Friday on My Mind: Aussie Aussie Oi

Today is Australia Day, so I've posted five antipodean tunes from my iTunes library to esnips for the enjoyment of my dozen readers. January is Summer in Australia, so they celebrate the same way that Yanks celebrate the 4th of July; with fireworks, and barbecues with Eskys full of cold VB (since Foster's is Australian for "making love in a canoe"). Here are five antipodean songs from the last five decades (1960s - 2000s) that would rock up any Aussie Day barbie!

From the 1960s:
The Easybeats - "Friday On My Mind" [mp3]
If you ask someone to name an Australian group from the 60s, most of them would name this band. And if you ask them to name a song by this group, most of them would name this song. One of the greatest TGIF songs ever. Its wikipedia description of minor-key verses building up to a major-key refrain reminds me of "Senses Working Overtime" by XTC. I'll bet this was one of Andy Partridge's motivations for writing "SWO".


From the 1970s:
The Go-Betweens - "Lee Remick" [mp3]
This is the Go-Betweens first single from 1978. Robert Foster's ode to an actress. He seems to be more fond of the B-side "Karen", which is on the 1978-1990 compilation and the Sunlight Striped Sound live CD/DVD. Both the A and B sides of this single are on their '78-79 Lost Album CD. This single sounds completely different than the GBs sounded later.



From the 1980s:
Paul Kelly & the Messengers - "Before Too Long" [mp3]
A ton of Australian bands made it internationally in the 80s (the Church, the Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil, Men At Work, Air Supply), but Paul Kelly never really did. He's a Dylan/Springsteen level icon in Australia, still largely unknown in the Northern Hemisphere. This is from his 1987 album Gossip. His band were known as the Coloured Girls (from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side") down under, but changed their name to the Messengers for the US market, since they were neither coloured nor girls. This song came out in 1987 at the height of US Aussiephilia (America's Cup, Crocodile Dundee, etc ) so I've never understood why it wasn't a huge Inxs-level hit.

From the 1990s:
The DM3 - "1 Time 2 Times Devastated" [mp3]
The winner of a coin-flip with You Am I, the DM3 were the brainchild of popmeister Dom Mariani, previously of the Stems and the Someloves. "1 x 2 x Devastated" is their best-known song, their "Friday On My Mind" if you will. This version is from an Australian power-pop compilation CD called Pop On Top!, which has a picture of a kangaroo playing a guitar on the cover. Kangaroos, Australian.. I get it!



From the 2000s:
The Chevelles - "Lost In Love" [mp3]
The Chevelles also have a song on that Pop On Top! compilation, but this is from their 2000 album Sun Bleached. It's always interesting when a band decides to cover another great song from their country's past, but sometimes it's even more interesting when they decide to rock up some sappy Air Supply love ballad.

I might keep doing this (posting five songs around a common theme) on future Fridays if it generates "positive feedback". Which means someone leaving a comment or email saying they like this.

The songs:

1. The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind
2. The Go-Betweens - Lee Remick
3. Paul Kelly & the Messengers - Before Too Long
4. The DM3 - One Time Two Times Devastated
5. The Chevelles - Lost In Love