I’m ashamed to say that this was the first time I realized they were talking about celcius.
:smack:
Not as ashamed as I am to admit that not only did I have no idea they were talking about Aboriginals, I had no idea they were Australian! I didn’t even really think it meant anything in particular, to be honest.
If you listen to The Dead Heart, I guarantee that you will recognize it.
That’s it really.
Naughty girls need love too vs Beds are Burning
Hmmm? What would YOU choose?
Yeah, talk about a hook. That’s the song that first turned me on to them. Of course, it’s hugely anti-corporate & construably anti-white. :rolleyes:
Anyway, I bet you would recognize the song if you’re that old, but not the name. “We carry in our hearts the true country…”
I think “Beds Are Burning” is nonsensical enough to make it onto American radio. (I think it’s really about deforestation.) On the one hand, Midnight Oil were so serious. It can be hard to get airplay in a foreign country when you’re talking really seriously about specific realworld issues. On the other hand, they kept their thick Aussie accents instead of doing a sort of “mid-Atlantic” generic accent for international success, which combined with their love of obscure & bizarre lyrics made them pretty much impenetrable sometimes.
Also, I imagine “Forgotten Years” was getting a lot more airplay up through Sept 10, 2001.
I’m not Little Nemo, but I heard it on a Clear Channel Adult Contemporary/Classic Rock station literally ten minutes before I opened this thread. The radio stays tuned to that station all night at work, and I hear it at least three times a week.
The 80s were a perfect decade for the Oils, though. The lyrics are indeed serious - in fact, the only album I can think of that doesn’t really have a lot of “message” songs would be Breathe, which has songs about surfing. If you listen to the lyrics, though, you have to have an understanding of Australian politics and history. One of the fan websites used to have a listing of all of the places and people in Oils songs - General Insurance, Wedding Cake Island, Dreamworld, Kosciosko…
They worked with some of the top producers of the time. Glyn Johns, Nick Launay, Warne Livesey. Rotsey and Moginie are amazing guitarists, and Rob Hirst is a beast on the drums. (I’d put him up there with Copeland, Collins, Terry Chambers, and Topper Headon as the best drummers of the day.) I think they were a band that didn’t compromise and accepted the fact that they would be an Australian phenomenon. They were probably as surprised as the OP when they had success in America.
I love bands that make you pick up a book, and the Oils made me do that more than once. And Garrett’s fun to watch.
Yeah, there’s a lot of specifically Australian stuff in their songs, but “Harrisburg” is about Harrisburg, PA, of course, & isn’t there at least one song that references South African history? Besides “Short Memory,” which is about the whole of European imperialist history (& really, “The Dead Heart” kind of is, too, by extension). Or am I imagining that there’s a South African history song?
I liked the bald guy’s off rythym. I bought the tape and loved it. It made me interested in aboriginal injustice (including American aboriginals). A political album for me as a child of the eighties.
because everyone can relate to the passionate insomnia of the horny and lonely
I’d agree with most of your assessment. Except you forgot to cut out #5, as well. shudder
This song is just siiiiix words long…
This song is just siiiiix words long…
This song is just siiiiiix words long…
This song is just siiiiiix words long…
No, it’s unequivocally about Aboriginal land rights.
No doubt, and not an uncommon subject for Midnight Oil, from what I remember. “Truganini” is a song about the last Tasmanian Aboriginal of the same name (the facts are disputed about whether she actually was the last Tasmanian Aboriginal, but, at any rate, she represents that in the popular conscience.)
I just heard that song today at lunch!
God, yes, and now it’s stuck in my head. :mad:
“It’s actually seven words long…”
“SSSSHHHH!”
Yes, the correct lyric and title is, of course, “(This Song**'s** Just) Six Words Long.”
Actually, the song’s less about Truganini as it is about the (then) present state of Australia, and especially the continued colonial status of Australia & the flag debate (“I hear the Union Jack’s to remain”[on the flag]). Rob Hirst (the songwriter) has said as much in interviews.
Truganini (and Namatjira) are evoked as an image of the past and what the canton on the flag actually represents as a symbol of conquest & colonialism, but I wouldn’t say the song was actually about her. I’d say something like The Dead Heart comes a lot closer to being about Truganini and other Aborigines like her.
They played in front of the Exxon building to protest the Exxon Valdez oil spill.