Australian Songs of Influence

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Nikkiwi
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 04:04 AM

re: god save the queen/king - firstly, I agree wholeheartedly with andrez comments about its relevance and influence to those that fought and died for their country in wars that could have been considered "not their problem"

secondly if you are exploring the shift away from monarchy towards democracy using music, what better starting point is there?


just my 2c

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 10:08 AM

As I re-visit the words to Advance Australia Fair I admit that I really don't like that song. I never learnt it at school so I rarely think about it. I don't even like Sculthorpe's arrangement though I admire him. The final verses are crawling with empire and make me squirm however... that song will be one of the 'thirty' songs that represent 'agents of change'. God Save the Queen wont. It does not have meaning as an 'agent of change'. I realise it was an influential song for many immigrants to this country and... it is time to take truthful account of our colonial occupation of Australia, own up to that bloody history and recognise who we are and where we're going. The voice of Australian people was never represented by the British.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Andrez
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 08:58 PM

This is getting tedious! Dominique, you wont define "influential" as requested god knows how many posts ago so I really dont expect you to define "agents of change" whatever that post-modern jargon means either! As such you dont provide anyone reading this (bordering on tripe) thread with any kind of yard stick to evaluate your fairly idiosyncratic frame of reference. So either make some kind of real effort to elaborate for the rest of us poor "plebs" or just drop this onanistic thread as it is going nowhere fast.

Re AAF, it is a recent (in historical terms) piece of work. As such it has limited impact on Australian traditions. GS the Queen has had an impact regardless of whether you like it or not. I cant stand either but that doesnt take away from the INFLUENCE it has had in terms of Australians and Australians. Which was what you originally claimed you were talking about.

As far as immigrants to this country we all are other than our Indigenous people. By your definition NOTHING that is a product of immigrant culture can then be legitimately included in your list of songs.

Regardless of any personal views, regardless of the facts of "colonial occupation" , the immigrant (non indigenous tradition) has been significantly influenced by British traditions and cultural traditions. It is still part of the totality of the Australian historical narrative. What part of that dont you get?

My year 10 daughter does a better job at analysis than you do in the work presented above. Unless of course you are really a year 8 student with too much time on your hands!

This debate (sic!) is one of the sloppiest pieces of analysis I have seen in a long time. I rate it at an F so far.

Get real!

Andrez

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 12:17 AM

Sorry = we i did 'My Bonnie' in English primary school and my mum sang me to sleep with it.    There fore it cannot be Australian.

I think Eric Bogle's Poor Bugger Charlie is a pretty good song and another one that I can't remember the title of where he talks about 'the gentle people they dispossessed lie sleeping' - meaning
Aborigines displaced by Brits.....maybe called The DreamTime Land

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 03:05 AM

Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Walzing Matilda" will be one of the songs. I would like to reiterate that the thoughts I have contributed on this thread are my own and do not represent the views of anyone else. I have read what others have said on Mudcat and much of what has been written on this thread has contributed to the way the Living Democracy songs have been selected. In the end this thread is full of people's opinions and others can take them or leave them.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 08:15 PM

I have no idea what happened to the rest of this thread. For me it ends here in April 2009 when there was at least another two months of thread. To provide some kind of conclusion to my involvement I offer the following.
In no way does what I say represent an official position as I have well and truly finished my work at the Museum of Australian Democracy. There are too many wonderful Australian songs to think of defining a hit parade and my role in the project was simply as researcher. I did not make the final choice. Thank you for your help and generosity in being involved in this first selection which hopefully is not an end in itself but the beginning of a developing dialogue about the power and beauty of Australian songs.
You may notice there are twenty nine songs because one internationally famous Australian band declined to be included in the selection. These are the songs:

Archer, Robyn    Menstruation Blues
Blue King Brown    Come and Check Your Head
Bogle, Eric    And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Carmody, Kev    Cannot Buy My Soul
Cox, Kerrianne    Beagle Bay Dreaming
De Bortoli, Lucia    [trad] Mama Mia Don me Cento Lire
Hewett, Dorothy and Mike Leyden    Weevils In The Flour
Hicks, Peter and Geoff Francis    One day in October
Hunter, Ruby    Down City Streets
Luscombe, Jack    [trad] Sam Griffiths
Mazella, Kavisha    Love and Justice
McCormick, Peter Dodds    Advance Australia Fair
Midnight Oil    US Forces
Mills Sisters    Waltzing Matilda (Wadjimbat Matilda)
O'Loughlin, Tim and Angie McGowan    No dams
Palmer, Helen and Doreen Bridges    Ballad of 1891
Randall, Bob    My Brown Skin Baby
Reddy, Helen and Ray Burton    I am Woman
Slim Dusty    When the Rain Tumbles Down in July
Sloan, Sally    Ben Hall
Small, Judy    Mothers Daughters Wives
Storer, Sara    Land Cries Out
The Herd    The King is Dead
The Saints    Stranded
Warner, Dan & Dastey, Sally    Anthem
Warumpi Band    Blackfella Whitefella
Wiggan, Roy    Bardi Ilma
Wright, Lola and Ruth Shepherd    The Equal Pay Song
Youthu Yindi    Treaty

You can hear these songs in the Living Democracy gallery at the Museum of Australian Democracy, Canberra.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Liora
Date: 11 Dec 13 - 09:04 PM

Would anyone be able to post the words to John Dengate's poem/song It's a Long Way To Cunnamulla? I've been trying to find them for years and can't.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Dec 13 - 07:31 AM

posted on Liora's other thread Lyr Req: It's a Long Way to Cunnamulla - John Dengate by Tony in Darwin