CHRISTMAS by PAUL KELLY. Story by Louise Maskell.
It was still plaintive and summery. It was by another St Kilda institution. A guy I first saw play at Deakin in the early 1980s. I tracked it down to a new double album of Christmas songs.
City Slang by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. Story by Earl O’Neill
Earl O’Neill Leichardt, Sydney, 1985 What if something happened and I was at home watching telly? That’d never do. Sex, drugs and rock and roll were too important for a young fellow.
CLAUDE RAINS by THE FRONT LAWN Story by Vin Maskell
It was the lyric and the lilt that hooked me in. The metaphor about the airstrip, the plane and hope. And I’d never heard a song that referred to Casablanca, the movie.
Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus by Frank Zappa
Stephen Andrew Lounge room, Warrandyte 1975 My inner ear quivered like a Jack Russell on heat as I rode home on the bus. I slid out the disc, looked at the warm, mustard-coloured Reprise record label and lowered the needle onto the outside groove.
Coat Of Many Colours by Dolly Parton
J Negri's recent Almanac Music story looks at Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colours while also looking at grief, vulnerability, singing, persona, tassles and spangles.
Cohen, Leonard: a song
Vin Maskell Café, La Trobe St, Melbourne. Lunchtime June 2010 Some songs need fresh air. They need to be able to breathe again. They need to be able to float away into space and not come into our orbit for a good while.