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19 Sep 03 - 12:54 PM (#1021907) Subject: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: John MacKenzie Well folks another ome, add Dusty to Cash and Woolley. Jeez they're going fast, we all know they've got to go, but hey big man, don't take them so close together. I don't know about you folks, but I'm sure feeling old recently. Lord rest his soul. Giok |
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19 Sep 03 - 12:55 PM (#1021908) Subject: Obit: Slim Dusty From: Tam the Bam (Nutter) My name is Tom Hamilton and I come from Saltcoats Scotland, and I got a phone call from my sister in Australia telling me that Slim Dusty had died. I was in Tamworth at January and the only thing that I was disappointed about was the KING of country wasn't there. However the other artists sang Slim Dusty songs, so I was sad when I heard that Slim Dusty had died. I just hope that The Australians remember what a man he was. I don't know if Joy McKean is alive or not, if she is alive my thoughts go out to her and their family. Tom
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19 Sep 03 - 12:57 PM (#1021913) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Tam the Bam (Nutter) I liked Slim Dusty and I'm feeling sad as well, Three big names Plus Tex Ritter's son John have all died. Tom |
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19 Sep 03 - 01:14 PM (#1021925) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: GUEST,Arkie From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Online PM - Country music icon Slim Dusty dies aged 76 [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2003/s949841.htm] PM - Friday, 19 September , 2003 18:11:12 Reporter: Ben Knight MARK COLVIN: The world of country music has lost another of its giants. First came Johnny Cash, now in Australia, another pillar of the industry, and one whose life had some parallels to Cash's, Slim Dusty, has died of kidney cancer in Sydney today. Like Johnny Cash, Slim Dusty was not just a star but the patriarch in a family of stars. He was also beloved because his appeal was to the battlers and his talent was for storytelling in music. Slim Dusty grew up on a farm in northern New South Wales, and rocketed to fame in the 60s, but while the world outside Australia might have forgotten him, his popularity in Australia only grew over the 104 albums that were to follow. Ben Knight reports. BEN KNIGHT: If you're passing a truck driver on the road today, give them a wave because as likely as not, they'll be mourning the death of a troubadour they called their own, Slim Dusty. Slim Dusty, dead at the age of 76, after 105 albums, countless gigs, and a unique place in the history of Australian music. There aren't many musicians for whom the Prime Minister would call a special press conference. But today, John Howard was among the first to pay his respects. JOHN HOWARD: It was the distinctive Australian character that he brought to country music that marked him out, and for almost six decades he's been an institution in this country and won such affection and renown. His wife, Joy and his children, Anne and David, I extend my sympathy on behalf of the entire nation to them. He was a one-off, a great bloke in the proper sense of that expression and a great Australian figure and icon. BEN KNIGHT: Slim Dusty was born David Gordon Kirkpatrick in Kempsey, in northern New South Wales, in 1927. He grew up on a farm and it was his childhood experiences that would lend his songs an authenticity throughout his life. SLIM DUSTY: I lived a pretty quiet life. I did a lot of riding, I used to ride around the property, up into the mountains, and do a lot of shooting and fishing on my own, and that started me thinking, and of course all the properties had the old wind up gramophones, and when I was about eight to nine I suppose, I was introduced to Tex Morton, Wilf Carter from Canada, Jimmy Rogers, there was Gene Autry, and I suppose it started me thinking. I used to love singing, I started to sing just naturally I suppose. BEN KNIGHT: Slim Dusty began writing songs at the age of 10 and got his break on the local radio station playing on the children's program in the afternoons. He then graduated to the Sunday morning request show, after while, he went to Sydney for an audition and then, in 1962, he had his hit. (sound of Slim Dusty's "Pub With No Beer") BEN KNIGHT: It's easy to forget just how big this song was. It was originally recorded as a B-side for the album, but it made him the first Australian to receive a gold record, the first to have an international hit, and bizarrely for a three-chord country singer, the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to Earth from space. It happened in 1983 when the crew of the space shuttle Columbia played his version of Waltzing Matilda as they passed over Australia. It was the most successful Australian song ever until Joe Dolce recorded "Shut Up Your Face". But Slim was no one-hit wonder and his hiss songwriting has been recognised not just in Tamworth, where over the years he picked up 36 Golden Guitar Awards, but also by modern musicians like Paul Kelly, like Don Walker and like Midnight Oil, and others who recorded their own versions of his songs. (sound of Midnight Oil's version of "Pub With No Beer") BEN KNIGHT: Slim Dusty is easily the most successful Australian country musician ever. Slim Dusty died after a long illness, with his family around him, his wife, Joy McKean, his son, David and his daughter, Anne, who also made a mark in Australian country music. Tamworth will be very different this years without him, Slim Dusty, out in the longyard, after 60 years of music. (sound of Slim Dusty, "Out There In The Longyard". MARK COLVIN: Vale, Slim Dusty. Ben Knight was our reporter. © 2003 Australian Broadcasting Corporation Copyright information: http://abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm Privacy information: http://abc.net.au/privacy.htm |
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19 Sep 03 - 02:35 PM (#1021963) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: GUEST,nancyjo >>I liked Slim Dusty and I'm feeling sad as well, Three big names Plus Tex Ritter's son John have all died. Four, counting Warren Zevon. He died on Sept.9th, just 3 days before Johnny Cash. nancyjo |
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19 Sep 03 - 04:14 PM (#1022004) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Alaska Mike I'm sure he'll find a home among the gum trees, with lots of plum trees..... Farewell Slim, you've been an icon in the Outback and we will miss you. Mike |
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19 Sep 03 - 05:07 PM (#1022024) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: GUEST,Big Jim from Jackson As a relative new-comer to Slim's music and Australian music in general, I must confess that I have become quite fond of Slim's songs and his easy way of singing. I think that anyone who has heard Slim and picked up on the true down-to-earth sound of his lyrics and guitar will know that we have lost a true bush baladeer. |
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19 Sep 03 - 05:24 PM (#1022026) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: kendall Damn! |
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19 Sep 03 - 05:42 PM (#1022032) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: GUEST,Don Stevens I have loved Slim Dusty for over 40 years. I love everything that he ever did. I collected 107 of his LPs/CDs/Cassettes/Videos. I'll continue to collect anything of his. It was heartbreaking when his wife, Joy Kean, passed away. It is even more heartbreaking now. For many years, I have wanted to go to Australia, to meet him. Hopefully, we'll meet someday in that other place. No one will ever replace him, for me. GOD BLESS SLIM DUSTY! |
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19 Sep 03 - 07:02 PM (#1022067) Subject: Obit: Vale Slim Dusty From: The Fooles Troupe Vale Slim Dusty I can't say anything. He said it all - with over 100 LP/CDs. Now he's gone. Robin
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19 Sep 03 - 08:03 PM (#1022106) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Leadfingers Top of the UK hit parade twice with a twenty year gap is a pretty good thing for an Australian country singer.Fond Memories of Slim Dusty. |
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19 Sep 03 - 08:25 PM (#1022117) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Helen Don, His wife Joy hasn't passed away. According to the newspaper and other news reports she was with him when he died. He was definitely a national icon. Even people who didn't really like country music always seem to respect him. He was very down-to-earth and a genuinely nice bloke, from all that I hear of him. His daughter Anne Kirkpatrick is carrying on the family tradition and is well known as a country singer. Very sadly missed here in Oz. Even little Johnny made a tv appearance to mourn his loss, and he has announced that there will be a State funeral Slim next week. Helen |
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21 Sep 03 - 05:38 AM (#1022398) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Tam the Bam (Nutter) He was a legend in Australia, and I would loved to of seen him perform. Singing songs about the outback and the other Aussie stuff, an Australian Icon. Tom |
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21 Sep 03 - 05:57 AM (#1022403) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: MBSLynne My Mum, in Australia, tells me that Slim Dusty was officially a "National Treasure" and that he is having a state funeral. |
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21 Sep 03 - 06:50 AM (#1022414) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Hrothgar What I most loved and admired about him was his unyielding Australian-ness. While other country singers were doing their best to sound American so they could crack the US market, Slim was still the bloke from the bush back of Kempsey. Story, told by Eric Bogle: Slim rang Eric and told him that he (Slim) wanted to sing Eric's song "Now I'm Easy" on a forthcoming album. This was all right with Eric - after all, he makes his living as a songwriter. Then Slim said he wanted to change it slightly. The line he wanted to change was "... just a gentle old black gin" to "... just a gentle old black friend". Shows a sensitivity that deserves respect. He can't be replaced. |
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21 Sep 03 - 07:08 AM (#1022418) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Klavdivs For insights into Slim going deeper than all the superlatives and obits, read his book 'Another day, another town'. Great stories of what it was like ina traveeling country show when everybody did everything, an era now lost with all the celebs. Written in a very unassuming style, which seems to show Slim really was the man of the people that came across as his showbiz persona. |
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21 Sep 03 - 01:50 PM (#1022536) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: GUEST,Cranky Yankee Slim's record of "Where the Lazy Murray River Rolls Along" was the very first Australian recording I've ever heard. This was in 1951 when I was chumming around with a couple of Aussies stationed at Iwakuni, Japan, named Ken Adams and Jim Curran. Ken was from Melbourne and Jim was a Queenslander. I've liked every Slim Dusty song I've heard. It saddens me to know that he's gone, expecially because he was only two years older than me. Jody Gibson (Controller's initials, KING GEORGE) |
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21 Sep 03 - 05:07 PM (#1022647) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Helen The Oz ABC news site has a forum where you can read or post tributes about Slim Dusty You do have to register, but if you can't trust good old Aunty ABC who can you trust? [Considering that it is a goverment owned and run media network they are the *best* at providing balanced and fair news. They are all a credit to Oz as well.] Helen |
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21 Sep 03 - 06:20 PM (#1022674) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: McGrath of Harlow A credit to Australia... I only wish I'd had a chance to see him in action. Here's a link to the DT's Pub with no Beer - and that should have Slim Dusty's name attached to it. Here's a page with an audio of New South Wales Parliamentarians singing A Pub with no Beer on the occasion last year "When both sides of the New South Wales State Parliament decided to support a proposal put forward by the people of Kempsey for a Slim Dusty Heritage Centre". Mind they do a terrible job of singing it! There's a better rendering here - even though on this page, it's described as an Irish Drinking Song. But then strictly speaking it is, the way Sole Mio can be. |
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21 Sep 03 - 06:26 PM (#1022675) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: McGrath of Harlow And that last link is of course the Dubliners. Ned Kelly would have been proud of them singing it. And I'm sure, so was Slim Dusty. |
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21 Sep 03 - 07:16 PM (#1022702) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Bob Bolton G'day McGrath, Well, the Irish(-Australians) can claim some of the credit for A Pub With No Beer: the words Slim sang were a reworking, by Gordon Parsons, of a poem written by Paddy Sheahan and published in a (? Townsville, Queensland newspaper ... I need to check my old Singabout magazines, at home for the full story) 1 January 1944. Paddy's poem was about a pub drunk dry by celebration of the Allied victory in the Coral Sea Battle ... that's why: "... the publican's waiting for the quota to come ...". Parsons came across the words in the '50s and added a few references to his own local pub at Taylors Arm, New South Wales ... and pinched the first part of Stephen Foster's Beautiful Dreamer for a tune! I recently sent Mudcat's Burl a CD that EMI had remastered from Slim's and Parsons' rather worn copies of a home-produced "pirate LP" cut by a bloke who recorded Slim's travelling concert show in 1956 ... in Townsville, as it happened ... on a wire-recorder! In that concert, A Pub With No Beer is sung by Parsons, but it was Slim that made it a hit. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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21 Sep 03 - 08:22 PM (#1022739) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Seamus Kennedy Thank heavens I still have a few Slim Dusty albums. I also remember a video of him from the '60's singing Pub With No Beer, and also a gospel song called Muster On The Golden Plain, as well as a frivolous piece called (if I remember correctly) Nick O'Teen and Al. K. Hall. He was a beaut and he'll be missed. Seamus |
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21 Sep 03 - 09:25 PM (#1022780) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Bob Bolton G'day Seamus, I think that novelty number was doing the rounds at the time ... around my 14th birthday (September 1959) I went to Taronga Zoo, in Sydney ... and there was this bearded bloke singing in the kangaroo pen (and wobbling a sheet of 'Masonite')! It was Rolf Harris promoting his new single: 'A' side - Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and 'B' side - Nick O'Tine & Al K. Hol (Spelling not guaranteed, I never bought the record ... although I did get an autographed "wobble board"!) Regards, Bob Bolton |
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22 Sep 03 - 01:48 AM (#1022878) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Seamus Kennedy Howdy Bob. I stand corrected. It was Rolf Harris doing the Nick O'Tine & Al K. Hol song. But it was definitely Ol' Slim doing the other two. I remember him yodeling at the end of Muster On The Golden Plain, too. It was a really nice song, and I haven't heard it since. This is over 40 years ago, and the video was just like the modern MTV or country music videos. Nothing new under the sun, eh? Ol' Slim was a pioneer in that field as well. All the best. Seamus |
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22 Sep 03 - 03:04 AM (#1022892) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: fat B****rd Strange and sad. I occasionally sing the first verse of "Pub With No Beer" getting odd looks from my workmates. I sung it a couple of times only a few of days ago. Minor coincidence, I know. RIP Slim. |
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22 Sep 03 - 07:10 AM (#1022951) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Hrothgar Day Dawn Hotel, Ingham, North Queensland, in 1943. Gladys Harvey, who owned the oub with her husband Eric, was the one who told Paddy Sheahan he'd have to drink wine and she is still alive - she turns 100 next month. Paddy died at the age of 95 in 1977. |
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22 Sep 03 - 11:16 PM (#1023352) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: GUEST,Big Jim from Jackson The most vivid memory I have of TV coverage of the 2000 Olympics held in Australia is not the record-breaking performances of the athletes, nor the fantastic fireworks display in Sydney Harbor that closed out the coverage, but the final part of the close---Slim Dusty singing "Waltzing Matilda". |
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23 Sep 03 - 10:54 PM (#1024060) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Bob Bolton G'day Hrothgar, Thanks for the extra information about the original poem's provenance. I had thought of posting the Singabout article ... but I felt that wasn't appropriate in a memorial thread to Slim Dusty - who, after all, simply did a great job of popularising a song by his mate Gordon. At the time the item appeared in Singabout (circa 1961 ...?), the gripe was not with Slim, but was part of a general one about the dubious copyright claims, mostly promoted by recording companies, on traditional and "borrowed" songs. (The Bush Music Club had, just about that time, had a run-in over a recording company's A & R man "claiming" copyright on a traditional version of Charlie Mopps"!) Regards, Bob Bolton |
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25 Sep 03 - 11:39 PM (#1024957) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: The Fooles Troupe Slim's State Funeral Service must be the first to have "A Pub With No Beer" sung from the pulpit, and used as the basis of a sermon on beer and mateship. Also mentioned was "I'd like to have a drink with Duncan, cause Duncan's me mate". Also worked in was the Miracle of the Wedding at Canaan, (turning water into wine) and the Last Supper... It was also mentioned that Slim and Jesus were both little men, both popular storytellers that became famous. What's next? Saint Slim? No disrespect intended. I recall a previous famous sermon on Beer, done by Lennie Lower in the book "Here's Luck" Robin |
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26 Sep 03 - 01:44 PM (#1025202) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: John MacKenzie I wish I'd been there. Giok |
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27 Sep 03 - 11:57 AM (#1025642) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Mr Red So it's a church with no bier now is it? |
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28 Sep 03 - 08:55 AM (#1025774) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Sandra in Sydney My office overlooks the Cathedral & we watched bits & pieces of the funeral on the giant screen in the square. Hundreds of people had gathered in the square, many had arrived in the early morning & some had come from far flung parts of NSW, lots were without sunglasses or hats so I was pleased to see the St Johns Ambulance folks had a presence (& they were needed). As I haven't been to a funeral since I was 12, I had to take a punt that clapping after songs was not usual funeral behaviour & those more in the know assured me they hadn't seen it before. I was amused that a Top-40-loud-music-CD-shop in the arcade below was playing one of Slim songs as I went past on my way to work - they also had a stack of his CDs on sale. I assumed they would had to find the supplier (not their usual one) & order them in specially! The food hall on the ground floor played Slim's music all day (a change from their usual fare) & some of the mourners adjoined to the bar there after the funeral & sang for hours. One of my collagues found out last week that one of his friends is Duncan's son! I've just pulled my very battered 1967 edition of 'Here's Luck' from the shelf & started flipping thru it, I'll find the speech tomorrow. Surely Lenny would have laughed or written one of his wonderful pieces on the subject. sandra |
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28 Sep 03 - 02:21 PM (#1025844) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Art Thieme I too am sad to hear of Slim's passing. I had heard of him, but had never, somehow, heard him. At this late date that will be remedied. Art Thieme |
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03 Oct 03 - 07:56 AM (#1028704) Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: WHEN THE RAIN TUMBLES DOWN IN JULY From: Bob Bolton G'day again, When we heard of Slim's death, my Monday Night Session sang a few of our old favourite Slim Dusty songs. This one, When the Rain tumbles down in July, I had always heard was Slim's first song. However, I read, on one web site that Slim had written his first song at 10 years of age, so perhaps this isn't it … Maybe it was his first recorded song … ? (I'm sure we must have another Aussie 'Catter with all those statistics!) Anyway, I did put in a crack about how the song might bring us a bit of much-needed rain in September. We probably can't sheet it all home to Slim's song, but we have gone into October with a few welcome falls … though Warragamba Dam (Sydney's main water supply) is probably still around 25% of capacity! This is a good song to link in with a folk music site – it does not tell much of a story, but paints an accurate picture of this country, where we go so quickly between the extremes of weather. As we all learnt at school, (~) in Dorothea MacKellar's words: I love a sunburned country, a land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains ... Oh well, off first thing tomorrow to The Streets of Forbes Folk Gathering … out in Forbes … where I once stopped by the Lachlan River – in a flood alert … while the town was under a bushfire alert! When the Rain tumbles down in July Let me wander north to the homestead, Way out further on there to roam; By a gully in flood, let me linger, When the summery sunshine has flown. Where the logs tangle up on the creek beds And clouds fill the old northern sky - And the cattle move back from the lowlands When the rain tumbles down in July. The settlers with sad hearts are watching The rise of the stream from the dawn. Their best crops are always in flood reach; If it rises much more they'll be gone. The cattle string out along the fences; The wind from the south races by - And the limbs from the old gums are fallen When the rains tumbles down in July. The sleeping gums on the hillside Awaken to herds stringin' by, On the flats where the fences have vanished As the storm clouds gather on high. (Music break … Part B of the tune … ?) The wheels of the wagons stop turning. The stock horse's turned out to stray The old station dogs are a-dozin' On the husks in the barn through the day. The drover draws rein by the river. And it's years since he's seen it so high - Yes, and that's just a story of homeward, When the rain tumbles down in July. Here is the tune (as I hear it) in Alan of Australia's MIDItext format:
This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here
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04 Oct 03 - 03:23 AM (#1029409) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: GUEST,Lil Aussie Bleeder I have often wondered who 'DUNCAN' was. Can anyone enlighten me? I have a suspicion but am not sure. |
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06 Oct 03 - 09:22 AM (#1030477) Subject: RE: Obit: Slim Dusty gone walkabout From: Sandra in Sydney I'll ask my colleague who knows Duncan's son & get back to you. This might take a few days as he works part-time & I forget what part of the week he works. sandra |