Suburban Boy
I’ve long been a fan of Australian music. I’d say about 75% of my favourite music has come from Australian bands or artists. I thought I’d share probably what was the song that started my interest in Australian music, the classic “Suburban Boy” by Dave Warner’s from the Suburbs.
SUBURBAN BOY
I wake up every morning with no-one beside me
I wake up every morning and my mother will chide me
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
Saturday night, no subway station
Saturday night just changing TV stations
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
And I know what it’s like
To be rejected every night
And I’m sure it must be, easier for boys from the city
I go to the football to cheer for my team
I go to the football to hear myself scream
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
Sunday Session – I’m down at the hotel
Staring at girls that I don’t know, well
I’m just a Suburban Boy, just a Suburban Boy
And I know what it’s like
I’ve been rejected every night
And I’m sure it must be, easier for boys from the city
I just loved this as soon as I first heard it back in 1978 - it was just so …. Australian. I was 16 at the time, and until around this time generally thought the music I heard on the radio and TV was shit (Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, ELO, no thanks, and I was never a fan of the Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, etc types). So to hear an Australian singing in an Australian accent about Australian things was fantastic (Skyhooks “Living in the 70’s” was also around about this time, maybe a bit earlier and it was groundbreaking too). As well as being very Australian in what he sang, Dave Warner also displayed plenty of wit in his observations about Australian life. He was always particularly biting in his observations about people who put on pretensions, and the music industry itself. Apart from “Suburban Boy”, other songs by Dave Warner that I think hit the mark included “Kangaroo Hop”, “Convict Streak”, and his fabulous live monologues “Mugs Game” and “Half Time at the Football” (in these he just tears strips off people he regards as wankers). I did manage to see Dave Warner live in his heyday a few times, and one of the highlights was always these latter songs, which he varied for each performance, weaving current events into the songs (really they were more like spoken word monologues to music, with a chorus every now and then). Very original, highly Australian!
Here for your listening pleasure (and perhaps education if you’ve never heard (of) this song before, is “Suburban Boy”. Enjoy!
Do you have a particularly Australian song that just evokes thoughts of Australia? I’d be interested to know some of your favourites.
I really like “This is Australia” by Gangajang and some of the stuff by The Sunnyboys. Cold Chisels “Khe Sanh” would have to be another Australian classic I like, and “He was only 19″ by Redgum.
ROTFL
This has been going through my head for the last couple of weeks. I’ve tried to drive it out with Mental As Anything, but it only works temporarily, then back comes the Suburban Boy. At least it drowns out What About Me, which also gets stuck in my head. But anyway… I just wrote a post (scheduled to publish on my blog in a week and a half) about my own ‘quintessential Aussie’ song… The Nips Are Getting Bigger
For me the quintessential Australian song is ‘The Power and the Passion’ by Midnight Oil.
“Sunburnt faces around, with skin so brown
Smiling zinc cream and crowds, sundays the beach never a cloud
Breathing eucalypt, pushing panel vans
Stuff and munch junk food
Laughing at the truth, cos gough was tough til he hit the rough
Uncle sam and john were quite enough
Too much of sunshine too much of sky
Its enough to make you want to cry….
I see buildings, clothing the sky, in paradise
Sydney, nights are warm
Daytime telly, blue rinse dawn
Dads so bad he lives in the pub, its a underarms and football clubs
Flat chat, pine gap, in every home a big mac
And no one goes outback, thats that……….”
I reckon that line ‘Too much of sunshine, too much of sky’ really means Australia to me.
I first thought of Land Down Under by Men at Work but I also can’t forget Up There Cazaly - this was an anthem when I was a kid. Suze, I also thought of Khe Sanh.
Growing up in the UK, anything by Rolf Harris, especially Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and anything with a wobble board. I like Paul Kelly’s From Little Things, Big Things Grow, which my kids introduced me to. My wife introduced me to Cold Chisel and I like the Hoodo Gurus, but don’t ask me to name any songs. There must be more.