Yes, well, Rowan, I was trying to be diplomatic, i.e. not saying what I really think.

I have heard it as musical wallpaper on the radio and thought the lead singer sounded like the lead singer in either Redgum or Goanna. Then after hearing it as musical wallpaper a week or so later the banjo sound filtered into my brain, and I was amazed that a song being played on Triple-J would have a banjo in it. And then my two-previous-lives as a teacher and then a librarian, my "why does it have to have the f-word?" response kicked in.

But, in truth, the bit of the song which really rankles for me is the line "..didn't I, my dear?".

1) It doesn't ring true for me at all. There are not many people of the band members' age who would call anyone "my dear", and especially not someone their own age or younger. (I haven't worked out yet if the song is for a child or a lover.)

2) In my opinion, a good melody uses silences and musical rests effectively, and where you would expect a note but a silence occurs instead it adds to the surprise, but also makes the melody more interesting, so in repeating "..didn't I, my dear, didn't I, my dear?" the melody could have lost the last "my dear" and had more impact. Now the line just seems trite to me, both lyrically and melodically.

IMHO, only. I'm interested in what other people think of the song itself, and of the fact that it is #1 on the Hottest 100.

Helen