
[2:50] It's ridiculous.
[2:50] Where do we do the apologies?
[2:51] At the end.
[2:52] Later.
[2:52] Later.
[2:53] At the end.
[2:53] So I don't have the same understanding of music.
[2:56] As I told you on radio a couple of weeks ago, Erica took me to see a band on –
[3:03] at the Pondins Hotel and I was asking advice for you as to whether I should dance.
[3:07] You're pretty strong to have a couple of frosty ones first and then just loosen up.
[3:11] So as it turned out, they were playing their songs on Great Australian Covers, but it was Joe Camilleri alongside from the Screaming Jets, Dave Gleeson, and then Ray Thishlethwaite from Thirsty Merc.
[3:26] And Joe Camilleri.
[3:28] This is how this is much as in my head.
[3:30] Joe Camilleri introduced Harley and Rose.
[3:33] And I'm like, I didn't even consider that.
[3:36] And that is a classic song.
[3:38] I'll tell you something about Joe Camilleri.
[3:40] Right.
[3:41] So you remember when we were in lockdown through COVID.
[3:45] Yeah.
[3:46] You could go and do, if you wanted to travel in the state, you had to go into quarantine.
[3:50] Yeah.
[3:51] I was going to Queensland at the end of one year, and there was talk that they would open the borders, but it just wasn't happening.
[3:56] So I went to Darwin and did a week in quarantine at an old mining settlement camp up there just outside of Darwin where they were running quarantine camps and then you could travel wherever you wanted to go.
[4:10] Joe Camilleri was there at the same time.
[4:12] In the camp?
[4:13] In the camp.
[4:14] They were just like cabins, rows of cabins, right?
[4:17] And one evening he held a little impromptu.
[4:20] No!
[4:21] Yes!
[4:21] He just grabbed the guitar and...
[4:22] Sat on the little porch outside your tiny cabin.
[4:26] A COVID concert.
[4:26] And played a little bit.
[4:27] Did he?
[4:28] Correct.
[4:29] How good is that?
[4:30] Amazing.
[4:31] Before we get started, so you're an expert in your field, so I felt under-equipped for this.
[4:39] So I had to phone a friend.
[4:40] No experts in this.
[4:41] It's just what do you love?
[4:42] What do you like?
[4:43] Well, we have an expert today that is about to walk into this studio unannounced to help us with our big five Australian songs of all time.
[4:52] You may have heard of this bloke.
[4:53] You may not.
[4:54] His name is Paul Kelly.
[4:58] The great man is here.
[4:59] How are you going?
[5:00] Great to see you.
[5:01] Hello again.
[5:01] Thank you so much.
[5:02] Good to see you again.
[5:03] Jason Paul.
[5:04] How are you, mate?
[5:04] Pleasure.
[5:05] Have a seat right here.
[5:06] All right.
[5:07] I've got a bit of stuff here.
[5:07] That's all right.
[5:08] You come in here.
[5:09] Find your way around the back.
[5:11] Chief, what about this?
[5:14] I've been ambushed.
[5:16] You had no knowledge of this.
[5:18] I've been ambushed.
[5:20] I'm a friend of Joe from Camilleries too, so that was a good little introduction.
[5:23] You settle in, Paul.
[5:24] Get yourself all ready there.
[5:26] So...
[5:27] Now, Chief, you had no idea this was happening.
[5:30] While Paul's getting set up.
[5:32] I'm not even sure what I'm getting into.
[5:33] No.
[5:35] Put your microphone in front of your face.
[5:37] You're looking at me.
[5:38] Oh, here.
[5:39] How are you looking at me, Chief?
[5:40] You're just set up.
[5:42] The fact that we have got, for mine, one of, if not Australia's greatest single songwriter, in here to go through his big five as well.
[5:49] Oh, jeez.
[5:51] My question for you, before we really introduce this man, actually this is a statement.
[5:56] Jeez, I hope you got him in the top five.
[5:59] Bob, right now I'm at this very moment just thinking about that iconic line.
[6:03] I'm lying on the hill looking over the bridge near the MCG.
[6:06] I'm going, jeez, why didn't I put that in the top five, Ali?
[6:10] All right.
[6:11] Welcome to the How You Go Big Five, one of Australia's greatest singer-songwriters.
[6:16] Hold yours to the end, Paul.
[6:18] We put them up as we go.
[6:19] I've got to write them down, okay?
[6:20] No, no, you can write them as you go.
[6:21] Write them as you go.
[6:22] Don't worry about the details of that, mate.
[6:23] You put that there.
[6:25] Write them as you go.
[6:25] Hey, I rang you...
[6:28] Two weeks ago, we were texting and then I rang you and my, I said to him, listen, I didn't want to interrupt you.
[6:35] I presume, you know, you're up late, rocking on somewhere, being a rock star.
[6:40] Can you remember what you told me you were doing when I rang?
[6:43] Putting out the bins?
[6:44] Putting out the bins.
[6:47] Everyone has to do normal people things at times, Howard.
[6:49] Even rock stars have to put out the bins.
[6:51] Yes.
[6:53] We've got questions for you, but you are a football fan.
[6:57] You have two clubs, Adelaide and Melbourne.
[6:59] I don't know how that works, but you will have seen plenty of the great Jason Dunstall play.
[7:02] Of course.
[7:02] Of course.
[7:03] You're just showing your age, Paul.
[7:04] That's the problem there.
[7:08] Much admired watching you play over the years.
[7:10] I'm old enough to remember you in your prime.
[7:12] I mean, you're still in your prime in another way.
[7:14] Oh, not really.
[7:15] Watching you on a footy field was just great.
[7:19] One of life's great pleasures.
[7:20] Yes.
[7:20] Have you seen Paul play live?
[7:22] I have.
[7:22] Right, where'd you see him?
[7:23] That's a very good call.
[7:24] At the Corner Hotel, one of those smoky joints?
[7:27] I don't know if you would have played at the Corner, Paul.
[7:29] Where was it?
[7:30] What were some of the joints?
[7:30] Yeah, I played at the Corner a lot of times back in the 80s.
[7:34] It still goes.
[7:35] Every year we go and see James Rain play there.
[7:37] He plays a...
[7:39] That's sort of before the Melbourne Cup on the Monday night last year.
[7:42] Went and saw him play there.
[7:43] It's just a fun venue downstairs there.
[7:45] What were some of those venues you were rolling out that I'd never heard of?
[7:47] You two?
[7:48] Bombay Rock and the Playroom in Queensland.
[7:50] The Playroom in Queensland, definitely, yeah.
[7:52] Mansfield Tavern used to have some bands.
[7:54] Went and saw Aussie Crawl there.
[7:55] Oh, there were all sorts of places.
[7:58] We'd go anywhere to watch a band play.
[8:00] Why music for you?
[8:01] This is not turning into an interview, Howard Gaines, but just to ascertain a little bit, why music for you, Paul?
[8:08] I guess I probably had no choice.
[8:10] Musical family.
[8:11] Had brothers and sisters that were all into music.
[8:15] My mother sang and played piano.
[8:17] Dad loved music.
[8:18] Always lots of music in the house.
[8:20] And just studied piano as a kid and then trumpet at high school.
[8:26] Were you naturally talented at it or did you ever work at it?
[8:28] I was probably just, I was musical enough to keep going.
[8:34] But, you know, I'm a fairly basic musician, you know, in terms of the people I play with would all be more skilled musicians than I am.
[8:41] I'm a good rhythm guitarist, very basic piano player.
[8:46] But, you know, I'm a writer before I'm a musician, I would say.
[8:51] That's where the fascination for most people comes from, I think.
[8:54] It's the lyrics.
[8:55] Your motivation.
[8:57] When you sit down and go, I'm going to write a song, where do you start?
[9:02] That's a very good question.
[9:03] You just sort of start, well, for me, it's just starting with playing around on the instrument, whether it's piano or guitar.
[9:08] So you'll start that first before the lyrics?
[9:11] Yeah, just playing around, like doodling.
[9:13] Is that what most do?
[9:14] Are there some that do the lyrics first and then work out the music second?
[9:19] People are all quite different.
[9:20] I think some people write lyrics first.
[9:23] Occasionally I do, but most of the time I've sort of come up with a melody or something which I think is going to be a song and then I get some words and...
[9:30] And then they're sort of just fumbling around in the dark until something happens.
[9:34] And then you sort of get on a lead for a story or a song or a lyric.
[9:40] You sort of follow your hunches.
[9:42] But you don't know what you're doing until you're in the middle of it.
[9:44] The question I really want to know, and just be as honest as you can, when you've written a song, do you know those ones that are going to be a big hit?
[9:54] Or have there been ones where you thought, that's a hit and it hasn't?
[9:56] And has there been a song where you thought, that's okay, and it's been one of your biggest hits?
[10:02] No, generally I don't know.
[10:03] So some of my most popular songs are ones that I wouldn't have thought would be a hit.
[10:08] How to Make Gravy was, I thought, well, that's an okay.
[10:11] You know, we like playing the song.
[10:12] I knew it was a song that we liked to play but didn't have a chorus.
[10:16] It was set in prison and it didn't really get much commercial radio play.
[10:21] But it just sort of built up over the years.
[10:23] And another one like that is from Little Things, Big Things Grow, which I wrote with Kev Carmody.
[10:28] That's, you know, like a seven-minute song, so I thought, well, that's not really going to get played on the radio very often.
[10:33] And that sort of built slowly too.
[10:36] Sometimes you get to think, oh, I reckon that could go okay, and, you know, it could become popular, but I'm probably wrong most of the time.
[10:46] Isn't that fascinating?
[10:47] When Paul talks about how to make gravy, you didn't notice what was put on the table, which may have given a little gravy container there.
[10:56] That's what Taylor Swift calls, what does she call them?
[11:01] Easter eggs.
[11:02] Easter eggs.
[11:03] It's a little Easter egg.
[11:03] It's a little Easter egg.
[11:04] So you're not meant to mention it.
[11:05] You just put it there and people start asking questions.
[11:08] So you're channeling Tay-Tay now?
[11:09] Well, no, we're channeling Paul with how to make gravy.
[11:12] Iconic Aussie songs and you bring up Tay-Tay.
[11:15] Where do you sit on Tay-Tay?
[11:16] Did you see her or not?
[11:18] I did.
[11:18] I went to the concert.
[11:19] Did you?
[11:19] Oh, I loved it.
[11:20] It was, there you go.
[11:21] A whole experience.
[11:22] Well, but it's a show, isn't it?
[11:24] It's entertainment.
[11:25] I love the way that she was just like part of a pack.
[11:27] You know, often you get the lead singer sort of there and the band sort of hidden.
[11:32] But she really made herself part of a gang.
[11:34] I just love that about her.
[11:36] Before now, are you questioning your songs now?
[11:39] Yeah, 100%.
[11:40] I'm now sitting here thinking, which of these is going to embarrass me?
[11:44] Damn it.
[11:45] Oh, I knew obviously Paul was coming in.
[11:47] Shit.
[11:47] Now, I don't want to embarrass you, Paul, but you've written some classic songs in relation to sport.
[11:55] Bradman is one of my favourite songs.
[11:57] You were quoting the lines about the MCG.
[11:59] Do you have a poem involving the man to my right?
[12:05] I do.
[12:05] I remember you asked me if I had anything to contribute to a vent around you becoming officially a legend.
[12:13] Is that right?
[12:14] Yeah.
[12:15] I feel legend.
[12:15] So I did write a poem.
[12:17] Do you have the poem here?
[12:20] I could normally...
[12:20] This is the greatest ambushing of all time.
[12:22] Chief, this is an Australian icon.
[12:25] The strings I've pulled to get to this man and to get him here in the studio today.
[12:30] Hey, don't...
[12:33] Don't underestimate how impressed I am, but how also uncomfortably ambushed I am in the presence of greatness.
[12:41] So you were inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame legend status, of which there's not many.
[12:46] Was that last year, Chief?
[12:48] That's a good question.
[12:49] Last year.
[12:49] Which meant what to you?
[12:51] A hell of a lot.
[12:52] Yeah, loved it.
[12:52] I mean, there's 33 of them, 32 or 33 of them.
[12:56] Yeah, an incredible honour.
[12:58] And you have a poem about it.
[13:00] Dunstall, first name Jason.
[13:03] Your work puts me in mind of a classical stonemason, the art of force, refined.
[13:09] Nothing complicated, your body served your eye.
[13:12] Skill and power weighted, all lined up, straight as a die.
[13:17] On the toughest of all stages, you built a great cathedral, a monument for the ages.
[13:22] You're a legend, Jason Dunstall.
[13:25] Now, just in case you're wondering who's building this word wall, it's a singer, not the swansman.
[13:31] Kelly, first name, Paul.
[13:35] Oh, my goodness.
[13:36] That's so good.
[13:36] That is really cool, isn't it?
[13:38] That's giving me tingles.
[13:40] Thank you, Paul, for delivering that.
[13:42] I'm incredibly flattered, incredibly flattered.
[13:45] Okay.
[13:45] So all I can say.
[13:46] Do we still have to do this?
[13:47] We do.
[13:48] And if you don't have him in there, Chief, he's just a bum about you.
[13:53] I don't know.
[13:54] Is there a point where I can just take a 30-second break?
[13:56] No, you can't.
[13:57] Oh, Howie.
[13:59] I'm so nervous now.
[14:01] You nervous?
[14:03] I've never seen you off edge before.
[14:04] Just get down.
[14:05] You're the alpha in the jungle, my friend.
[14:07] I'm just looking at the songs I've picked.
[14:09] No, there's no going back now.
[14:10] Don't turn me your screens, guys.
[14:12] There's no going back now.
[14:14] All right, it is time for...
[14:15] I'm playing cards.
[14:16] Five.
[14:17] Five.
[14:18] Five.
[14:18] Number five.
[14:21] We are going to go in this order.
[14:23] Chief, myself, then you, Paul.
[14:26] Okay?
[14:26] Okay.
[14:27] So the other thing about this is our man will know a lot of these people, and he's probably performed with quite a few of them, Chief.
[14:35] Yep.
[14:35] All right.
[14:36] You're shitting yourself, which I'm enjoying, Chief.
[14:39] All right, number five, where are you going?
[14:40] Well, let me preface it first by saying I haven't gone as anthemic as perhaps you might with some of the...
[14:50] You know, the cultural anthems that a lot of everyday Australians would be across or would say that's a brilliant song, there might be one or two in there, but I tend to go a little bit off the beaten track.
[15:02] And at number five, I'll give you a quote, a line first.
[15:06] Okay.
[15:06] And this is the opening lines to the song.
[15:10] Well, the drums rolled off in my forehead.
[15:12] Wow.
[15:13] Can I say?
[15:14] And the guns went off in my chest.
[15:15] Wide Open Road.
[15:16] The Triffids is actually my list.
[15:18] Oh, you beauty.
[15:19] You beauty.
[15:20] No, you're a wide open wide.
[15:21] That is so cool.
[15:22] What's the song, Chief?
[15:24] Wide Open Road by the Triffids.
[15:26] You've got to understand this.
[15:27] It's...
[15:28] there's a haunting melody about this song.
[15:31] And for me, it's also, it's as much about the music as it is the lyrics and also the film clip.
[15:37] When you watch the film clip is, is extraordinary.
[15:40] Um, so it's a song basically about love lost, um, despair and sadness, but also everything that's out there.
[15:48] And the film clips are basically just driving about the Australian countryside, which is so vast, the unexplored expanses that we have out there.
[15:56] Um,
[15:57] The funny thing I found about this song, it wasn't a huge hit, Paul.
[16:00] It was number 64 it got to in Australia.
[16:03] But it's upon reflection now, it's fated as a great Australian song.
[16:08] But at the time, it really wasn't.
[16:10] Yeah, slow burn.
[16:11] Yeah.
[16:12] But it's one of those that I, whenever I hear it, I go, oh, my God, I have to stop and listen because it just, it does something to me.
[16:18] Can you hum me a bit?
[16:19] I would not even.
[16:20] It's a wide open road.
[16:23] Wide open road.
[16:25] Oh, mate, so good.
[16:27] How do you think it feels?
[16:28] Sleeping by yourself?
[16:29] Yes.
[16:30] With the one you love?
[16:32] Is it somebody else?
[16:33] Yes, I love this.
[16:34] It's a ride.
[16:35] Oh, my God.
[16:36] It's got a beautiful keyboard line.
[16:37] Yep.
[16:39] It's just got this great sense of grandeur and space about it.
[16:42] And it's very, it's like a lot of the early Triffid songs, a lot of their work had a real sense of the Australian landscape in it.
[16:50] Yes.
[16:50] They were a big influence on me.
[16:52] That's why I picked them up.
[16:53] Oh, so cool.
[16:54] That is so cool.
[16:55] If I told you at 9 o'clock this morning that you would be singing the Triffids with Paul Kelly at 126 while he was there, I would have asked you what you were smoking.
[17:03] Yeah.
[17:05] Okay, so write it up.
[17:06] You've got to put it on the board.
[17:08] That is so cool.
[17:08] I'm up and about now.
[17:09] Yeah, that's a hole in one right there.
[17:11] He was short of confidence, Paul, but now that you've given him.
[17:14] So I'm concerned because you're here because I have a distinct lack of knowledge in music.
[17:19] It is not my strong point.
[17:20] So now I'm concerned about my choices.
[17:23] So coming in at number five for me is as much this song as about the performer because when I think of –
[17:32] Australian songs, I think of smoky pubs and I think in this case of a front man with as much charisma as anyone I've seen in Australian music.
[17:44] First line, where you can't sleep in my bed no more, where you can't ride in my car.
[17:52] I won't let you cook for me, baby.
[17:54] It's never going to get that far.
[17:56] Going to send you back to wherever the hell it was you came.
[17:59] Honeymoon is over, the cruel sea.
[18:01] Yep, Texburgers.
[18:03] You would know, and I'm sure you've played with him.
[18:05] We've just been playing with him in the last few months.
[18:07] So what I'm seeing, Chief, when I'm seeing him 20 years ago,
[18:13] I don't like – well, I'm going to use the term, the animal magnetism of this man.
[18:18] The ladies, the big, strong, tall man, the ladies are literally throwing theirself at the stage when you're seeing him alongside the Cruel C in action.
[18:28] You will have seen this.
[18:29] He's still – he's a big, imposing man.
[18:31] Still got it, yeah.
[18:32] Got to tell you a little story about Tex Perkins.
[18:34] Okay.
[18:34] So he used to –
[18:36] working in radio 100 years ago.
[18:38] At Triple M, we were doing the morning show, and we would get guests in.
[18:43] We had Tex Perkins in one morning, and we'd chat about what they're doing and concerts coming up and all that sort of thing.
[18:49] And we had a little segment where we would pick the song that we thought was most unsuited to them and ask them to sing it, a cappella in the studio for us.
[19:01] For Tex Perkins, we chose Minnie Ripperton's Love A New.
[19:04] Oh.
[19:06] And he nailed it.
[19:07] He did this version with some high notes where we're just sitting there going, oh, my God, he's so cool.
[19:12] But you're right, charisma's a great word for him.
[19:14] He talked about the song.
[19:16] This song is based around the lines.
[19:17] It's going to send you back to wherever the hell it was you came.
[19:19] Then I'm going to get this tattoo changed to another girl's name.
[19:22] Yep.
[19:23] Because before he went into the studio to record, in his words, he met a bloke that had gone through this very dilemma, what to do with your old girlfriend's name written on you after she's not your girlfriend anymore and you've got a new girlfriend and she wants her name there instead.
[19:37] So coming in at number five for me, Tex Perkins.
[19:40] He'd still be rocking, wouldn't he, Tex?
[19:42] Yeah, yeah.
[19:42] We've just been doing shows together.
[19:43] He's in great form.
[19:46] Okay, Paul, I need to write mine up.
[19:48] Yes, you do.
[19:49] Honeymoon is over.
[19:50] I write mine up.
[19:52] Announce it and then we'll get you to write it.
[19:54] Oh, okay.
[19:54] It's well, I'll do a sort of half-talked assignment.
[19:57] I recall a schoolboy coming home through fields of cane in a house of tin and timber and in the sky, arena-filing cinders.
[20:08] Go-betweens?
[20:09] Yes, very good.
[20:11] Cattle and Cain.
[20:12] Got it.
[20:13] It's all over.
[20:13] No, he's good.
[20:14] He is good.
[20:15] This is what I'm out of my debt.
[20:16] They're on my apology list, the Go-Betweens, because they've got another Bachelor Kisses song I love as well.
[20:21] Spring Rain too.
[20:22] Yeah, they've got four or five songs that are brilliant.
[20:24] I couldn't fit them in, but I love the Go-Betweens.
[20:26] What is it about the song, Paul?
[20:28] Again, it's a song you can smell it, you know.
[20:31] So I'm attracted to songwriting that's either visual, that you can see or smell.
[20:37] That's probably one of the strongest senses of memory, I think.
[20:41] And that was, you know, it's about him growing up as a kid in far north Queensland.
[20:45] His father's watched, he left it in the shower, memory waste.
[20:49] I mean, it's also got this really trippy time signature.
[20:53] It's not regular, so it sort of gives you that sort of,
[20:56] slightly in a dream feeling.
[20:58] Yeah, it's very, very vivid.
[21:00] You can see it.
[21:01] You can smell it.
[21:02] I love those kind of songs.
[21:03] And that rhythm in the background that just keeps playing throughout it all is really cool.
[21:07] Streets of Your Town is another one that I love by them.
[21:10] Yeah.
[21:11] Well, you write that up.
[21:11] That's number five.
[21:12] Great band.
[21:13] We are so.
[21:14] Yeah.
[21:14] We're at six so far.
[21:16] I know.
[21:17] I'm looking at what I've got now and I'm getting a little bit worried.
[21:19] Catelyn Cain at five for the great Paul Kelly.
[21:23] Are you ready to move on?
[21:24] Yep.
[21:24] Okay.
[21:24] Time for...
[21:26] Number four.
[21:27] Touched was four.
[21:28] Number four.
[21:31] At number four, I've gone with a powerful rock song that spent six weeks at number one in Australia.
[21:36] Let me give you the lyrics.
[21:37] Uh-huh, okay.
[21:38] It's 12 o'clock and it's a wonderful day.
[21:41] I know you hate me, but I'll ask anyway.
[21:46] No.
[21:48] Any more lyrics?
[21:49] Again, start singing it, Chief.
[21:51] Won't you come with me to a place in a little town?
[21:57] The only way to get there is to go straight down.
[22:00] It's not a dragon song, is it?
[22:01] No.
[22:02] Although, I love dragon.
[22:04] Man, this is cool.
[22:07] Yeah, sing it, Chief.
[22:08] I'm not going to sing.
[22:09] Chief.
[22:10] I swore to myself before we came in and did this podcast in particular, I will not embarrass myself by singing live.
[22:15] When are you going to get the opportunity to sing alongside one of Australia's greatest singer-songwriters?
[22:19] You know what?
[22:20] We're not seeing this.
[22:21] Cameras.
[22:22] Chief.
[22:22] And there are recordings here.
[22:24] Sing the freaking song.
[22:25] We're talking about a band from Newcastle.
[22:27] Newcastle.
[22:28] Silverchair.
[22:28] Silverchair.
[22:29] Silverchair.
[22:29] Silverchair.
[22:31] So the song's tomorrow.
[22:32] Ah, good one, Chief.
[22:33] And I love it.
[22:35] Why?
[22:35] So these guys, when they wrote this song, 15 years old, 15 years old.
[22:43] And they classify this as one of their least serious songs, which I don't understand why.
[22:50] And the motivation, Daniel Johns talked about it, Riley was a poor guy was talking to a rich guy in a hotel, showing him through the hotel, showing him people that are less fortunate than him because the rich guy's just whinging and wants to get out of there.
[23:02] He says, well, you can't go until tomorrow.
[23:04] That was the germination of the song.
[23:05] But I just, their ability to do this at such a young age and the...
[23:13] The heavy guitar that I love in it too, particularly in this song, and Daniel Johns' voice, I think, spectacular.
[23:19] So they, to me, were – I'll tell you something about this song.
[23:23] So they were performing as the Innocent Criminals.
[23:27] which was Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies who wrote it and Chris Jane who was the other one.
[23:32] They won a national band competition with a demo tape of this in 1994.
[23:38] One of my apologies was Silverchair Straight Lines, Chief.
[23:42] Yeah.
[23:43] That was probably the second song I considered theirs.
[23:45] That would be my favourite Silverchair song, Straight Lines, but it didn't make it.
[23:49] My number four.
[23:53] Okay.
[23:56] I think in your big five Aussie songs, Paul and Chieftain, you need something with an absolutely banging guitar riff to get yourself underway.
[24:09] You know, almost one you can bang your head to.
[24:11] Not the type of stuff you play.
[24:12] I'm not sure if it's the type of stuff you listen to, Chief.
[24:14] And I went through the entire ACDC catalogue.
[24:17] Yeah.
[24:19] And I got to...
[24:23] Thunderstruck.
[24:24] I got to Thunderstruck and it came between that and this, and I went for this.
[24:29] Now, I'm not prepared to sing, but I'm going to try.
[24:33] It's unlike you.
[24:34] Well, I might later if I get a bit of confidence under the belt.
[24:38] I'm going to try and mouth the guitar riff for you and you see if you can get it, okay?
[24:44] So it goes, how does it go?
[24:46] So to me, it's the start of the song where it's all about.
[24:48] It goes...
[24:53] And then the drums come in.
[24:57] And then the next guitar is.
[25:06] Said the Joker is a wanted man.
[25:09] Makes his way all across the land.
[25:12] Got it, Chief?
[25:13] See him sifting through the sand.
[25:15] So I'll tell you all the story about the joke and the thief in the night.
[25:19] Yep.
[25:20] So you're a Wolfmother man?
[25:21] Wolfmother.
[25:22] I went Wolfmother over ACDC.
[25:24] So you let us in with Akadaka, and I'm thinking he was doing an Akadaka song.
[25:29] So did I. I couldn't get ACDC in there.
[25:30] I'm trying to think of an Akadaka song.
[25:31] Well, you said you didn't put Thunderstruck, so you went with another song.
[25:34] So I'm thinking, well, another Akadaka song.
[25:36] Maybe it was me trying to impersonate a guitar.
[25:37] Wasn't that clear either, to be fair?
[25:38] Yeah, it wasn't great.
[25:40] But the bloke in charge of this, Andrew Stockdale, told an interviewer, I was in a shop one morning walking to where we jam.
[25:46] I saw this ACDC Thunderstruck poster and I was like, I want to write a stadium rock song like that.
[25:52] Now, I didn't know that when I was choosing between the two.
[25:55] Yeah.
[25:55] But for me, Joker and The Thief, 28th of October 2006, comes in at number four.
[26:02] Number four and the film clip has, I don't know why, the boy's some jackass in it.
[26:09] Does it?
[26:10] Johnny Knoxville and that crew.
[26:11] He's very funny, Johnny Knoxville.
[26:12] They are in that crew.
[26:13] So number four for me, Joker and The Thief.
[26:15] Okay.
[26:16] It was the sixth track on their sixth single from the debut album, Wolf Mother.
[26:21] Can't attack you yet, Howie.
[26:22] No?
[26:22] Okay.
[26:23] Okay, I'm going, okay.
[26:24] We want the next one here.
[26:26] It was a good little sort of mouth and air guitar.
[26:29] Well, yeah, I probably didn't nail it, Paul, but that's about as far as I'm prepared to go with my lack of music talent.
[26:34] Nothing better than getting slidged by Paul Clare.
[26:36] So good.
[26:36] You can pull your guitar up whenever you want.
[26:38] I've seen worse.
[26:39] Okay, good.
[26:39] Number four for you, great man.
[26:42] I might just slot in there, staying with the theme.
[26:45] I don't want to give too many clues now.
[26:47] Give us a lyric first.
[26:47] Okay.
[26:48] Don't need to say too much about this song because I think you'll be all over it.
[26:51] Getting old, getting grey, getting ripped off, underpaid, getting sold secondhand.
[26:57] That's how it goes playing in a band.
[27:00] It's a long way to the top.
[27:01] You got it.
[27:01] If you want to rock and roll, Chief.
[27:03] Yeah.
[27:03] And I'll tell you why I didn't get it.
[27:05] And it was interesting talking to you before.
[27:08] I told you the bands that I grew up with.
[27:11] I never got into Akkadaka.
[27:13] Why?
[27:13] I don't know why.
[27:14] And it sounds un-Australian to say that, doesn't it?
[27:17] Maybe they're just a bit too heavy.
[27:19] I like Thunderstruck as a song, I do, but I never really got into Akkadaka and I've never seen them in concert.
[27:24] That's anthemic though, long way to the top.
[27:26] Yeah, I mean I've never seen them in concert either but it was one of –
[27:29] Akka Daka was one of those bands touring in the 80s with my band.
[27:33] There were three things that we could all sort of agree on to play.
[27:37] The Beach Boys, George Jones, the country singer, and ACDC.
[27:42] And, of course, that song, it's a long way to the top.
[27:46] It's like every band on the road, that's the theme song.
[27:50] So I thought I'd just come off tour, so I thought it would be a good one to chuck in.
[27:54] One memory of Aga Daga.
[27:55] Yep.
[27:56] As a kid growing up, and this is a show of my age, we had one of the first albums we got was a cassette, Explosive Hits 74.
[28:06] Explosive Hits 74?
[28:08] Jailbreak was on it.
[28:09] Jailbreak, a great one.
[28:10] So that was a... And he made it out with a bullet in his back.
[28:13] Bullet in his back.
[28:15] I mean, I just love Bon Scott.
[28:16] I mean, that period of ACDC is probably the early period.
[28:19] Yeah.
[28:19] Up to 79 when he died.
[28:21] He was a sort of very smart lyricist and always had that sort of sense of – he was – there's serious songs and they're gritty songs, but there's always that little knowingness about him, that sort of –
[28:34] Little cheek, that little sense of humour.
[28:37] So, Chief, you've got Wide Open Road and Tomorrow.
[28:39] I've got Honeymoon is Over and Joker and the Thief, and you haven't given me a hard time, which is good.
[28:44] And Paul's got Cattle and Cane and a long way to the top.
[28:46] So we're starting to get to the business end.
[28:49] Time for number three.
[28:51] Number three.
[28:54] I don't know if anyone will consider this a classic song, but it's just one that stuck with me.
[28:59] I'll give you the lyric first.
[29:01] And tell me if it's still raining there in England.
[29:03] Oh, yeah.
[29:04] And tell me what you did last night.
[29:06] What is it, Paul?
[29:08] If it's still raining there.
[29:09] It's Little Murders.
[29:10] Little Heroes.
[29:11] Little Heroes, sorry.
[29:12] Little Heroes.
[29:13] Little Heroes.
[29:14] I can't remember the title of the song, but I know the song.
[29:16] One Perfect Day.
[29:17] One Perfect Day.
[29:18] Love it.
[29:19] How's the chorus go?
[29:21] Just one perfect day, you know.
[29:23] You'll be out walking.
[29:25] You just sung, Jake.
[29:26] No.
[29:26] We got him.
[29:27] You just sung Paul.
[29:28] So it got to number 12 on the singles chart.
[29:31] The Little Heroes were only around from 1980 to 1984.
[29:34] This was the big hit that they had.
[29:37] Roger Hart Wells, who wrote it, said it came to him while he was watching
[29:42] the 1979 Margaret Thatcher election.
[29:45] And he was thinking about a girlfriend that had moved over to England and he was missing her and he'd just read a sci-fi novel called This Perfect Day, put that all together into One Perfect Day, which was the song that he'd come up with.
[30:00] So for me it's like it's just sadness and pining and whenever I hear it, I just, it brings back memories.
[30:08] I don't know why.
[30:09] It's just a song I always loved.
[30:10] And let me tell you something about it.
[30:12] Yeah.
[30:12] One of the members of Little Heroes, Paul Bell, is a floor manager at Fox Footy on occasion.
[30:21] Is he?
[30:21] He is.
[30:22] Belly.
[30:23] Little Belly was in Little Heroes, my friend.
[30:25] I didn't know that.
[30:26] Correct.
[30:27] The floor manager at the footy?
[30:28] Yes.
[30:29] Huh.
[30:30] There you go.
[30:31] Small world.
[30:32] There you go, Chief.
[30:32] Yep.
[30:33] Okay, put it up.
[30:34] It's a great song.
[30:35] Put it up on your board.
[30:36] And, you know, that's the thing, that raining there in London, immediately you've got this visual of the song.
[30:41] That's what hooks the memory in, I think, in some ways.
[30:44] Number three for me, if you haven't held someone in your arms, Paul, and sung this song to them, then you haven't lived.
[30:56] You've serenaded with this song, Harry.
[30:58] Yeah, probably after a couple.
[31:00] In various venues.
[31:02] The single only was released in 1984.
[31:04] 84, okay.
[31:06] Then it went into a live version in the 1985 album.
[31:11] But then it was put on a slightly different version again in a 1986 album, and that's when it's popped.
[31:17] Yeah.
[31:18] So I had a few goes at it.
[31:19] Lyric?
[31:19] I know it already.
[31:21] You know, it's already I've even heard the lyric.
[31:23] Yeah.
[31:24] I'll Come to You at Night Time?
[31:25] Yes.
[31:26] Do you want me to say it?
[31:27] Yes, sing it.
[31:28] Throw Your Arms Around Me.
[31:29] Yes.
[31:30] I will throw your arms around me.
[31:33] Great song.
[31:34] Great song.
[31:35] We used to do it.
[31:36] When I first heard it, because we played with Hunters and Collectors a bit, they'd recorded this live to a two-track.
[31:42] It was kind of a pretty raw recording.
[31:45] And I started doing it at our show.
[31:48] It's just for fun sometimes.
[31:50] It was in the set for a while.
[31:51] And surely, I know there's all the lights on you and stuff, but surely people are embracing in the crowd and singing to each other at this day.
[31:59] It's one of the great romantic songs.
[32:00] Yeah, it's a beauty.
[32:01] Yeah.
[32:02] Great song.
[32:02] Good one.
[32:03] I can't believe our man guessed it, just the fact that it was on three different albums before I even started getting out the tune.
[32:08] Well, I knew because they hadn't, it's funny because it's such a hit song, and they obviously didn't think so.
[32:14] They'd just done it, and then they just, it's on a live album, and then they sort of did another recording later on when they realised, oh, this is, we've got something here.
[32:23] From your memory, what effect does that song have on a crowd?
[32:28] You've played in that many pubs around the joint when you're up there with hunters and that starts riffing out.
[32:32] What does the crowd do on that one?
[32:34] Um, always, yeah, big arms around each other, sing along.
[32:38] The one I remember more, um, more particularly is, I don't even know if I know the title of it, but it's got the chorus, you don't make me feel like I'm a woman anymore.
[32:47] Oh, yeah.
[32:48] You know, because it's just talking about having, he's just having a fight with his partner.
[32:51] What's that one, Chief?
[32:52] That's on, um...
[32:54] It's on their Collected Works album, Say Goodbye.
[32:57] Say Goodbye.
[32:58] That's it.
[32:59] Well done.
[32:59] Say Goodbye.
[33:00] Say Goodbye.
[33:00] Because you hear like a thousand blokes just singing that line.
[33:04] You don't make me feel like I'm a woman anymore.
[33:05] It's just pretty hilarious.
[33:08] What's that like?
[33:09] I don't want to sidetrack this too much, but what's that like when you are playing in front of an audience and you've written a song and you've got a memory of the song and then you've got 200, 400, 500, 2,000, 5,000 people singing your lyrics along with you?
[33:25] It must be a pretty awesome feeling to have them in the palm of your hand.
[33:28] A feeling of joy.
[33:28] Is it?
[33:29] I guess, yeah.
[33:29] It's just the beauty of playing live, especially these days.
[33:35] You can't AI playing live.
[33:36] So you've got an audience.
[33:38] They're all connecting.
[33:39] They're connecting to the music, to you or the band, with each other.
[33:43] It's just this experience that's sort of much greater than the sum of its parts, a live gig and people doing what they do.
[33:50] And conversely, when you're rolling in here today and you've got Triple M on and dumb things pops up on the radio, do you listen or do you change channels?
[33:58] Yes.
[34:00] I might just...
[34:05] I'll probably listen, yeah.
[34:07] I don't often sort of hear my song from the radio.
[34:10] Do you not?
[34:11] That's cool, though, Chief.
[34:13] Probably sit there and critique it.
[34:15] Didn't quite hit that note the way I wanted it to.
[34:17] Absolutely.
[34:17] Oh, God, why did we do that?
[34:19] Why am I singing like that?
[34:20] Why does my voice sound so... All right, number three for you.
[34:24] Paul, I've gone three arms around me.
[34:25] Chief's gone one perfect day.
[34:27] Where are you coming in at number three?
[34:29] I don't know if I'm breaking the rules here.
[34:31] No, they're your rules, mate.
[34:32] You've written the songs.
[34:33] It's a song written not by, it's an Australian recording, but not written by Australian.
[34:40] It was very famous when it came out in the 60s.
[34:45] 60s, we're going back out.
[34:49] Puts you out of calculations.
[34:50] Puts me right out of calculations.
[34:51] This version, Australian version, sung by a woman.
[34:56] Ooh.
[34:58] You see, man made the cars to take us over the road.
[35:03] Man made the train to carry the heavy load.
[35:07] Man made electric light to take us out of the dark.
[35:10] Man made the boat for the water like no one made the ark.
[35:14] I like the lyrics, but it's not ringing a bell.
[35:22] I know the melody.
[35:24] Do you want to give me the original artist who did it first?
[35:27] Either artist would do.
[35:28] Who was the original artist?
[35:30] James Brown.
[35:31] Oh, James Brown.
[35:32] I feel good.
[35:33] Who covered James Brown?
[35:36] Too good.
[35:36] Too good for me.
[35:38] Well, it's a man's world.
[35:41] And why I've chosen it because it's a great example of a cover completely reinterpreting the original.
[35:48] Well, not reinterpreting it, but just when a woman sings that song.
[35:51] I mean, it's a man's world, James Brown's version, you know.
[35:54] More powerful for a woman to sing it, I would think.
[35:56] Yeah, it's a bit more defiant.
[35:58] Yes.
[35:58] So who sang it?
[35:59] Renee Geyer.
[36:01] Renee Geyer.
[36:01] The great Renee Geyer.
[36:02] What was that other?
[36:03] Say You Love Me was a big song.
[36:05] Say You Love Me.
[36:06] Yeah, I remember that one too.
[36:08] Wow, Renee Geyer.
[36:09] And I wrote quite a few songs for her later on when we got to know each other in the late 80s.
[36:16] Yeah, she's done some of my most favourite versions of my songs.
[36:22] Give us an example.
[36:23] I just done one called Foggy Highway, Difficult Woman, which became a song that she would sing every year.
[36:30] So why do you write songs for someone else?
[36:31] Why aren't you singing them?
[36:34] Often, you know, I'm a fairly limited singer, so I often write songs that I imagined someone singing it better.
[36:43] I often write songs from a woman's point of view, so I would always try and get...
[36:50] a woman to do it.
[36:52] It would be difficult, I reckon, if you write a song with someone in mind and then what if they get the song and they go, no, I don't want to sing that.
[36:59] Well, that's the thing.
[37:00] That would be deflating, wouldn't it?
[37:02] I know.
[37:02] But, you know, Renee, I don't know if you ever come across Renee Geyer, a very feisty character, but no longer with us.
[37:09] But, yeah, sometimes I would, you know, she would have gotten into the routine of at least a dozen of my songs over the years.
[37:14] Oh, wow.
[37:14] And I wrote one song for her called You Broke a Beautiful Thing.
[37:21] And I sent it to her and she, you know, I saw a sort of like country soul song, like a Solomon Burke song or something, yeah.
[37:29] And she said, no, I don't like that.
[37:32] I don't sing country.
[37:35] And I said, just try it.
[37:38] It's not country, Renee.
[37:40] It's country soul.
[37:42] And she tried it.
[37:43] She always would try it.
[37:44] And then she just totally kicked it out of the park.
[37:49] Right.
[37:49] Put it up.
[37:51] Now, Paul, you do have your guitar there.
[37:53] So any time that you want to bust that out, you go for your life.
[37:58] Is that in here for any particular song?
[38:00] No, just to see if anything comes up.
[38:04] Are you taking requests?
[38:05] I can take requests, yeah.
[38:07] Let's get through them and then we might get a few requests away, Chief.
[38:13] Don't abuse the privilege.
[38:15] All right, time for...
[38:25] I'm a bit devastated with this song There's a bit of a story to this one You'll know it when I give you the lyric Okay The deeper I got into it The sadder it made me researching this So the lyric is So hard finding inspiration I knew you'd find me crying Tell those girls with rifles for mines I'm looking at you great man No Hum it Chief, come on
[38:54] Just freaking hammer.
[38:56] Come on, mate.
[38:57] You kicked 1254 goals.
[38:58] Step up to the mark, son.
[39:01] I'll tell you the song.
[39:02] Bando Solovar.
[39:03] It's a band.
[39:05] Can you just say another lyric or say that one again?
[39:07] Just hum it, man.
[39:09] What's the best way to do it?
[39:10] Does the chorus give it away?
[39:11] Yeah.
[39:12] Well, give us the chorus.
[39:14] Just sing the chorus, Chief.
[39:15] It's a song by the church.
[39:18] Of course, of course, of course.
[39:20] Okay, what's the song?
[39:21] Unguarded Moment.
[39:22] Unguarded Moment.
[39:22] Thank you.
[39:24] Oh, yeah, okay.
[39:25] I should have got that earlier.
[39:26] Written by Steve Kilby, lead singer of the church, and he wrote it with the bass guitarist who was his wife at the time, Michaela Uniacki.
[39:33] But here's the thing about this time.
[39:35] So it gets to number 22 on the singles chart.
[39:38] It's the guitar riff and the vocal melodies.
[39:42] He was actually paying homage to the Beatles, Ticket to Ride.
[39:47] So if you listen to the guitar and whatever, you can see where that's come from.
[39:50] But here's where the devastation kicks in.
[39:53] Steve Kilby hates the song.
[39:56] Hates it.
[39:57] His quote is, it doesn't give me any pleasure at all.
[40:01] And when they spoke to him about it being so popular, he said, I think they liked it in the 80s because they thought they're going to be stuck with Human League and Buggles.
[40:09] They're saying, video, kill the radio star, you remember, Human League, whatever.
[40:12] So he dropped it from the playlist, refuses to play it because he doesn't like it.
[40:18] Although he said, we've been to one or two venues where they said, you have to play it or there'll be a riot.
[40:24] And he said, so we play it under sufferance.
[40:27] I couldn't believe it.
[40:28] That is one of the great songs and he doesn't like playing it and he hates it.
[40:34] Yeah, I can understand that.
[40:35] Now, as an artist, Paul, and there are, I mean, there's lots of bands that are like this and won't play songs live.
[40:42] Is there a responsibility to your fans and the people that have made you what you are with your songs to play the songs that they love, not necessarily that you love?
[40:54] Where's the balance there?
[40:56] Definitely it's a balancing act.
[40:57] I mean, I think – I mean, certain kinds of shows where – if I'm doing big shows where people are coming along, they want to hear something familiar, I will balance out.
[41:09] I mean, I guess most artists will always be more keen singing the newer stuff and older stuff.
[41:14] Yes.
[41:14] Although I like singing my old songs, you know, so to have –
[41:18] So for me to have these songs that go along and you know it's going to work with an audience, it's like going on a job and you know you've got good tools in your bag.
[41:28] So I've got these tools, these songs.
[41:30] So I'm very happy that songs, popular songs that...
[41:35] that audiences love.
[41:36] So I'll always sing them.
[41:38] But you've got to balance.
[41:40] You can't – at the same time, you don't want to just give an audience exactly what they want.
[41:44] You've got to challenge them as well.
[41:46] So you've got to get the balance right between – It's like an education piece.
[41:49] – something familiar and something they might not know.
[41:51] But where you sing songs that you really like but might not be so well known.
[41:58] I saw Colin Hay in New York.
[42:03] And he was three songs in and the crowd, it was an amazing Australian crowd, started yelling out, play down under, play down under.
[42:09] And he refused and it got right to the end of the night.
[42:13] And I'll just say what he said.
[42:17] He said, you can all fuck off.
[42:21] I've made more money from this song than all you fuckers will make put together.
[42:25] and you can get fucked, but eventually played it.
[42:28] Perfect.
[42:29] So I was going to say I would draw it right out to the very end and then play it last.
[42:33] That's pretty much what he did.
[42:34] And then everyone walks away from the concert going, how cool was that when he played it at the end?
[42:39] I get to number two and I was torn.
[42:46] I was torn, Paul, between one of your songs and...
[42:51] And this band.
[42:53] I'm suspecting it went against you by the way he's intro'd it.
[42:58] It hasn't gone your way.
[42:59] Right.
[43:00] However, if you would indulge Chief and I and play me the song that didn't quite get there, it'd be a blessing in here.
[43:13] So I nearly went with, I was that close to going with dumb things.
[43:17] Right.
[43:19] Yeah, can play that.
[43:20] So due to licensing, we can't just play a slice of dumb things here because you've got to protect the artist's rights.
[43:28] However, Chief.
[43:29] When you've got the artist.
[43:29] We've got the artist who owns the whole operation.
[43:33] Could you just give us a little bit?
[43:36] You know what?
[43:37] You can all get fucked.
[43:38] Yes!
[43:38] I love it.
[43:39] I love it.
[43:43] What if I beg you?
[43:44] What if I'll take this out of the way?
[43:46] You mean right now?
[43:47] Yeah, why not?
[43:48] Jeez, you are taking some liberties here, Howie.
[43:50] Well, Chief, when are we going to get the great man in here to potentially do this?
[43:56] I think I'm settled.
[44:04] Welcome, strangers, to the show.
[44:08] I'm the one who should be lying.
[44:11] Lost all the knives out.
[44:13] Turned my back.
[44:15] Heard the train coming.
[44:16] Stayed right on that track.
[44:18] In the middle.
[44:20] In the middle.
[44:22] In the middle of a dream.
[44:23] Come here, Jason.
[44:25] I've worn my shirt.
[44:26] I've worn my wings.
[44:27] I've seen cheeks.
[44:28] I've done all that dumb.
[44:32] When are you going to get to sing with Paul Kelly?
[44:33] Keep going.
[44:33] When are you going to get to sing with him?
[44:35] Want some more?
[44:36] Yeah, I'm not spoiling it.
[44:37] I caught the fever.
[44:39] Heard that old tune, thought I loved it.
[44:42] Hung my heart on the moon, started howling, made no sense.
[44:47] Thought all my friends would trust you, my defense.
[44:51] In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of a dream.
[44:57] I lost my shirt, I pulled my ring.
[45:01] I've done all that dump.
[45:06] That was so good until you started singing, Howard.
[45:08] That's talent.
[45:09] Now, what you need to do now.
[45:11] I might need to reassess.
[45:12] Paul.
[45:13] Thanks, mate.
[45:13] Hand over.
[45:14] No, don't shake his hand.
[45:15] Hand over the invoice now.
[45:17] Well, it should be big.
[45:19] I'll start writing it now.
[45:21] So it came down to that.
[45:25] I had to get in excess in my big five.
[45:29] But you've nearly swayed me now.
[45:30] Another of my apologies.
[45:31] Oh, you haven't put in excess in.
[45:33] Nope.
[45:35] And then you go through the In Excess catalogue.
[45:38] Thank you, Paul.
[45:38] That made me smile.
[45:40] But you've just been edged out by an iconic anthem, June 1988, the fourth single from the sixth studio album, Kick.
[45:50] So, Chief, you haven't put them in.
[45:52] If you had to choose one In Excess song, what are you going with?
[45:55] I did like the Kick album.
[45:57] I thought that was a ripper.
[45:58] I also love, funnily enough, one of the songs that I love best about theirs was the cover, was The Loved Ones.
[46:04] Hmm.
[46:06] which I thought they did just a brilliant version of.
[46:08] I mean, the Loved Ones did a great version.
[46:10] I mean, their original of the Loved Ones was fantastic, but it lost nothing when Michael Hutchins did it.
[46:15] Yeah, I almost had the Loved Ones from the Loved Ones on my list.
[46:22] Are you going with an excess song, just one you would have, a banger for you?
[46:26] That would have been my, that's probably my favourite of theirs.
[46:28] Have you got an excess song that captures your paw?
[46:31] Oh, quite a few.
[46:32] But, you know, don't stop, just keep walking.
[46:35] Never turn us apart.
[46:37] Their older stuff to me was better.
[46:38] Uh-huh.
[46:39] So give me the lyrics.
[46:42] Don't ask me.
[46:45] What you know is true.
[46:46] Yeah, you've gone with it.
[46:47] Please, you've gone mainstream.
[46:48] It's my favourite song.
[46:49] Okay.
[46:50] It's only become mainstream since Port Adelaide started singing it.
[46:54] Yeah, yeah.
[46:55] Two worlds collide and they could never tear it apart.
[46:57] For me, it gets me every time.
[46:58] Yes.
[46:58] It gets me absolutely every time.
[47:01] Michael Hutchins wrote it for his girlfriend at the time, Michelle Bennett.
[47:05] Yep.
[47:05] Who'd be pretty pumped.
[47:07] You spoke, you used the word charisma with text person.
[47:10] Yes.
[47:10] Tell me this bloke doesn't have charisma in spades.
[47:13] Well, that's true.
[47:14] That's true.
[47:15] Yep.
[47:15] And just the way he moved.
[47:17] Did you ever get anywhere near a stage with NXS or not?
[47:19] I saw them a few times.
[47:21] I remember seeing them when they first started out down at Macy's.
[47:24] It used to be called Macy's.
[47:25] It was a pub on Turak Road.
[47:27] And did they have something?
[47:28] South Yarra.
[47:30] Yeah.
[47:30] Oh, they had it.
[47:31] They certainly did right from the start.
[47:33] Gee, those days where you all played in pubs and bars was such a great... You can't get any of that now.
[47:39] It's a tragedy.
[47:40] We were spoiled growing up.
[47:43] Never tear us apart.
[47:44] Almost slash dumb things after that rendition.
[47:46] That was good.
[47:48] Now...
[47:49] Paul, we now need your, we're getting the pointy in there.
[47:53] Okay.
[47:54] Number two.
[47:54] Well, my two was Cattle and Cain.
[47:57] Not Cattle and Cain.
[47:58] Wide Open Road.
[47:59] I was going to say, yeah.
[48:01] You've got to put that at number two, otherwise we're giving away the number one by not putting it there.
[48:04] Wide Open Road, which was number five for you, Chief.
[48:08] Yep.
[48:08] Love it.
[48:09] For all the reasons we spoke and Paul weighed into the conversation and it warmed the heart, Howie, when it struck a chord.
[48:16] Well, it's from an album called Sandy Bourne Devotional, which in the early 80s I would play it over and over again.
[48:21] And there's great songs on there.
[48:22] Estuary Bed and Seabirds.
[48:28] Yeah.
[48:28] Again, they had that sort of, that real feel of the country and the landscape.
[48:34] Before we call a game of footy on Fox, we have a great floor manager, Paul, by the name of Donnie.
[48:40] And he's got some form of app.
[48:43] I'm not going to do this now.
[48:44] I won't embarrass you, Chief.
[48:45] But he reads out lyrics to songs.
[48:49] Yeah, or the song name.
[48:51] Or the song name.
[48:52] We do quizzes.
[48:53] Music trivia.
[48:54] Chief does it before every game of football.
[48:56] I love it.
[48:57] He, I would love to see one day you two go to head-to-head because I think you may have met your match.
[49:02] Paul Adone.
[49:02] His knowledge.
[49:03] You know, Brian Nancurvis would be one.
[49:05] He's good at it, isn't he?
[49:06] Oh, yeah, Rockwiz, yeah.
[49:07] Yeah.
[49:08] Paul, you don't have to get involved in this because before we get to number one in some of these topics, so we did big five sports movies.
[49:16] And before we get to one, you had to throw in a bad one.
[49:21] So Chief and I both have a song that we just can't cop that we're now going to, you can sit this out unless you want to throw an Australian artist, but you know them all.
[49:29] So that might be dangerous for you.
[49:30] I now don't want to do this because we're throwing someone under the bus.
[49:33] It better not be Paul Kelly.
[49:35] No, it's not Paul Kelly.
[49:36] That would be real shit, Chief.
[49:38] If you threw him under the bus as a song you can't cop.
[49:40] But so the song.
[49:42] It's artistic.
[49:44] Well done to all the artists out there.
[49:45] Correct.
[49:46] Some just don't hit you.
[49:47] And let me just preface this by saying.
[49:49] There's a lot of preface going on here.
[49:51] So I like this guy.
[49:53] Okay.
[49:53] He's the front man of the band.
[49:54] Okay.
[49:55] He then became the front man of another band who did some great music as well.
[49:58] And I actually celebrated after a premiership with this man.
[50:01] Oh.
[50:02] Which premiership?
[50:03] And he has a wife that had a big song as well.
[50:07] But you're going to strafe him.
[50:09] But this song will, a lot of people, and it wouldn't surprise me, you know, when we get the listeners, they could have this at number one.
[50:19] Such is the popularity of it.
[50:20] But you know when a song's been played to death and it just does your head in?
[50:24] This was it for me.
[50:26] I'll be embarrassed for you, Jim.
[50:28] I didn't.
[50:29] I didn't.
[50:30] Well, I can give you the opening line.
[50:32] Go on.
[50:33] Now listen.
[50:34] Yeah.
[50:35] Who is stepping out?
[50:37] Eagle Rock.
[50:37] Yeah.
[50:38] It's just Ross Wilson.
[50:39] Ross Wilson.
[50:40] Who went on to do Mono Rock.
[50:41] Classic.
[50:42] And Danny.
[50:44] And Daddy, cool, I had some good songs.
[50:46] That song, it's very much like Bob Seger, Old Time Rock and Roll.
[50:51] When I hear that, for whatever reason, rubbed me the wrong way, heard it too often when it was on, and then I just, they're really popular big songs that I don't like.
[50:59] The great man's in shock.
[51:02] Well, I get that with Hotel California.
[51:04] Okay, there you go.
[51:05] I've heard it, I don't.
[51:07] I'd be quite happy if I never heard that song again in my life.
[51:09] That's exactly what we're saying.
[51:11] Okay.
[51:11] Well, I have that song as well.
[51:13] But this song, I don't know this dude, obviously.
[51:16] This was a worldwide hit and it was selected.
[51:19] It came out in 1978.
[51:21] In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Film and Science Archives of Australia.
[51:30] This song gives me the creeps.
[51:35] And if I hear it on the radio, I have to completely turn it off.
[51:38] First line, Chief, is the title of the song.
[51:42] Second line, everywhere I look around.
[51:45] Really?
[51:45] John Paul Young.
[51:47] Love is in the air.
[51:49] JPY.
[51:50] Everywhere I look around, I freaking... You love that.
[51:53] I hate that song.
[51:55] It's... See, I grew up with Yesterday's Hero and those sort of songs, but he had some great songs.
[52:01] I'm sure he's a star.
[52:02] I just can't cop that song.
[52:03] Musically, it's so beautiful the way it keeps ascending.
[52:07] Squeaky, you're scaring me.
[52:08] Cass, give me a thumbs down.
[52:10] I'll get some real negativity from the production team.
[52:14] Guys have put a couple of great songs into the bend.
[52:16] Do you realise that one?
[52:17] Eagle Rock and Love Is In There.
[52:19] Love Is In There probably gets played at lots of weddings, Howie.
[52:21] Oh, jeep.
[52:22] And you've just destroyed it.
[52:23] Good luck to everyone out there that likes it.
[52:25] Okay, we get to number one.
[52:33] Chief's number one.
[52:34] All right, Chiefie, your number one Big Five Australian song.
[52:37] Are you going to give your apologies now or not?
[52:38] Can we do our apologies now before we unveil the number one?
[52:41] Okay.
[52:42] So I've got a long list.
[52:43] We don't need the full story of them, just what are they?
[52:44] No, just the songs.
[52:45] Okay.
[52:46] Oh No, Not You Again, Aussie Crawl.
[52:48] Yep.
[52:49] Love it.
[52:50] Deep Water, Richard Clapton.
[52:52] Yeah.
[52:52] Absolutely love it.
[52:54] We Can Get Together, The Flowers Before They Became, Ice House, Are You Old Enough by Dragon, Just Like Firewood, The Saints.
[53:02] Stevie Wright, Evie, one, two, and three.
[53:04] He's eclectic.
[53:05] I told you.
[53:05] The Ship Song, Nick Cave, extraordinary.
[53:08] The Ship Song?
[53:09] Yes.
[53:10] Come sail your ships around me.
[53:13] Come sail your ships around me.
[53:14] I don't know that one.
[53:15] And let your hair hang down.
[53:17] Oh, okay.
[53:18] Women in Uniform, Skylips.
[53:20] Oh, yeah.
[53:20] The late, great Shirley Straughan.
[53:22] Rest in peace, who was a Hawthorne man.
[53:24] Do you know Coming Home, The Radiators, which I love?
[53:27] I've never heard of The Radiators.
[53:29] Well, I remember playing The Playroom with The Radiators back in the day.
[53:32] Yeah, if you would have.
[53:33] That's where I saw them.
[53:34] Yeah.
[53:35] Now, one song when I listened to it, I don't love the song and I was never big on the guy that sung it.
[53:43] But when you listen to him sing it, you go, my God, that's amazing.
[53:46] And that's You're the Voice, John Farnham.
[53:49] His voice in that song is spectacular.
[53:53] Matt Hill, who commentates the footy wheels on Thursday night, I was discussing with it last week.
[53:58] He said, if you do not put John Farnham, You're the Voice in, I may refuse to call another game of football with you.
[54:03] Correct.
[54:03] He was very passionate about that one.
[54:05] A couple of modern songs.
[54:06] You've got a few.
[54:07] A couple of modern songs.
[54:08] Brother by Matt Corby.
[54:11] Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap.
[54:12] Good tune.
[54:13] Absolutely love it.
[54:14] And finally, another guy who I'm not into, but Battle Scars by Guy Sebastian I think is a fantastic song.
[54:19] Eclectic, Paul.
[54:20] And the one that I left out that I thought you would have laughed when I put it in, Aloha Stephen Dano, Radio Birdman.
[54:27] Yeah, Radio Birdman.
[54:29] Love it.
[54:29] What is that?
[54:31] What is it?
[54:31] It's got a bit of the Hawaii Five-0 theme music.
[54:34] You've got to listen to it.
[54:35] It's hilarious.
[54:36] Do you know the song?
[54:37] Yeah, and I know the band.
[54:38] Yeah, it's a very sort of hard drive.
[54:40] Are they all your apologies?
[54:41] They're my apologies.
[54:41] Shall I give my apologies now?
[54:42] Yes, please.
[54:43] Okay, my apologies.
[54:45] I'm not really into Nick Cave.
[54:47] He's a bit dark for me.
[54:48] But he sings a song that's been sung over the years.
[54:51] Which one?
[54:52] Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
[54:54] It's called Stagger Lee.
[54:55] Stagger Lee.
[54:55] It is one of the great songs.
[54:57] Yep.
[54:58] It was back in 32 when times were hardy.
[55:00] Colt 45 and a deck of cards.
[55:01] The Weeping Song, Lucy.
[55:02] There's so many great songs.
[55:04] Red Right Ham.
[55:05] Nobody's baby now.
[55:06] Yeah.
[55:06] So that was a hard leave for me.
[55:08] I said straight lines.
[55:10] I wanted to get Powderfinger in there.
[55:12] My favourite of theirs, which Anthony Mundine stars in the film clip, is Like a Dog.
[55:16] Yep.
[55:18] My man, Colin Hay, Down Under, nearly put that in.
[55:22] Anthemic.
[55:22] Overkill.
[55:23] I would have put Overkill.
[55:25] Overkill?
[55:25] Yeah.
[55:26] Good tune.
[55:26] These two, one, well, two bands that it hurt me to leave out.
[55:32] This one, to not put a Hoodoo Guru song in there makes me a little bit ill.
[55:35] Which would you have got?
[55:36] What's your favourite?
[55:37] What's my scene?
[55:39] I would have gone Bittersweet.
[55:39] I love Bittersweet.
[55:40] What do you have, Bittersweet?
[55:42] Where did you go?
[55:42] You bittersweet or they had so many good songs.
[55:45] But we couldn't spit them.
[55:47] I also like Death Defying.
[55:48] Yep, yep.
[55:49] And the other artist who has been prolific, Johnny Diesel when he was with the Injectors.
[55:56] And the Injectors, yeah.
[55:57] Crying shame.
[55:58] Yeah.
[55:59] Quality, quality song, don't you know.
[56:01] Okay.
[56:02] But, Chief, we get to your number one Australian song of all time.
[56:08] Yep.
[56:09] There will be a lot of songs by this band that people will probably have on their list.
[56:14] They probably wouldn't have this one.
[56:15] Okay.
[56:17] But I can't give you the first line because that has the name of the song in it.
[56:20] Okay.
[56:20] I'm not good at these.
[56:21] But one short line should give it to you.
[56:22] Mm-hmm.
[56:23] Pack my bags to no place in no time, no day.
[56:27] Mm-hmm.
[56:29] Are we going to get you to hunt?
[56:30] You and I, we used each other's shoulder.
[56:33] Still so young but somehow so much older.
[56:35] Yeah.
[56:36] How can I go home and not get blown away?
[56:39] Oh, my God.
[56:40] Paul, what's happened to you?
[56:41] I don't know.
[56:41] I don't know.
[56:43] Sing it, man.
[56:43] I fit a wall.
[56:45] Just sing it.
[56:46] I just gave you the whole first verse.
[56:48] Sing the chorus.
[56:49] I'm not singing it.
[56:50] Chief, turn your back from the camera.
[56:51] No.
[56:52] Put your hat over your head.
[56:53] No.
[56:53] Cash, turn the cameras off.
[56:54] No, no.
[56:55] I'm telling you right now, the band is Cold Chisel.
[56:59] Okay.
[57:00] Yep.
[57:01] It's a ballad.
[57:03] Say the words again.
[57:04] Yes.
[57:05] Pack my bags to no place in no time, no day.
[57:08] You and I, we used each other's shoulder, still so young but somehow so much older.
[57:13] Yeah.
[57:13] How can I go home and not get blown away?
[57:18] Ah.
[57:19] Don't interrupt him, you're singing.
[57:21] Come on, please.
[57:22] We can't replay that bit.
[57:23] We'll edit that bit out.
[57:25] When the War Is Over.
[57:26] When the War Is Over.
[57:27] Oh, my God.
[57:28] On the tip of my tongue, sorry.
[57:30] See, this is a song that just does it for me.
[57:32] You get Jimmy Moss and Jimmy Barnes.
[57:35] I mean, when Jimmy chimes in on that third verse, it goes to a whole new level.
[57:39] I think it was written by Steve Presswitch.
[57:42] It was, the drummer.
[57:42] Steve Presswitch wrote it.
[57:43] Exactly right.
[57:44] And Don Walker, another member of the band, he goes, well,
[57:47] When we started, he said, I thought it was just another ballad.
[57:50] He said, then I looked at the crowd when we sung it and he said, that reaction told me it wasn't just another ballad.
[57:56] They used to get an amazing reaction to this song.
[57:59] I mean, there's the Vietnam War context, but it's the whole loss and emptiness themes and it's – They're iconic.
[58:07] Yeah.
[58:08] Yeah.
[58:08] Yeah.
[58:09] Good one.
[58:10] I love it.
[58:10] I should have got that.
[58:11] It's something I can't believe.
[58:12] Put it up, Chief.
[58:13] And we're never, ever, we're editing out the little bit where I had to sing it.
[58:16] You hardly say.
[58:17] I thought he was quite on point, Paul, did you think?
[58:20] Yeah, very cheerful.
[58:21] Okay, put it up there, Chief.
[58:23] Cold Chisel gets a run for you.
[58:24] Oh, that hurt me.
[58:25] And you blokes couldn't get it.
[58:27] That would lead me to my number one.
[58:30] Number.
[58:30] One.
[58:31] Number.
[58:32] One.
[58:33] One.
[58:33] One.
[58:34] We're number one.
[58:35] Howie's number one.
[58:36] Okay.
[58:37] Okay.
[58:40] You disappointed me he wouldn't sing.
[58:43] I thought about this long and hard.
[58:44] Hang on.
[58:45] He's going to sing.
[58:47] I think sometimes I thought about this.
[58:49] My kid said, whatever you do on this show, don't embarrass yourself.
[58:52] Too late.
[58:53] Too late.
[58:54] My heart is beating.
[58:55] Sometimes, Chief, you just got to step up.
[58:58] So in front of an iconic Australian performer, Chief, you got to perform.
[59:06] Oh, no.
[59:07] You've got to perform, Chief.
[59:08] Oh, Paul, get out while you can, mate.
[59:11] Chief.
[59:12] Oh, no.
[59:13] Sometimes you just have to put your nuts on the line, Chief.
[59:16] Oh, this has got cringe factor written all over it.
[59:19] You don't think I'm shitting myself.
[59:20] I didn't sleep a wink last night.
[59:23] Chief, I need to put my phone off aeroplane mode.
[59:26] What do you need to do on your phone, Howie?
[59:27] Well, I just need to have a look at a couple of chords, Chief.
[59:30] So you're coming in with a song that you don't even know off the top of your head?
[59:35] Hopefully you're going to guess it.
[59:36] Oh, my goodness.
[59:38] Now, I am shit at guitar, so I'm putting my nuts on the line.
[59:43] I tried to teach myself during COVID, so I didn't separate my kids from their household environment during homeschooling.
[59:50] Mm-hmm.
[59:53] The scary part of this is the guitar might be the good part of it, Paul.
[59:57] I'm not singing it.
[59:57] Oh, you're not singing it?
[59:58] I'm not singing it.
[59:59] Oh, you're just playing?
[1:00:00] Well, I think I play it and hopefully by that stage you get it.
[1:00:04] Come on, you've got to sing it.
[1:00:05] So, Chief, this is my number one Australian song of all time.
[1:00:11] Good guitar fingers, though.
[1:00:12] Look at them.
[1:00:13] Thank you.
[1:00:13] Thank you.
[1:00:15] I just really don't want to stuff this up in front of you, Paul.
[1:00:18] This is like having shots for goal in front of the Chief.
[1:00:21] That'd be equally as frightening for me as a Hawthorne supporter.
[1:00:24] You're giving it a lot away now, aren't you?
[1:00:25] Here we go.
[1:00:32] I wonder what it could be.
[1:00:33] Yeah.
[1:00:33] I'm going to sing it now.
[1:00:40] Do you want to sing it?
[1:00:41] No.
[1:00:42] They got married early.
[1:00:45] Never had no money.
[1:00:48] Then when he got laid off, it really hit the skits.
[1:00:53] Come on, Paul, sing up.
[1:00:54] Started up his drinking.
[1:00:57] Then they started fighting.
[1:00:59] He took her pretty badly.
[1:01:02] Well, she took both the kids.
[1:01:05] Hang on, Paul, hang on, hang on.
[1:01:06] You can't do that!
[1:01:07] Hang on!
[1:01:08] Turn the page for you.
[1:01:08] Hang on!
[1:01:09] Hang on!
[1:01:10] Hang on!
[1:01:11] Hang on.
[1:01:12] Oh, sorry.
[1:01:12] She said...
[1:01:14] I'm not standing by to watch you slowly die.
[1:01:19] To watch me walking.
[1:01:20] A lot of chord changes there.
[1:01:21] Out the door.
[1:01:24] Out the door.
[1:01:27] Out the door.
[1:01:28] She said, shove it, Jack.
[1:01:29] I'm walking out your f***ing door.
[1:01:32] Oh, hello.
[1:01:33] I'll wait until the chords come around.
[1:01:35] Yeah.
[1:01:38] See what?
[1:01:38] Start the verse again?
[1:01:39] Yep.
[1:01:39] What the hell?
[1:01:40] Okay, and... She went to... Ah.
[1:01:43] Ah.
[1:01:45] All right.
[1:01:46] Go on, Paul.
[1:01:47] She went to her brothers, got a little bar work.
[1:01:53] He went to the buttery.
[1:01:55] He stayed about a year.
[1:01:59] Then he wrote a letter.
[1:02:01] He said, I want to see you.
[1:02:04] She thought he sounded better.
[1:02:06] So she sent in the money for the fare.
[1:02:10] He was riding through the cane.
[1:02:13] In the pouring rain on McCafferty's.
[1:02:18] To her door.
[1:02:21] To her door.
[1:02:24] To her door.
[1:02:26] To her door.
[1:02:28] Very good.
[1:02:29] Very good.
[1:02:31] Life's aim right there.
[1:02:33] That would have been a performance to remember right up until you said, just hang on while I turn the page and then we'll pick it up again.
[1:02:39] Oh, that was pretty cool.
[1:02:42] Paul, thank you.
[1:02:44] You've just lived out my dream with me.
[1:02:46] My number one song of all time was written by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls as a single ahead of their album Under the Sun in September 1987.
[1:02:55] It only reached number 14, but in the modern world,
[1:03:00] It was 22 in Triple J's top 100 of all time in 2025.
[1:03:04] Have a guess, realistically, how many times in Australia that song has been streamed.
[1:03:13] Oh, I don't understand that space.
[1:03:15] I wouldn't even know.
[1:03:17] Your song, from what I can tell, has been streamed to Hordor more than 48 million times.
[1:03:27] And how much do you get for each streaming?
[1:03:29] $3.
[1:03:29] For three of a cent.
[1:03:31] Yeah.
[1:03:34] 40 million, Chief.
[1:03:36] He's worth $1,040.
[1:03:37] I wish it was $3.
[1:03:38] No, it's $0.7.
[1:03:39] So was there any fact to the story?
[1:03:41] Was it just a made-up story based on a true story?
[1:03:45] It's a made-up story, but I was reading an author at the time, an American short story author called Raymond Carver, and he had – and that was an influence on the songs I was writing where you sort of tell a story but –
[1:04:00] often his stories would finish just at the point where they were about, something was about to happen.
[1:04:04] So I wrote the song where, the song ends at the point where something's about to happen.
[1:04:10] He gets home.
[1:04:12] He makes his way back home.
[1:04:12] He's done his time.
[1:04:14] He's cleaned himself up.
[1:04:15] He's getting back home to his wife and children.
[1:04:17] But you don't know what's going to happen.
[1:04:19] So the song ends with him.
[1:04:21] In a taxi on the way to the house.
[1:04:23] So I have a question for you, and I've long wondered what this is.
[1:04:27] She went to her brother's, got a little bar work.
[1:04:30] He went to the buttery, stayed about a year.
[1:04:32] What's the buttery?
[1:04:33] It's a rehab place up near Lismore in Northern Rivers for drug and alcohol addiction.
[1:04:39] Right.
[1:04:41] And Chief asked you, when you put that song out,
[1:04:47] Chief asked you whether you know you've got a banger or not.
[1:04:49] Did you have any indication?
[1:04:51] Like 48 million streams, that's in Australia alone.
[1:04:54] Did you have any idea how that would capture the people and why do you think it did capture people?
[1:05:01] Yeah, we thought that was going to work.
[1:05:05] And that was a time when it was really important that your songs got played on the radio.
[1:05:08] It's sort of changed now because people get their music all different ways.
[1:05:12] But it was a radio, you know, we thought it was a good song for the radio.
[1:05:16] I think it's a very distinctive guitar sound by Steve Connolly, who played guitar for me for seven years.
[1:05:23] post the distinctive sound I just brought to the table, Chief.
[1:05:26] Sorry, Paul, go on.
[1:05:27] No, the solo.
[1:05:30] I didn't get that, Chief.
[1:05:30] I was ready to do the solo.
[1:05:32] So, yeah, Steve Conley played all through from the mid-'80s with me till the comedy record.
[1:05:41] So we did five records together in about six or seven years.
[1:05:45] He died in 1995.
[1:05:46] But those guitar lines that he wrote for those songs, we still play them.
[1:05:51] It's like they're really sort of...
[1:05:53] For me, they're like carved in stone.
[1:05:55] And he didn't do anything fancy.
[1:05:56] He wasn't like a shredder or a real flashy guitarist.
[1:05:59] He liked to sort of get the melody of the song and then sort of just twist it a little, but just make his own sound.
[1:06:04] And he had a sort of very distinctive sound.
[1:06:06] So I think he's, you know, one of our great guitarists.
[1:06:10] I know he's influenced a lot of people down the line.
[1:06:13] Very cool.
[1:06:14] I want to know how much did you practice that last night?
[1:06:18] Chief.
[1:06:19] A hundred, a thousand?
[1:06:20] No, like only like five.
[1:06:23] I can imagine.
[1:06:24] The panic in me driving up today, I'm glad I did it, Paul, and thank you because that is, well, that is so far the highlight of my 2026, me butchering the guitar and you singing one of your iconic songs.
[1:06:36] It was my pleasure, Howie.
[1:06:37] Thank you, mate.
[1:06:37] It means a lot to me and it's something that will stay with me for a long time.
[1:06:41] And I thought he sounded good, but the guitar probably didn't.
[1:06:43] Next time learn the chords.
[1:06:44] Yeah, well, I knew them, but I just didn't have the confidence to go with them, Paul, to be honest.
[1:06:51] I just, once I got to the E minor, I was getting a bit concerned.
[1:06:53] Yeah, turn the page.
[1:06:54] I mean, come on.
[1:06:55] We've still got one more big drum roll, Maui, and I'm looking forward to this.
[1:06:58] This is what people are coming for.
[1:06:59] It is time for...
[1:07:08] All right, it's an artist I've worked with.
[1:07:11] I've chosen it because I think it's a very important song.
[1:07:14] I thought when it first came out in 1991, it opened people's eyes to some of the things that had happened in this country.
[1:07:24] Many people were surprised.
[1:07:25] They had said, I had no idea this was going on.
[1:07:28] And I'll quote you some lyrics from the song.
[1:07:31] Yeah.
[1:07:33] One dark day in Framingham came and didn't give a damn.
[1:07:36] My mother cried, go get your dad.
[1:07:38] He came running, fighting mad.
[1:07:41] Mother's tears were falling down.
[1:07:43] Dad stayed up and stood his ground.
[1:07:45] He said, you touch my kids, you fight me.
[1:07:48] And that took us from our family.
[1:07:49] Wow.
[1:07:51] Gee, it's deep.
[1:07:51] I like the lyrics, but I'm not getting it.
[1:07:54] They took the children away.
[1:07:57] Ah, they took the children away.
[1:07:58] Snatched from their mother's breast.
[1:08:00] Said it was for the best.
[1:08:02] Took them away.
[1:08:04] And Briggs did a really great reinterpretation of it maybe five or ten years ago.
[1:08:09] So about the Stolen Generation?
[1:08:11] Yeah.
[1:08:12] Right.
[1:08:12] And the song is?
[1:08:12] They Took the Children Away?
[1:08:13] They Took the Children Away by Archie Roach.
[1:08:15] Archie Roach.
[1:08:16] Archie Roach.
[1:08:16] That's who I couldn't get.
[1:08:18] Oof, whack it up on your board.
[1:08:20] Why?
[1:08:20] Because of the historical... Oh, you've actually written a... Yeah.
[1:08:23] Because of the historical significance?
[1:08:25] Beautiful storytelling, vivid imagery, telling a story that not many people had heard.
[1:08:31] I worked with Archie on that first record, produced it.
[1:08:33] It was the first song of Archie's I ever heard.
[1:08:38] What year would that have been around?
[1:08:40] 91.
[1:08:40] 91, okay.
[1:08:41] But he was singing it...
[1:08:44] He was singing it on some TV program, some independent sort of TV channel.
[1:08:52] And Steve Connolly, who I mentioned before, said, you've got to hear this guy, this Archie wrote, they took the children away.
[1:08:57] So...
[1:08:59] Really interesting story because he wrote that song because he was taken away as a young kid.
[1:09:05] Grew up with a foster family that were really good to him.
[1:09:07] So that was all good.
[1:09:08] He loved them.
[1:09:10] The Coxes, Scottish couple.
[1:09:13] But then sort of as a young man sort of...
[1:09:16] Then he found out that his mother and father were alive.
[1:09:25] So he had a period of being angry and then hit the streets and then got into drinking and so on.
[1:09:33] Worked his way through it, met his wife Ruby, who was also on the streets drinking, and they sort of got themselves together, cleaned themselves up.
[1:09:41] And he wrote that song.
[1:09:43] And he tells a story about...
[1:09:45] Once he started singing that song and other Indigenous people coming up to him saying, oh, this happened to me too.
[1:09:52] And it's the first time I actually sort of realised that it happened to a whole lot of people, not just him.
[1:09:58] Love it.
[1:09:59] Big.
[1:10:00] We get to this stage of the show and we need to get the audience vote.
[1:10:05] So people were able to fill out a survey, Paul, and Cass has the details, which the Chief and I typically work through as to what...
[1:10:13] I'm looking at your top three, Howie, thinking you've gone very mainstream.
[1:10:16] The people will be all over you.
[1:10:17] Okay.
[1:10:17] Give Paul the... Give Paul the number one.
[1:10:19] Yep, Paul can have the number one.
[1:10:20] Don't open that yet, Paul.
[1:10:22] Don't open it yet.
[1:10:23] This is from the audience vote.
[1:10:24] Oh, gee, we're up to over 4,500 votes now.
[1:10:27] Coming in with 11.7% of the vote, men at work land down under.
[1:10:35] Coming in at number four with 12.5% of the vote by some dude called Paul Kelly to her door.
[1:10:44] Wow.
[1:10:45] Number four.
[1:10:47] You happy or disappointed?
[1:10:49] Top five, I take that any time.
[1:10:51] Correct.
[1:10:51] 100%.
[1:10:52] Coming in at number three with 14.1% from in excess, never tear us apart.
[1:10:59] Coming in at number two with 19% of the vote
[1:11:03] Johnny Farnham, You're the Voice.
[1:11:05] I knew that would be there.
[1:11:07] Knew it.
[1:11:07] I didn't even consider that and I probably should have.
[1:11:09] Nah, it's- An anthemic song.
[1:11:11] It's an incredible singing performance.
[1:11:13] A huge concert coming up where people were singing his songs, I noticed.
[1:11:16] Yeah.
[1:11:17] Which is going to be absolutely enormous.
[1:11:19] So, Paul, you have, from our audience votes of, I don't know, 4,600-
[1:11:25] With 21.4% of the vote, but I don't know what the song is.
[1:11:28] I only know that it got 21.4% of the vote.
[1:11:29] Am I opening the envelope now?
[1:11:31] Open the envelope now.
[1:11:32] Our audience went with...
[1:11:36] Kaysan, Cold Chisel.
[1:11:37] Kaysan, Cold Chisel.
[1:11:38] I told you Cold Chisel would be there and I knew that would be the song, but I just prefer the... Kaysan, Cold Chisel.
[1:11:44] So they voted for a song that we didn't actually choose?
[1:11:47] They did.
[1:11:48] Often happens on this show.
[1:11:49] It's got to be said, Paul.
[1:11:50] So some reasons...
[1:11:51] But that's the great thing about preferences.
[1:11:52] You don't have to pick what you think other people like.
[1:11:54] You pick what you like.
[1:11:56] Kaysan came from Botanic Ridge.
[1:11:58] It's just so iconic, probably a bit more personal.
[1:12:00] Just always remember Dad singing it.
[1:12:02] If it's playing anywhere around the country, anyone can sing along.
[1:12:05] Jenny from Brisbane, my dad was a Vietnam vet, and this song reminded me growing up of all the shit that he went through, and it's Barnsley and it's the other Australian anthem.
[1:12:12] We now have three comments about your song, To Adore.
[1:12:16] This is how you've touched people.
[1:12:17] Well, hopefully, because I haven't read these.
[1:12:20] Chris from Surrey Hills, To Adore hits you right in the guts.
[1:12:23] Every Australian family has a story that feels a little bit like this one.
[1:12:28] Sarah from Geelong, Paul Kelly captures real life better than anyone.
[1:12:31] Brilliant lyrics and songs that get better the older you get.
[1:12:36] And Dave from Fremantle, Paul Kelly somehow turned an ordinary bloke's struggles into one of the greatest stories ever put to me.
[1:12:43] I love Dave from Fremantle.
[1:12:45] Very good.
[1:12:45] Very good.
[1:12:46] Hey, just before we finish, you were just talking about a concert for John Farnham where other people will sing his songs.
[1:12:51] Yes.
[1:12:52] I went to a concert many, many years ago, Paul, and I can't remember if you were there.
[1:12:56] I just wanted to quickly ask you.
[1:12:58] I went to a – it was when the last days of Mark Hunter, who had throat cancer, the dragon.
[1:13:04] Yeah.
[1:13:05] And I went down to the Palais or the Palace down in St Kilda and Jimmy Barnes sang a song, Rene Geyer sang a song.
[1:13:12] They all sung dragon songs.
[1:13:13] They had guest singers.
[1:13:15] No, I wasn't part of that.
[1:13:17] And at the very end, Mark Hunter comes out.
[1:13:22] and he sang April Sun in Cuba right at the end.
[1:13:26] Died five days later.
[1:13:27] Wow.
[1:13:28] But that's the only time I remember crying at a concert.
[1:13:31] Everyone stood.
[1:13:32] There were people just openly sobbing because I'd grown up with Dragon.
[1:13:36] They were my favourite band growing up.
[1:13:38] And to see everyone sing their songs and then he made the effort to come out and sing one final song is amazing.
[1:13:43] I just couldn't remember if he were there or not.
[1:13:45] No, but I lived with Paul Houston, the piano player, who wrote Are You Old Enough and April Sun in Cuba and most of their hits.
[1:13:51] Wow.
[1:13:53] When I first moved to Sydney, I stayed with Dom Walker because I'd known him.
[1:14:01] And I broke off the bus.
[1:14:02] He put me up for a while to found my feet.
[1:14:04] And then around the corner, Paul Houston had a flat in Ward Avenue, Elizabeth Bay, just right by the cross.
[1:14:11] And he had a spare room, so I went and stayed with him for a while.
[1:14:13] Excellent.
[1:14:14] Some good people.
[1:14:15] Wow.
[1:14:16] And we watched 1984 Olympics.
[1:14:18] I remember sitting down with Paul, we were watching the Olympics, and Dean Lucan came on and did his thing.
[1:14:23] So we wrote a song for Dean Lucan.
[1:14:24] You can't stop Lucan when he's smoking.
[1:14:26] LAUGHTER
[1:14:32] Yeah.
[1:14:33] He was the big heavyweight, wasn't he?
[1:14:34] The one song I wrote with Paul Houston.
[1:14:36] Yeah.
[1:14:36] And he was a lovely guy, lovely man.
[1:14:37] Just melody just sort of poured out of him.
[1:14:39] Yeah.
[1:14:40] Paul, when you agreed to come in and Chief not knowing about it, and I told Cass and MJ and the team, we're all that pumped, mate.
[1:14:46] It's a privilege to have you in here.
[1:14:48] As I said, I will not forget getting to butcher your song as you sung it magnificently, Chief.
[1:14:53] Pretty cool.
[1:14:55] I'm still a little bit, yeah, taken back.
[1:14:58] Thank you very much.
[1:14:59] Oh, thank you.
[1:14:59] It's a great thrill for me.
[1:15:00] Can you?
[1:15:00] We've got so many similar loves in music.
[1:15:03] You do?
[1:15:03] Would you be happy to give us a song to finish with?
[1:15:05] Yeah, of course.
[1:15:06] You just keep going to the well.
[1:15:07] Well, Chief, when are you going to get this opportunity to have a live private concert with Paul Kelly?
[1:15:11] Well, I hope there's a big invoice coming.
[1:15:12] Well, you mentioned the clock at the MCG.
[1:15:16] Like, we could go with that.
[1:15:17] Leaps and bounds would be nice.
[1:15:19] You choose, Chief.
[1:15:20] I'll be happy with leaps and bounds.
[1:15:21] Could you?
[1:15:22] Is that an easy enough one?
[1:15:23] Uh...
[1:15:23] You got a capo?
[1:15:24] Yeah, no, I don't mind.
[1:15:25] My capo is out there.
[1:15:26] Don't pretend you know what he's talking about.
[1:15:29] You know what a capo, I'm not sure if Casey will recognise it.
[1:15:31] You'll be in the...
[1:15:32] He's like a kid in a toy store talking guitars with you now, Paul.
[1:15:36] It's hilarious.
[1:15:37] Here's my capo.
[1:15:37] What?
[1:15:38] Here he is, Chief.
[1:15:38] There you go, old boy.
[1:15:40] You have a crack at that one.
[1:15:42] So cool.
[1:15:43] See, this is us musicians, Chief.
[1:15:44] It's a language you don't understand.
[1:15:46] Gee, she's a well-worn guitar.
[1:15:47] Yeah, it is.
[1:15:47] That's a favourite, isn't it?
[1:15:48] It is.
[1:15:49] Oh, yeah.
[1:15:49] I've seen some years, some journeys.
[1:15:51] Yeah.
[1:15:52] Yeah.
[1:15:55] Oh, yeah.
[1:15:57] Yeah.
[1:16:01] High on the hill, looking over the bridge to the MCG.
[1:16:09] Way up on high, the clock on the side all says 11 degrees.
[1:16:16] I remember.
[1:16:20] I remember.
[1:16:25] Breathing today, month of May, all the burning leaves.
[1:16:32] I'm stumbling around, my feet don't even touch the ground.
[1:16:40] I remember, I remember, I go leech and bound.
[1:16:51] I go leech and bound.
[1:16:56] Down past the river and across the playing field.
[1:17:04] Fields all in thick, only for the burning leaves.
[1:17:12] I remember, I remember.
[1:17:18] I go loose and bound.
[1:17:22] I go loose and bound.
[1:17:34] to make it out there, Harry?
[1:17:39] I'm just pretending.
[1:17:42] High on the hill looking over the bridge to the MCG.
[1:17:50] Way up on high pluck on the side all says 11 degrees.
[1:17:57] I remember I remember
[1:18:05] I go leaps and bounds.
[1:18:08] I go leaps and bounds.
[1:18:12] I remember.
[1:18:16] I remember.
[1:18:23] I remember.
[1:18:25] I remember Andrew McLeod, 97, 98, grand fightman.
[1:18:28] He can get those passes from Darren Jones.
[1:18:34] Oh, brilliant.
[1:18:36] Absolutely brilliant.
[1:18:37] We can't thank you enough.
[1:18:38] Thanks, Paul.
[1:18:39] My pleasure.
[1:18:39] Thanks, guys.
[1:18:40] It's been fun.
[1:18:41] Incredible experience.
[1:18:42] That was so cool.

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