Australian Songs of Influence

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 08:22 PM

using google to search Mudcat when Mudcat search doesn't find answer format - "word or phrase" site:url, excluding www or http://

3rd result in Google site search - Oz Rent Strike Song from 30's

Google site search is an alternative search method posted by someone back in the days when Mudcat searching had problems (which it can still have, see assorted Tech threads.)

sandra

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 06:14 PM

Hey Rain

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 06:12 PM

Another song I would be plugging, though again it is not up to me, is
Bill Scott's "Hey Rain" also called "The Innisfail Song"
and I admit I am not impartial here. I did grow up in that part of the country and had the fortune to listen to Bill tell his stories. I remember in particular one about a giant mosquito that picked up a horse.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 06:03 PM

We Met Them At The Door
Makes me wonder about the songs against Patricks I know this is an ongoing struggle but there will be at least one song of united defiance in the limited collection. This is far flung and would not be instead of such a selection -
Do you reckon ACDC's "Jailbreak" has anything akin to this spirit of defiance?
"All in the name of Liberty"
Probably more like Ned Kelly

I think it was a Young Ones skit where two convicts talking to each other on the docks in Southhampton or wherever they departed in transport for Australia and one says to the other "Yeah and just for stealing a loaf of bread!" and the other after a pause matteroffactly says "Yeah and for all them murders you done."

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 05:43 PM

Thank you both for clarifying that.
I couldn't find the thread Oz Rebt Strike Song from 30s by doing a Mudcat search
Dennis I don't know if it's new or has always been there but just below the box where you reply there is an underlined phrase in blue that says "Make a link ("blue clicky")" which does the html code for you and then you cut and paste it in.

and I see you've already explored Jeff Mack's
I've Been Everywhere

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 12:31 PM

Hi Sandra,

Here is the title of the previous thread, sorry I do not know how to convert this to a link, maybe someone else can help.

Oz Rent Strike Song from 30's
posted 2nd August 2008

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 12:12 PM

John "Jocka" Burns "We meet them at the door" also called "Bankstown Evictions" and recorded by Alistair Hulett and Dave Swarbrick as "The Siege of Union Street"
The song by Jocka Burns was sung arround the time of the Sydney Street evictions is a different song to Alistairs version and preceeded it by decades. There is a previous thread which I will try to locate for you

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 10:56 AM

The Siege of Union Street

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 10:27 AM

John "Jocka" Burns "We meet them at the door" also called "Bankstown Evictions" and recorded by Alistair Hulett and Dave Swarbrick as "The Siege of Union Street"

??

Alistair wrote "The Siege of Union Street" & I'll post the words on a separate thread.

"We met them at the Door" aka The Bansktown evictions recited by Jocka in ABC Hindsight documentary - Forever striking trouble

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 09:32 AM

Sorry "My Bonnie Lies Over the ocean" lies in the same boat as "God Save the Queen"...
and I've been meaning to attribute properly
"Weevils In The Flour" a poem written by Dorothy Hewett and put to music by Mike Leyden

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 09:22 AM

Today I was introduced to "Smiley" by Ronnie Burns which I didn't know of. Two songs that I think will be included are Tiddas's "Anthem" and Helen Reddy's "I am Woman".
"God Save the Queen" won't be there for the same reason "The Miner's Dream of Home" "The red flag" and "The Internationale" won't be there. They were not written by an Australian. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The following is a quick compilation of the songs and composers mentioned so far not including those I've mentioned. I have not included repeats. I don't know if this helps provoke big gaps where you feel something glaringly obvious has to be mentioned. There is no question that the few songs that will be part of the exhibition can offer anything more than a glimpse into the heart of influential Australian songs. However I hope that glimpse offers treasures that encourage people to listen further and think further.


The Loved Ones "Everlovin' Man"
The Atlantics - Bombora and Flight of the Surf Guitar
Bobby Randall "My Brown Skin Baby"
John Dengate's "Cunnamulla".
John Warner's "Anderson's Coast"
"My Island Home" Neil Murray
"The Diamantina Drover"
"The Pub with no Beer"
Men At Work "I come From The Land Down Under"
the dog shat in the tuckerbox
The Chunder Song
Billy Barlow
Waltzing Matilda
John "Jocka" Burns "We meet them at the door" also called "Bankstown Evictions" and recorded by Alistair Hulett and Dave Swarbrick as "The Siege of Union Street"
Jocka Burns "Bubbles" ( Is that Australian?)
Kevin ' Bloody ' Wilson (anything by him)
John Williamson "True Blue"
Peter Allen "I Still Call Australia Home"
Judy Small ("Mothers Daughters Wives"?)
John Schuman - 'I was Only Nineteen'
Eric Bogle "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" and "Shelter"
Tony Miles' "Enola Gay"
"Advance Australia Fair"
SHADDAP YOU FACE (Joe Dolce)
GURINDJI BLUES (Ted Egan)
SUN ARISE (Rolf Harris and Harry Butler)
FROM LITTLE THINGS, BIG THINGS GROW (Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly)
Helen Palmer "The Ballad of 1891"
Reedy River music by Chris Kempster
Whaling Songs of Harry Robertson - Queensland Whalers?
Goanna - 'Solid Rock'
Wendy Joseph's 'Year of the Drum'
Ted Egan 'The Drover's Boy'
Midnight Oil - 'Beds Are Burning'
Goanna - 'Solid Rock'
Paul Kelly ( virtually everything he wrote ?)
Kev Carmody (ditto - "Cannot buy my soul"?)
Icehouse - 'Great Southern Land'
Cold Chisel - 'Khe Sanh' (disputed as a misrepresentation)
Weddings Parties Anything - 'Scorn of the Women'
My Bonnie Lies Over the ocean

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 12:53 AM

Thanks Joy,
I haven't yet had a chance to talk with Rob Willis personally. I have listened to some of his fantastic collection in the NLA. John Meredith's collection too is important in fact all the oral histories where people sing and discuss songs are relevant. The Chris Kempster conversation is great - and much of this is online.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Joybell
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 12:35 AM

I'm afraid I'm still confused. Probably it's me. I read the official statement and all too.
Anyway I'm wondering if this collection is to draw on the studies of song and folklore collectors both current and past? Rob Willis, for example, studies a wide range of songs, from many cultures, that are sung/were sung here in Australia. Rob's recordings contain interviews where singers give their thoughts about the songs they sing. Surely here is an ideal place to start.
But then we're not talking start are we?
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 08:50 PM

please excuse my previous typos

re Freda's   The Atlantics
When I was a kid growing up at Mena Creek, near Innisfail, at our local primary school it was not cool if you couldn't tap out the drum beat to Wipeout - faster than the original. Not as easy at it sounds, unless you're a drummer. Influenced me but no words to that except for "Wipeout" so that one won't be included in this selection.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,political and influential
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 08:17 PM

In response to Freda's last post:
This is the ongoing discussion I have with the curator
"The content of the music may not be political, but its impact was, and it is a truly Australian sound". Living Democracy is interested in the voice of the people and that is my research task.
As we are talking about people's voices the boundaries has been narrowly set so that the song must include words - but that still leaves the problem between what is influential and what is political. Are they the same thing? Earlier I mentioned "I was only Dreaming" which doesn't seem political from the lyric content, perhaps it was(?). I don't know if it will be included as influential because of it's enduring popularity. On the other hand, do the overtly political songs of, for example, Midnight Oil endure and are they as influential as songs by The Loved Ones or Helen Palmer's 'Ballad of 1891' that have endured?

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 08:02 PM

In response to JennieG - I think Stranded is influential but what I think and what goes in the exhibition are not the samme thing. I am a researcher not a curator. My job is to search as broadly as possible and speak to as many people as possible about what 'songs of influence' might be. There are people, quite rightly, who think that to limit that to 'Australian' songs, however that may be defined, is not in the spirit of the museum's focus - which is democracy.
It is because it is about democracy that I would not be advocating a song that seemingly celebrates the opposite political spectrum. Perhaps I am wrong. I am a researcher and my job is to present the material as I find it. Of course I have my own persoanal bias, which I am happy to admit, but if you think 'God Save the Queen' has to be there then the curator will hear that. This thread is part of the reseasrch and the Living Democracy section is about people's voice and how they express that.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: JennieG
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 07:17 PM

I have kept out of this thread as it all seems a bit "pie in the sky" to me. We all come from different backgrounds and places, so it follows that we will not all have been influenced by the same music as younger people, or now.

Like it or not, Dominique (or whoever you are), God Save the Queen was part of the background for many of us when growing up - but of course you don't want to know that do you! I suspect you have already made up your own mind about any music that will, or will not, be included. Anything posted by anyone here will be irrelevant to your purpose.

JennieG

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: freda underhill
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 08:49 AM

Try clicking on the song links and listen to a few - what a sound!

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: freda underhill
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 08:47 AM

okay, now we're getting serious. A group that I loved as a teenager was The Loved Ones. They influenced a whole generation with their powerful songs (Everlovin' Man etc)

Another uniquely Australian sound was The Atlantics , with their legendary Bombora and Flight of the Surf Guitar.

These two embody for me the energy, creativity and wildness of the music that influenced a generation of kids. The content of the music may not be political, but its impact was, and it is a truly Australian sound.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 08:29 AM

Yep it's MAD, it's out.
now you can google it but in the next few weeks, more info will become avaiable through the OPH website.
Thanks too Tanglewood for those thoughts. We are in the final days of making a selection and all the contributions will be taken seriously, including God Save the Queen but I'll be lobbying against that one. If you think of anything that has to be included, now's the time. When it comes down to it this is not a top 30,50.100. That is impossible. What is hoped, is to find a way that the songs represented make people think about all sorts of things including what has influenced them personally. Songs have the power to unite and to focus attention. I dearly hope they, OPH-MAD, find a way to make this conversation interactive and so develop these intial ideas by listening to the knowledges that people bring with them when visiting the Living Democracy gallery. That is certainly the aim of the curator.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: freda underhill
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 05:54 AM

It's official!

Media Statement - 19th February 2009

Special Minister of State, Senator John Faulkner, today announced that Old Parliament House is to become The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House on 9 May 2009.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: freda underhill
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 05:44 AM

thanks, Gerry.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: rich-joy
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 06:26 PM

Ah yes, Bobby Randall - who could forget (and not be very moved by) "My Brown Skin Baby, They Take Him Away"????

BTW, George and The Wurumpis were my 85 year old Mum's favourite band, closely followed by Yothu Yindi - not bad for a Perth-bred girl .....
:~)


R-J

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Tangledwood
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 06:00 PM

Dominique, thanks for giving my post some consideration. The plot thickens doesn't it? Do individual songs influence the whole population, specific geographical areas, ethnic groups, age groups etc?

Even an individual changes - I went from listening to The Seekers in Melbourne during the late '60s to Slim Dusty when I moved to Broken Hill. He sang to me of the things I was seeing around me.
You give the example of The Saints "Stranded" significant to you but I don't even know it. I wasn't in Qld during the Bjelke years but I can get a laugh from John Dengate's "Cunnamulla".

Not familiar with all of the writers you mention but certainly agree with those that I do know. Another couple of suggestions: Christine Anu - "My Island Home" may have bought the Torres Strait area into more people's consciousness. Gurrumul has probably done the same for Arnhem Land. Would his CD be the first almost totally Aboriginal language release to get recognition thoughout the country?

John Warner's "Anderson's Coast" tells of an event from Australian history that is not well known. Cloudstreet sing a song about an event from Western Australia's past - a miner trapped below ground near Kalgoorlie is rescued with the aid of a retired deep sea diver. (not sure of the song title and it's not on a CD yet). "Green among the Gold" by Rosalind and Steve Barnes tells of the Irish migration's influence in Australian music.
These songs may not be influential but they do document interesing events.

I'll give this some more thought and see what else I can come up with. Looks as if it will be easier for you to filter the results than for me to try to guess what might fit the bill.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 05:09 PM

Freda, there's a discussion of this song and its locale in the thread, Oz Rent Strike Song from 30's, from August 2008.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Allen in Oz
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 04:42 PM

" The Diamantina Drover"

'The faces in the photograph are faded
And I can't believe he looks so much like me' ...etc


AD 1943

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 04:01 PM

Thanks again Fred I'll follow up on that too. There's too many songs that I haven't touched upon but I woke up this morning and realized I hadn't included
Dorothy Hewett's "Weevils In The Flour".

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: freda underhill
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:45 AM

re "The Siege of Union Street" by Alistair Hulett, I wonder if it's about Union St Erskineville (where i used to live in the early 80s). I heard this street was called Union st because there were battles between tenants and landlords in the 30s, with the tenants forming a union.

Does anyone know if the song's about Union st Erko?

freda

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:27 AM

Helen understood what has happened. I've been taken by surprise with this thread and have only just had a chance to read everything more carefully this evening. I only came back to look at the thread yesterday expecting to slowly join in a conversation. I was bowled over and had no idea the speed with which the thread moved. Please excuse my tardiness in this, it was certainly not meant to offend.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:06 AM

I've been pondering Tangledwood's last post and the best I can do is offer an example. I was personally influenced by The Saints "Stranded". Will that be one of the songs that is meant to make us think about how people have used song to make their voice heard? Maybe. Growing up in Qld in the Bjelke years, that song has special meaning for a particular generation. Does it have meaning to anyone else? It is one of so many songs; the traditional Aboriginal songs of all the different regions of Australia, the seditious songs like Ben Hall, then as Helen wrote - songs by Paul Kelly, Kev Carmody, Archie Roach, Judy Small, and Eric Bogle, to which we can add Bob Randall, Bill Scott, Harry Robertson, John Schumann, Slim Dusty, Neil Murray, Shane Howard, Ted Egan, John Dengate, Danny Spooner, Tiddas, Margret Roadnight, Sara Storer, Midnight Oil. The list goes on.
What about "Treaty" - Youthu Yindi, and "Blackfella Whitefella" - Warumpi Band, Powderfinger's "How Far Have we Really Come" ?
Then there's Helen Palmer's Ballad of 1891, John Warner's Newell Highway? These songwriters and their songs are all important and the Living Democracy section will only ever be able to offer a taste of the wealth of Australian songs. In so doing I am trying to listen as broadly as possible to what people have to say about the matter so that the curators have a good base from which to choose wisely. Your thoughts and suggestions contribute to that understanding.

Except for traditional Aboriginal songs, which are the heart of the country, I haven't yet reached into languages other than English for songs that have meaning for those non English speaking people's who've come to settle in Australia.

One thing that I have been asked to do is to search as representatively as is possible across all aspects of Australia. That is part of what I am learning from this discussion… as well as the way it sorts out stuff like who wrote "The Pub with no Beer". We need to know that. And I'm still wondering where Bondi Pier is located? Did it ever exist except to rhyme with beer?

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 02:54 AM

By the way I love
"nothing ripples out to an empty universe"
Thanks Freda

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Tangledwood
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 10:34 PM

It may have been more helpful to explain that in the first place, or at least once we started to question what it was that you wanted. My first question in the thread -

"Could you expand a bit on what you are looking for; do you want songs that have had an influence, which implies getting frequent airplay and being well known; or songs which have a definite message e.g. political, but not necessarily well known?" -

still hasn't been answered. All I was asking is what you mean by influence. If you don't know that yourself it makes it difficult for me to give relevant answers.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 06:17 PM

I'm surprised by an aggression that is aimed at reading what people have to say on this thread rather than 'contributing'. What people say has an influence on what I can suggest to the curators at the Museum. I would like to add that my personal interest is in contemporary traditional Aboriginal music from the northwest of Australia - eg balga, junba, wangga. You can see by the questions raised in this thread that to define what an Australian song is, is not simple, let alone what might be 'influential'. Does that mean poplular? If so then it seems that one of the most popular songs has been "I was dreaming" by Juncker which had sheet music reprints from the end of the 19th century to the 1940s. But did that song influence people and whose voice was it? I am looking at Union songs, Folk songs which include songs from Italian, Greek, Macedonian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and other nationalities, Protest songs, Country songs and Pop songs. And I am sure I have not covered every possible category here. And I admit, to date, I am none the wiser how to help define this huge area - so I am listening to see what people have to say. It has to do with people's voice and how they use song to make their voice/s heard. That is what I believe this thread may be contributing to.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Tangledwood
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 05:33 PM

" . . .the non google-able site, when it opens, is not intended to answer those questions but add to the discussion, to provoke and question the very things you are discussing."

That sounds to me as if there was no real intention to gain a list of songs, more that we were to be used as part of an experiment. Not nice! Glad I didn't waste time compiling my suggested songs.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Stewie
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 03:20 AM

I can't believe I sent that last message before logging back in, but there you go! I'll quit while I'm behind.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 03:14 AM

Damn! My Norton clean-up once again swallowed my cookie without my noticing. My apologies, Joe.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 03:12 AM

I agree with Joybell, Andrez, Bolton et alia: this is bullshit until the androgynously monikered guest defines some parameters.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Andrez
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 02:25 AM

Frankly I dont care about the gender of any individual who posts to this or any other thread. However I am not impressed when people post and then sit back to watch what happens although I suspect this isnt the first time its happened on Mudcat. To put it bluntly that amounts to "using" people who have some interest in the issue at hand for a posters own ends.... which of course are never spelt out up front for all to see and reflect or comment on as all good academic practice does.

Regrettably the only descriptive word I can think of that even vaguely captures some of my thoughts about this kind of game playing rhymes with the word "anchor".

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: GUEST,Dominique
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 08:33 PM

Excuse my limited involvement in the discussion which is because I wanted to hear what people have to say. The questions raised and the songs are important. It's interesting to see not only what songs are considerred influential but also how people respond to the term 'influential'. I do not have a defintion other than to say that it means more than 'songs of protest'. All the questions and responses I read here are important and the non google-able site, when it opens, is not intended to answer those questions but add to the discussion, to provoke and question the very things you are discussing.
In response to Sandra in Sydney's question. The Museum will be opening at old Parliament House in May. The exact name has not been released yet and so is not easily searchable.
By the way Andrez, I'm a bloke not a sheila.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Rowan
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 07:34 PM

All the best, Bob.
Telstra's copper is about as useful as stairs in a tent around my place at the moment.

And I've been (until now) a silent lurker on this thread for much the same reason as Andrez (to whom "Greetings"); it's just that he said it earlier than I.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:42 PM

G'day Charley,

Wotchya mean "Good-d'y" ... I can clearly hear me pronouncing that "a" - even if the subtler nuances don't seep through the Maine snow! (I might have to push the ... point and start using the more "up-country" style of greeting: "Day-ee!")

Oh yes ... I also need to stay home some working day - and stand over some tech type to get my home modem back talking to Telstra's dodgy copper wires (or invest in a wireless modem and networking arrangements for the three different computers that now need connecting ...)

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Andrez
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 08:53 PM

Lots of things have "relevance" as a consequence of their impact on others. Books, film, scientific research, inventions, art of all kinds and dare I say it songs and music.

The person who started this thread was asking about songs that are/were "influential". That is a different question again and as I suggested above unless the term is defined clearly its a difficult question to discuss in any meaningful way IMO.

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 07:50 PM

BobBolton-

And "Good-D'y!" to you as well.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Tangledwood
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 07:29 PM

" So this is just between you and me OK?"

No worries Andrez, not a whisper to anybody else. :)


But I still don't understand - if the song changed things, why is it still relevant?

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: soulkat9
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:14 AM

I think Men At Work sang this song: "I come From The Land Down Under"

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Andrez
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 06:06 AM

No worries, I didnt seek to embarass, I was just curious. I know on a personal level many of the early Dylan songs were influential on me too though that isnt always a cool thing to admit to these days in some circles. So this is just between you and me OK?

:-)

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Tangledwood
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:29 AM

G'day Andrez, I was the guest, victim of the cookie monster.

You've embarrassed me now - I can't recall what the song was; one of Dylan's I think.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Andrez
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 06:05 PM

Hi there "Guest". Just out of curiousity what was the name of the song that was sung at your folk club from the"folk revival era"?

Just to add to the list above, we could also usefully ask: Who? Who was influenced and what were the consequences!

Freda's note above highlights for me the fact that the tradition as a whole has influenced Australians at many levels and in many different contexts. I have no problem with that at all. Where it becomes harder to quantify is when we try to assess the impact of a particular song on society at large as opposed to just observing how it affects us personally. This is especially so if we dont have some agreement on the meaning of the term "Influential".

If the lovely "Guest Dominique" isnt willing to provide some structure for her own research question then what we are left with are a range of diverse and interesting perspectives on the topic but we are no further along the road to understanding anything about the issue of what songs were or are influential especially in the context of the alleged "Living Democracy section of the soon to be opened Museum of Democracy in Canberra". About which still nothing can be googled!
Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: freda underhill
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 01:58 AM

My son may not think he's influenced by folk music, he doesn't listen to it. But he's influenced by a generation of people influenced by it! and others of his generation are still writing, performing and listening.

Folk musicians have traditionally supported many social causes. In that way their music has been heard by people at the hub of social change. The resurgence of folk music in the 50s and 60s had a huge influence on Australians by affirming Australian identity and culture. Music and art always play a role in introducing ideas or reasserting them in different ways at different times.

Each type of music/art reaches those who are open, nothing ripples out to an empty universe.

Subject: RE: Australian Songs of Influence
From: Joybell
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 09:41 PM

Despite being an Aussie for 64 years I'm at a loss about ideas to post here too.
Words to add to the mix of questions are
When --- Now? During the settlements of the 19th century? During early settlement?
Where -- In the outback? In the urban areas? In reginal cities? On the goldfields?
In whose opinion -- Aussies? Historians? Song collectors? People outside Australia?
About what and whom -- which I think has been covered.
The answers could be as different as -- all the Stephen Foster songs, the songs of the various workers, songs of the folk revival, and rock and roll.
By the way if you go to Warren Fahey's site be sure to take a look at Billy Barlow. Now there's an influential singer -- several of him!!
Cheers, Joy