Friday 19 January 2018

My 'Top 40' for Australia Day

Recent crazy statements by our politicians have got me all fired up about Australia Day this year. That got me thinking about what songs make me feel 'Australian' ... or urge me to get up and dance, or sing along, with an Australian performer.

Accordingly, on a 'Top 40' degree Celsius day in Melbourne I chose to while away a few hours by trawling through my CDs and LPs (yes!) to create my own personal 'Top 40' list of favourite songs by Australians ... even if expatriate ... or songs about Australia. Some of these songs take me back to the innocent rosy glow of my childhood.

Excluding the National Anthem Advance Australia Fair, here they are, grouped in alphabetical order by themes. Would these songs make your list too? If you don't recognise some, you can probably catch them on Youtube. 
    Australia Day 
  1. Aeroplane Jelly Song, Advertisement 
  2. Bapa, Geoffrey Gurumul Yunupingu 
  3. Bound for Botany Bay, Lionel Long 
  4. From Little Things Big Things Grow, Paul Kelly & Kev Carmody 
  5. Great Southern Land, Icehouse 
  6. Happy Little Vegemites, Advertisement 
  7. Home Among the Gum Trees, John Williamson 
  8. I am Australian, The Seekers 
  9. I Still Call Australia Home, Peter Allen 
  10. I’ve Been Everywhere, Lucky Starr 
  11. Little Boy Lost, Jimmy Little 
  12. Pub with no Beer, Slim Dusty 
  13. Song of Australia, Peter Dawson 
  14. Waltzing Matilda, Peter Dawson 

  15. ANZAC Day 
  16. And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Eric Bogle 
  17. Is ‘E an Aussie, Lizzie Is ‘E?, Flotsam and Jetsam 
  18. Khe Sanh, Cold Chisel (Jimmy Barnes) 
  19. The Road to Gundagai, Slim Dusty 

  20. Christmas Day 
  21. Orana, Bombala Rotary Community Choir 
  22. The North Wind, Bombala Rotary Community Choir 

  23. Sing and Dance Songs 
  24. All out of Love, Air Supply 
  25. Beds are Burning, Midnight Oil 
  26. Don’t Dream It’s Over, Crowded House 
  27. Down Under, Men at Work 
  28. Eagle Rock, Daddy Cool 
  29. Friday on my Mind, Easybeats 
  30. Funky Town, Pseudo Echo 
  31. Hanging Five, The Delltones 
  32. Help is on its Way, Little River Band 
  33. Howzat, Sherbet 
  34. I’ll Never Find Another You, The Seekers 
  35. Jive Talkin’, Bee Gees 
  36. Love is in the Air, John Paul Young 
  37. Most People I Know Think that I’m Crazy, Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs 
  38. Oh Boy, Diana Trask 
  39. Pleasure and Pain, Divinyls 
  40. Say I Love You, Renée Geyer 
  41. Somebody I Used to Know, Gotye 
  42. Stayin’ Alive, Bee Gees 
  43. The Real Thing, Russell Morris
Some ‘big name’ performers are missing from my list because I couldn’t think of a single song of theirs that I liked enough to include!

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