Redgum - Everything's Legal Anything Goes

The last official release by the band before John Schumann
left, Everything's Legal Anything Goes takes its name from
the single Asio of the last album before it and is a compilation
album with tracks spanning their career.
The thing about is the number of tracks that are previously
unreleased versions of some of their greatest songs.
Also 3 singles that never made it to albums.
Robert sent me these tracks but I have tracked down the
entire LP for this post. For you Redgum completests its
well worth having.

Track List
01-just another moment on your own
(single only release)
02-i've been to bali too
03-the diamantina drover
04-gladstone pier
05-i was only nineteen
(single only release)
06-the long run
(Previously unreleased version)
07-it doesn't matter to me
(Previously unreleased version)
08-killing floor
(Previously unreleased version)
09-a.s.i.o.
10-where ya gonna run to
(Previously unreleased version)
11-poor ned
12-the drover's dog
(single only release)


Asio - Redgum

White door, ninth floor, silent number,
it's autumn on a cold avenue
Telex intercept, he sips a cigarette,
warms up his V.D.U.

He gets his kicks from microchips,
orders from the C.I.A.
Birobugs and lasers, casual surveillance,
boardrooms and communiques

Don't use your phone and don't use mine
Don't speak treason, they're tapping the li-ine

Break-in, stake out, tell it in code
Everything is legal, anything goes
The nights gettin' darker and the ill wind blows
Your life's in a databank at ASIO

Trained in the ghettos of the Lebanon,
truncheons and an M16
Selling skag, a U.N. flag,
now he's trading in securities

Darwin rendezvous, a B-52,
trenchcoat slightly creased
From a coup in Asia, A U.S. Air Force major
Buying dirty laundry, swearin' it's for peace

Infiltration, we'll never know
Just like Chile but the bruises don't show-ow

Break-in, stake out, tell it in code
Everything is legal, anything goes
The nights get darker and the ill wind blows
Your life's in a databank at ASIO

Spook behind the bar, unmarked car,
rumour hangs like stale perfume
Flushing under beds, sniffin' out the Reds,
nobody can feel immune

No names, no stress, no blame, no press
Clean when the dirty work's done
Allocate a budget, special branch thugs
Do it for the practice, do it for the fun

Midnight, flashlight, crash on the door
Rats on the table, blood on the floor-oor

Break-in, stake out, tell it in code
Everything is legal, anything goes
The nights get darker and the ill wind blows
Your life's in a databank at ASIO

This was based on what we knew of ASIO’s techniques
in 1984. They were much more physical then.
That’s now unnecessary: the song’s references to extensive
IT surveillance have proved to be rather prescient.
Incidentally, public servants later impressed upon us
how bulky our own ASIO files were. –Michael Atkinson.

Download Here

John Schumann - John Schumann Goes Looby-Loo

Johns children's album released in 1989 is finely here thanks to
Robert who send me a copy. So in the name of completest Redgum
type posts here she is.
There's a couple of classic kid tracks here and quiet a few I'm
unfamiliar with all given the Schumann treatment.
Thanks Robert!

Track List
01 She'll be coming around the mountain
02 I had a cat
03 The alley-alley-oo
04 This old man
05 Do your ears hang low?
06 Little rabbit in the wood
07 I hear thunder
08 The Fox
09 Michael Finnigin
10 Mum doesnt like us playing the drums around here
11 Working on the railway
12 Mr. Frog
13 Dr. Knicker-Bocker
14 One man went to mow a meadow
15 Worms
16 Looby-loo
17 Six little ducks
18 For the Children
19 MR. Quangle-Wangle-Quee

Download here

Redgum - 24/4/84 Sydney Entertainment Center

Tim from here in Brisbane has inspired me to post a couple of
Redgum Gigs I have. He also sent me some Redgum stuff
I shall sort through and post what hasn't been done yet.
This is a great recording from one of Australia's greatest
bands, I'm forever surprised by people who contact me
about the band, from all over the world. People who are
fans in the truest sense of the word, I often wonder how
much of the local content can be understood by someone
in the US or Great Britain, I guess its those universal
themes.

Tracklist
01 Introduction
02 I've Been To Bali Too
03 Still Life
04 It Doesn't Matter To Me
05 Gladstone Pier
06 Fabulon
07 Spirit of the Land
08 ASIO
09 Beyond Reason
10 Friday Night
11 I Was Only 19
12 The Long Run

Download Here

Redgum - Rebel Chorus

    

Early Redgum is some of my favorite folk music.
It brings back memories of my impressionable
youth, learning guitar and shocking my conservative
elders. This is a insightful look into this
bands beginning days, only 6 tracks which is a shame.
This set was included on a 2 LP set called
Rebel Chorus -A Concert of Contemporary Political Song.
It was released in 1982 by the Amalgamated Metal Workers
& Shipwrights Union. and ditributed by Larrikin.
Other performers on the Lp were The Larrikins, John Dengate,
Dennis Kevans and Eric Bogle. I haven't any of the other tracks
I'm afraid, so if anyone can help.

Track List
01 HMAS Australia
02 Critique in G
03 Off the hit parade
04 Killing Floor
05 Raggin
06 Beaumont Rag


So this is a rare chance to hear Redgum when they were still babes,
also included is some of the funnest socialist humor you will ever hear.


Like the introduction to Raggin,

"This is why were not on countdown"


Raggin - Redgum

Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin RagginWorking man's, it's a living wage
Workin woman, equal pay
No stinking proverty
when you're creaking with age
Ask for these, and all the bosses say is You're Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Commos to a man
Well if that's being commo
It's commo where we stand

Proud black nation gives a long black shout
Strong black art, Strong black mouth
Two hundred years too long to die
But you spit it all out and the white boss cries
You're Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Commos to a man Well if that's being commo
It's commo where we stand

Sixty hours to kill on that endless line
Sixty hours cause you're the factory swine
Long long weeks and your brain drags down
Long long years and your backbone's gone

It's time for Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin

Sell your guts at the boss' price
He pays cash but you pay for your life
There's women and men standing up to their feet
While the boss pulls a knife and groans through his teeth

You're Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Commos to a man
Well if that's being commo
It's commo where we're
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin raggin red red raggin
Raggin

And the intro to Beaumont Rag,

"We'll have to explain a bit, PAC the school referred to in the
song is Prince Alfred College, its about a 1000 bucks a term
and you send your kid there, you send your boy, cause its too
good for girls"


Beaumont Rag - Redum

I am a wealthy barrister
About 100 bucks a word
I've got a plum stuck in my mouth
I'm really such a
Really such a turd

I attended PAC
I meet a wife at the Prefect's ball
I am the elder Fotheringay
And she was Prentice
She was Prentice - hall

I passed my matriculation
Four Ds and a C
Daddy bought be a Mercedes Benz
And he bought me a law he
Bought me a law degree

I voted for Mal Fraser
Was the decent thing to do
Was a vote against the communists
And I hope that you did
Hope that you did too

I love to read the bulletin and watch the ABC
I love to wear by well-informed opinions constantly
All my friends are professionals from polite society
So come and sing the middle class Liberal
I've got a home in Beaumont Rag with me

I bought a brand new Range Rover
the outback is a lark
I slip it into four-wheel drive
At gates of national
gates of national park

Oh the working class are out of place
when they are on strike
I drive my Jag in circles
Trying to knock them off their
knock them off their bikes

Download Here Comrades

John Schumann - True Believers

In 1988 some 20 years ago John Schumann released "Looby Loo"
his only album I haven't got. Its a children's record with such
fine songs as "She"ll be coming round the mountain" and
"This old man." The next few years are detailed on his web
site as follows

In 1998 until 2001, John’s passion for social justice and the
environment led him into mainstream politics.
In the 1998 federal election he took the Minister for Foreign
Affairs down to the wire in the seat of Mayo, reducing
Mr Downer’s blue-ribbon margin from 16% to 1.7%.
John Schumann campaigned for three weeks only.
The count took 12 days.

In 1993 John released this album "True Believers," a solid album
with a hint of the past few years in the lyrics. His green cred
showing on the opening track "If I close my eyes"

I can see the river redgum rising green
against the dawn
I can hear the sacred silence of Wilpena
in the morning
All I have to do is close my eyes

If I close my eyes
I can see the sunlight tumbling down between
the native pines
Broken by the breeze, splashing red and orange light
I can see the wedge-tailed eagle climbing s
tairways in the sky;
If I close my eyes

But its the track "Eyes on fire" where we see the old Schumann
surface, the song rollicks along like a steam train dragging you into
the world of people losing their jobs to cheap labor overseas

and a country selling our manufacturing base for a cheap buck.

Eyes on fire - John Schumann

Out here on the western line, where the carriages
bump and sway
And the aerials tag the skyline and the ragged
children play
I lined up every morning, we were living from
pay to pay

There are some things, mister, that I just don’t
understand
How the job I’ve had for 20 years has just moved
to Japan
And I’m standing in a dole queue while my country’s
changing hands
Eyes on fire

Eyes on fire – and in the firelight
Non-one’s taking anything more from here,
without a fight
Eyes on fire

My shoes are made in Poland, I’ve got a pair
from Singapore
These gloves come in from Shanghai,
we don’t make them anymore
And there’s all these Kiwi shearers here
I’ve never seen before
Eyes on fire

My radio comes from Taiwan, my car’s made in
Korea
My son was making car parts, but they closed
the plant last year;
And it’s not coming back, the company made
that very clear
Eyes on fire

Eyes on fire – and in the firelight
Non-one’s taking anything more from here,
without a fight
Eyes on fire

So hold on, darling, it’s a real rough ride
We’ll make it out of here, to the other side
And while the sun still shines and the birds
still sing,
They can’t take away important things from us,
Like faith and hope and dignity
And eyes on fire

You can hear the changes coming like the
rumbling of a storm
And under southern skies I see the breaking
of the dawn
We didn’t start the fighting, but we won’t run
from the war –
Eyes on fire

Eyes on fire – and in the firelight
Enough’s enough – no more ground
Nothing more – without a fight
Eyes on fire

Also John covers the song made famous by Barnsy
"Working class man" turning it into a folk anthem, and
he also puts the Banjo Patterson poem
"Clancy of the overflow" to music.
Plympton High is also worth mentioning, set to
the music of "I've been to Bali too" its a very funny
look at John's high school years

Track List
01 If I Close my Eyes
02 Leigh Creek Road
03 Fallen Angel
04 Eyes on Fire
05 Working Class Man
06 Roll on the Day
07 Clancy of the Overflow
08 If the War goes on
09 Hyde Park Calling
10 Plympton High
11 Eyes on Fire (acoustic)
12 If I close my eyes (reprise)

A wonderful album by one of the greatest songwriters
this country ever produced.

Download here

John Schumann - Etched In Blue

It was in 1986 John left the band that had made him a household
name. This album was recorded and released the next year.
I saw john solo at what was, I think, the 3rd Maleny Folk Festival.
Where he performed as well as taking a songwriting workshop.
I did ask him some question at the workshop, which was fantastic,
but I can't remember what it was, old age I'm afraid.
This is solid album, many of Schumann's favorite themes resurface.
In the opening track "Borrowed ground" is the theme of struggle
and debt.

And I lie on my bed, staring into the red
and the overdraft won’t come down
And it’s hard work keeping your family together,
Living on borrowed ground

"Thunder across the reef" gives us the album title,
a wonderfully poetic song about a shipwreck.

Sailors arrive at their cross roads too
Lines on a chart, etched in blue
Stern to the wind, run with the sea
There’s thunder across the reef

But its "Holy Mary" thats my favorite,
the chorus was written by Marty Atchison, the only
lyrics on the album not written by Schumann.
Its a story telling song of the type John has written before,
a on the run, escape song, complete with Catholic overtones.

There was always yelling at our house
And thumping against the wall;
Dad didn’t like Mum very much,
Mum didn’t like Dad all
At night I lie awake
and listen to their marriage break,
My little sister crying in the room next door
I knew I had to get away…get away

Put a thousand down on a V8 panel van,
A little bit of rego and a sloppy front end.
Three hours later,
120 through the main street of Tailem Bend
and I was singing…

Holy Mary, pray for me,
In my hour of need

"For the Children" is a beautiful song, John response as
a songwriter, to becoming a father. When I hear it I
wonder why there are so few songs like this
and how much better the world would be if there were more.

For the Children - John Schumann

The lady from the paper asked me
would I write a song for you,
I didn’t know you then but now I do.
And I’m stuck in this motel room
with an empty aching heart,
And the miles roll out between us
and they’re tearing me apart…
All I’ve got are tunes and rhymes -
this one’s for you.

May you always feel the sunshine
and take time to taste the rain,
May your friends be true and caring
and I hope you are the same;
And in your fleeting passage,
leave a little bit behind
For the children who will follow
in your footsteps,
along the sands of time.

I dreamed there was a world for you,
without the rush of rockets
And the thump of khaki gunships in the sky…
But there were rows of eucalyptus
and trains for little boys
And tadpoles in a still black creek
and playgrounds full of noise;
In my vision, fear and greed
and anger were the only things to die…

May the wind blow gently through your life,
may your principles be strong;
May you stand up and be counted
when they work out right from wrong…
May your nights be short and peaceful,
may your days be warm and long;
May your music be a service…
may they pause sometime and listen to your song

And here’s this little voice, reaching down the phone,
“Dad you’ve been away so long,
when are you coming home?”

May your eyes be filled with kindness,
may the seeds of wisdom grow…
May you seek for truth and beauty
and when you find it may you know…
May you help feed those who are hungry,
and comfort those who hurt
May you always fright for justice for all
of us who walk upon the earth

Download Here

Borrowed ground

John Schumann & the Vagabond Crew - Lawson

“I gathered these songs together for the sake of our
friendship and true, and I sent them along instead
of the letters I’d promised to write to you”.
To An Old Mate - Henry Lawson

What a great way to start this beautiful album, a fitting
choice.
In May 2005 members of three legendary Australian bands,
the Dingoes, Redgum and Goanna - along with a number of
other Australian music industry legends -
recorded of an album of songs drawn from the poems of
Henry Lawson, Australia’s foremost poet and writer.

Every single member of the Vagabond Crew entered
into the spirit of the Lawson project with enthusiasm
and a sense that, in working with Lawson,
we were dealing with one of Australia’s national
treasures. As musicians and writers,
we could all empathize with Henry
he didn’t mind a drink and, like us,
he lived off the advances he could wring out of his publishers.

The sessions were as much fun as I’ve ever had in my life
making a record. You can hear it in the music.
Everyone said they’d jump at the opportunity to perform
these songs, together, live. For a songwriter, there can be
no greater compliment.

Once, as we moved into the control room to listen to what
we’d just put down, one of the crew said to me:
“I’ve done a lot of recording but this is the first time I keep
losing my place because I’m listening to the words”.

I reckon Henry would have been proud to hear that.
I like to think he would have shouted the Vagabond
Crew a beer - but he probably would have had to
borrow the money.

John Schumann
July 2005

Truly a fantastic record by some of Australia's most
talented

The Vagabond Crew

Michael Atkinson, Shannon Bourne, Paul Cartwright,
Michael Harris, Rob Hirst, Marcia Howard, Shane Howard,
Toby Lang, Mal Logan, Louise McCarthy, Hugh McDonald,
Russell Morris, Alan Pigram, Steven Pigram, Mike Rudd,
John Schumann, Broderick Smith, Chris Stockley,
Kerryn Tolhurst and Mick Wordley.

Tracklist
01 To An Old Mate
02 Knocking Around
03 The Glass On The Bar
04 Second Class Wait Here
05 Faces In The Street
06 The Bush Girl
07 Taking His Chance
08 Scots Of The Riverina
09 To Hannah
10 A Prouder Man Than You
11 The Low Lighthouse
12 The Shame Of Going Back
13 To Jim

Download here

Redgum - Frontline

By 1984, the Redgum line-up comprised Schumann, Truman, Atkinson, McDonald,
Stephen Cooney (bass,didgeridoo, mandolin, banjo), Michael Spicer
(piano) and Brian Czempinski (drums).
Redgum's fifth album, Frontline, was released in August 1984.
A compilation album 'Everythings Legal Anything Goes' was released
in November 1984.
Redgum toured the UK and Europe in the latter half of 1985
and released a compilation album in a number of territories.
The band was well received on the festival circuit
and earned itself a strong and loyal following in London during its time there.
By May may 1986, co-founder John Schumann had left the band, it
was the beginning of the end for Redgum.
So in a way this is the last Redgum Album, it is the last John appears
on and many fans believed John was the bands greatest asset.
Newest member Hugh McDonald contributes "Spirit Of the Land "
showing he is worthy, but Micheal Atkinson is the song writing star
penning 4 of the strongest songs on the album.
This is a brilliant Lp, many consider it to be their finest, it produced
the hit single "I've been to bali too" perhaps Redgum's funnest song.
Full of fantastic songs, covering rock , country and folk it is sublime.
The political and social commentary is as strong as ever and the
earlier more clumsy songwriting is gone, we have a confident
mature band who are at their peak.
"Asio" is a fantastic rocker, "Friday night" even more so was released
as a single, "Spirit of the land" is one of their finest songs,
"Gladstone Pier " is a heart wrenching epic, of course we
have the full band version of the beautiful "Working Girls"
and the album finishes with the beautiful instrumental "Hira"
One of the best albums ever released by an Australian act,
it is unmistakably Australian and a true masterpiece.

Link thanks to kelvin1962 at Ausrock forum

Download Here

Redgum - Caught In The Act

By 1983 Redgum had become one of the biggest crowd pulling acts in
Australia, so this release was capitalizing on what was one of their
biggest strengths, performing live. I did see them once and I did
see John Schumann perform solo after Redgum and they were good,
But don't take my word for it listen to this LP.
This album also has a live version of the song that turned John into
a songwriting legend, "I was only nineteen."
I actually met John at a songwriting seminar he was giving, He
talked a lot about the process that led to this song I can only say
it is a spellbinding story.
The song was released as a studio recored single which never
made to an official album until the greatest hits ones, so this
live version was it for a LP, for quite a while.
The single released in march 83 was number 1 for 2 weeks
here and stayed in the top 40 for 4 months.

I Was Only Nineteen - John Schumann

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing-out parade
at Puckapunyal
It was a long march from cadets.
The sixth battalion was the next to tour,
and it was me who drew the card.
We did Canungra, Shoalwater before we left.

And Townsville lined the footpaths as we marched
down to the quay
This clipping from the paper shows us young
and strong and clean.
And there's me in my slouch hat with my SLR and greens.
God help me, I was only nineteen.

From Vung Tau, riding Chinooks, to the dust at Nui Dat
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months.
But we made our tents a home, VB and pinups on the lockers
And an Asian orange sunset through the scrub.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And night-time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes,
can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.

A four week operation when each step could mean your
last one on two legs
It was a war within yourself.
But you wouldn't let your mates down till they had you dusted off
So you closed your eyes and thought about something else.

Then someone yelled out "Contact!" and the bloke
behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours, then a God almighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon,
God help me, he was going home in June.

I can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a thirty-six hour rec leave in Vung Tau
And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle
Till the morphine came and killed the bloody row.

And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real.
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
God help me, I was only nineteen.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes,
can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.

Download Here

Redgum - Cut to the Quick EP

"Cut to the Quick" was released in 1982 after their brilliant 3rd
album, a 4 track Ep it shows the beginnings of Redgum's
maturing with Hugh McDonalds "Diamantina Drover,"
a true masterpiece.
A live vesion of this song turns up on "caught in the act"
along with "Fabulon"
"Where ya gonna run to" is from the previous release
"Brown rice and Kerosene."
This stripped down version of "Working girls" is only found here ,
a reworked version appearing on "Frontline"
and "Fabulon" and "Diamantina Drover" are re-released on the
2004 - Against the Grain - The Redgum Anthology
This copy has been ripped from my vinyl copy.

Download Here

Redgum - Brown Rice & Kerosene

1981 was the year Redgum went full time as the band members
gave up their day jobs to pursue the band.
It was also the year that their 3rd Lp was recorded and released.
I remember hearing about this during an interview on 4zzz,
the album was just released it was a promotional thing and they
played the single "100 years on".
I still love the song, a modern take on "Waltzing Matilda"it takes
us to the heart of John Schumann's songwriting genius, his
ability to tell a yarn.

100 Years On - John Schmann

He came in from Melbourne on a Pioneer
Adelaide morning, warm and clear
And a past that wasn't quite
Within the law

And he opened yet another ten dollar room
To a broken blind and a rising gloom
And a threadbare cotton carpet
On the floor

And the muzak piping through the corridor
Played that song he heard before
It went :-

Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
A suitcase held with rope and twine
Cleaner's shirt and an open mind
A trail of debts
To mark where he had been
A million miles of racetracks
And torn tickets on the ground
And his only son cut down in Phnom Penh green

Police car crawled down Gouger street
As he looked for some place cheap to eat
It was just another
Curb's eye interview

With a warrant out in Adelaide
For a bad decision that he once made
An instinct took his tongue
And pulled him through

So he left his hotel room that night
In time to make a midnight flight
With an overloaded truckie
Going east

And the line ran round inside his head
Was it something that his best friend said
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

The billabong's just a grubby pond
That's busy washing ore
The squatter drives a thoroughbred steel
And if he runs forever
Will his life be all in vain?
At least that's how it makes him feel

And the truckie pushed a cassette in
As they rumbled through the Grampians
It played Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda,
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda,
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

And the truckie pushed a cassette in
As they rumbled through the Grampians
It played Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

This is my favorite Redgum album, its the songs that do it
and sure theres a bit on clumsy left rhetoric, but I can
forgive it, the brilliance in some songs more than makes
up.The sound is less folk like, introducing things like
synthesizers, yet not sounding commercial.
The epic "Where you gonna run to now" exposes
Schumann's fears for the future and a strong environmental
stance that was unheard of at the time

Where ya gonna run to - John Schumann
Mother and child playing on the lawn
It's a middle class home on a Sunday morning
And the mother says, son, where ya gonna run
Where ya gonna run to now?

I just jumped bail on a dope bust mum
And I'm saying goodbye
and then the drug squad come
And in the name of the law
They punch him in the jaw
Where ya gonna run to now?

A long white car out of Tullamarine
A government member to the Carribean
And a man with a broom
Yells across the room
Where ya gonna run to now?

Will you have to tell lies when the kids ask you why
The horizon's a blanket of gloom
When the battle lines draw
Which way will you turn

Terania Creek's got a dozer track
And we'll never ever get Lake Pedder back
A director and a graph
And a million dollar laugh
Where ya gonna run to now?

Enrich the oxide out of Port Pirie
And the toxic gases they won't even see
But where ya gonna go
When the North wind blows
Where ya gonna run to now?

And your loungeroom is screening Nationwide
And you've just given blood to the bank
And the books on your shelves
Are a measure of all that you've earned
Will you have to tell lies when the kids ask you why
The horizon's a blanket of gloom
When the battle lines draw
Which way will you turn

Shake me, wake me, tell me it's a dream
I've got a B-52 on my TV screen
And a man in a tie
Pointing to the sky
Where ya gonna run to now

Mother and child playing on the lawn
It's a middle class home on a Sunday morning
And the mother says, son, where ya gonna run
Where ya gonna run to now?

The Michael Atkinson songs both work well
and don't for me.
I love the title track that ends with this
brilliant verse

Sometimes I think about cocktails
Update Molotov's recipe
Forget the gravel ballast and stink of benzene
Use rice and kerosene
A major change of scene
Like 1917
With people before machines

And "The Federal Two Ring Circus"
is and very funny take on our political system,
but "Your OS Trip" seems a little too bitter.

You're standing ten feet tall, you've been and seen it all
On your Cook's Grand Tour of Spring
With your Polaroid�s so shady, I'm surprised, my lady
That you saw anything

The truly greatest track however is the Schumann penned
"The Last Frontier."
Here he captures a young man pilgrimage
to the heart of Australia,
a trip I would do myself some 10 years later.

The Last Frontier - John Schumann
There's a corrugated highway
Leading north from Port Augusta
lined with ratted cars that didn't rate a tow
The Salt plains out of Pimba
And your eyes begin to stream
On to Kingoonya huddled dusty by the road
Romantic notions shattered
Like the tyres that didn't hack it
This has got to be the country's last frontier
Where a sports car's next to useless
Running cattle grids and river beds
We drove a van from 1963

Someone mentioned walkabout
And kiss your job goodbye
Just to see the country shimmer through the windscreen
Drinking beer, telling stories
While laughter filled the night
And flexi-time's behind you like a bad dream

You got a flat on Anzac Highway
And Lawson on your shelf
Its a Southern Comfort, air-conditioned rage
Where a homestead's more than just a cheap print
Dangling from a wall
And mateship's more than lines upon a page

We went looking for Australia
In between the TV lines
'Cause the ABC just couldn't make it real
Colour documentary From a beanbag on the floor:
Never shows as much as it conceals

A stark and blistered Alice Springs
And a river runs with shame
And you wipe the sheets of bulldust from your eyes
Another country's uniform
And the mirage it falls apart
To the open gap between the truth and lies

Go and see your country,
mate The travel agents scream
Politicians sell it's heart for a past time
Signs and high-wire fences
Hold the land where I belong
It's as if I'm in the outback for the last time
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Regum - Virgin Ground

Redgum's second album Virgin Ground released in 1980 was met with
critical acclaim and led to the band members finally giving up their
day jobs. Drummer Tom Stehlik and bassist Dave Flett became
permanent members.Virgin Ground is a fantastic album, with
the addition of thepercussion section they finally left the folk label
for more a folk rock one.
Coupled with the release of the Redgum songbook these guys
songs were heavily played by myself and friends back in those early
80's.Theres 3 songs that are portraits of individuals,
my favorite being the brilliant "Ted", born in 1895 I could see a lot in
Ted that mirrored my own Grandfathers life whom was born in 1899.

"Did his bit in the first world war
Took the shilling to fight the hun
Mud up to his crotch in Flanders field
And the gas eating out His lungs
He said "me best mate died hanging
on the barded wire
And when the attack was through
We shared a fag and a yarn or two
They were the same as me and you
And I asked old Ted what history meant
as he sharped his hedging shears
What a bloody fool question that is my boy
I've lived it for 83 years"

Theres the very funny
"It doesn't matter to me"

"I'm in the RSL I joined the lions club Friday
My support of sport is through of highly
I'm a class 6 clerk in the PCD
and who the hell is Ayattollah Khomeni?"

And "Nuclear Cop"

"The sky is red and the earth is black
Its 1990 and we haven't looked back
Load it on a jumbo send it overseas
We've got a lot of money now
who needs trees"

The title track is about the little known, ill fated
expedition to Paraguay in the 1890's, where almost
the entire union movement in Australia left the country
for the jungles of Paraguay to start New Australia.

"The money's no good" is a fantastic song that
captures the struggle of the unemployed in the
Malcolm Frazer years of the late 70's early 80's

"You get out of bed bout half past 7
Your days are hell so sleeping's heaven
Unfold the paper over yesterday's meal
Good morning Mr Howard how do you feel?
Another batch of figures says every thing's fine
But thats not what they're saying on the dole-form line"

But the best is the brilliant "Long Run", this song
is an Australian classic, a song about coming to terms
with our history and our future as a nation.

"Australia marched out of Vietnam
Out on the streets against uncle Sam
We won the fight it was a long one
Uranium demo the other day
One of my mates got dragged away
As they slammed the door
I heard her say
It'll be all right, It'll be all right
It'll be all right in the long run.

Italian bloke who works with me
We swap laughs and company
And he slapped me on the back
Said "your wrong son
This isn't the land I was told
it would be
Its not so equal and its not so free
But it'll be all right, It'll be all right
It'll be all right in the long run."

John was writing those political masterwork statements
long before "I was only nineteen"


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Redgum - If you don't fight you lose

When I meet people who think music is just music,
I know that they never have found something in music
like when I found Redgum.
This effect this band had on me when I discovered them
just after finishing high school was electric.
They led me into folk music and into a political understanding,
which in turn led me into many different places.
Their do it yourself type music transcended the punk ethos
which also was happening round the same time.
When I formed a band at 18/19 Redgum songs featured strongly,
they fitted in with everything else, they had their finger on the
pulse of this nation like no other.
The founding members John Schuman, Michael Atkinson and
Vertiy Truman met at a politics and the arts course in Adelaide
in 1975, this their first album was released in 1978.
By 1983 when they released their 4th album, they
were one of the biggest crowd pulling acts in Australia.
It took the song " I was only 19" to propel Redgum into the
mainstream, where they lasted for a couple more albums
before spitting in 1987.
If you haven't heard the early Redgum, its a completely
different band to the more polished act of later years.
I'm going to post right through this bands legacy over time,
so I'm starting at the beginning.
This album is a joy, a surprise best seller for Larrikin Records
that received airplay on most of the non commercial stations
round the country. I heard them on 4zzz of course,
its Johns vocals that grab you first. Rough and quintessentially
Australian. The music for the most part is folksy and acoustic,
but they add drums and bass for two tracks at the end,
turning into some kind of folk punk band.
The lyrics are this bands greatest strength, from the
very funny "One more boring night in Adelaide"
and" Serving USA",the insightful "Peter the cabby",
Or" Hmas Australia",the sad but beautiful "Killing Floor",
To the fury of "Letter to BJ", This is a fine album.
The BJ in Letter to Bj Is Joh Bjelke-Petersen the
Premier of Queensland(the cartoon behind my header
is joh) who ruled Queensland with a strong fist, a
corrupt police force and a electoral Gerrymander
which kept him in power from 1968 to 1987.
The song is a letter because being based in Adelaide
Redgum wanted to express how they felt despite
the distance.

Letter to BJ - Redgum

Can you hear me Bjelke-Petersen
From your leather padded chair?
There's a tide outside your door Steadily rising
It's a simple case of freedom
And a lot of us who care
And if demonstrations aren't enough
Well I hope you've said your prayers
It seems this time you've gone too far
Next you'll call the troopers in
And you can put my dossier
In the glossy pages of the bulletin
Oh you think the battle's over
Well the war has just begun Your
legislation's just a piece of tissue
Oh won’t you listen to the beat
Of ten thousand marching feet?
Taking to the street
Oh there'll be a national monument
In yellow-cake of course
where the plaque reads
"Look what Bjelke-Petersen did
A traitor's tree, a traitor's rope,
Thirty bits of silver
And a couple of Queensland Jackboot kicks


There's loads of references which have dated, but
this album is still speaking today. They tackle all
the big (to them) issues and were the first band
to do so for many of them. Aboriginal deaths
from alcohol, nuclear power, unemployment,
redunancy and US influence on our country.

Let me leave you with these lines from Poor Ned,
that express the Australian larrikin attitude
that is unlike any other.

You know they took Ned Kelly
And they hung him in the Melbourne gaol
He fought so very bravely
Dressed in iron mail
And no man single-handed
Can hope to break the bars
It's a thousand like Ned Kelly
Who'll hoist the flag of stars

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