One for the Boys

About six years ago my wife was diagnosed with cancer.

Previously she went to the doctor every six months for a check up and the usual blood tests. There was a time there when I went with her every time, but these days she goes alone, not without my support, but she goes alone.

Yesterday was one of those days. She was going to collect the results. I’m not normally superstitious but when Hanged Man comes to Fool I’m anybody’s Devil and I miss interpret things.

In my car, I’ve had playing for months an old Paul Kelly album called Deeper Water (for those of you who don’t know Paul Kelly, he is widely considered Australia’s greatest song writer). It was one of those albums that required a second listen and in my case a 510th listen, but I was finally turned on to what he was expressing.

So on Tuesday, winding my way up through Yang Ming Shan National Park whilst my wife was picking up her results, I heard these lyrics:

Deeper Water

On a crowded beach in a distant time
At the height of summer see a boy of five
At the water’s edge so nimble and free
Jumping over the ripples looking way out to sea

Now a man comes up from amoungst the throng
Takes the young boy’s hand and his hand is strong
And the child feels safe, yeah the child feels brave
As he’s carried in those arms up and over the waves

Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on

Let’s move forward now and the child’s seventeen
With a girl in the back seat tugging at his jeans
And she knows what she wants, she guides with her hand
As a voice cries inside him - I’m a man, I’m a man!

Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on

Now the man meets a woman unlike all the rest
He doesn’t know it yet but he’s out of his depth
And he thinks he can run, it’s amatter of pride
But he keeps coming back like a cork on the tide

Well the years hurry by and the woman loves the man
Then one night in the dark she grabs hold of his hand
Says ‘There, can you feel it kicking inside!’
And the man gets a shiver right up and down his spine

Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on

So the clock moves around and the child is a joy
But Death doesn’t care just who it destroys
Now the woamn gets sick, thins down to the bone
She says ‘Where I’m going next, I’m going alone’

Deeper water, deeper water

On a distant beach lonely and wild
At a later time see a man and a child
And the man takes the child up into his arms
Takes her over the breakers
To where the water is calm

Deeper water, deeper water,
Deeper water, calling them on

FOX! What does that mean? Is everything okay?

Let’s be thankful you didn’t hear Incident on South Dowling!

HG

Everything was Okay.

I did wonder if that wasn’t some frightening omen though. It was weird. I was just really getting that song for the first time.

Pei, pei, pei, you mad old crow mouth!

HG

What a bummer this thread is. I was expecting Brazilian women oil wrestling.

Good luck to you and your wife, Fox.

I’m glad everything’s fine. Wow, very powerful lyrics too, especially in light of your situation.

I’d like to hear some stuff by this artist. Never heard of him before. I tried Googling for MP3 samples, but couldn’t find any that worked.

Here you go, you’re doubly lucky as I’m throwing in a trio including aboriginal singer Kev Carmody.

Paul Kelly with Kev Carmody and John Butler at the Make Poverty History concert.

youtube.com/watch?v=_tHEGo-g3mw

Some background on that particular song - From little things big things grow.

[quote]The Gurindji Strike
Songwriters Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody tell the story behind their song “From Little Things Big Things Grow”.

In the 1960s, Aboriginal stockmen went on strike at the NT Wave Hill station. Led by Gurindji man Vincent Lingiari, they walked off the job and set up a camp at a place called Wattie Creek. The dispute over wages and conditions turned into a demand for land rights. It dragged on for years before eventually being resolved by the Whitlam government.[/quote]

One interesting feature of Paul Kelly’s music, aside from the man’s famous generosity to other musicians, is the way he often slides a geographic reference into his songs. It can be as subtle as mentioning a Silvertop taxi, which then lets an Australian ear know he’s set the song in Brisbane. Incident on South Dowkling, one of my all time faves, is set in Darlinghurst or the Easrtern Suburbs of Sydney - South Dowling Street is a major byway through the area. The song is about how a guy fails to save his girlfriend from an overdose because he’s too stoned. The area around South Dowling has certainly seen plenty of overdoses!

Incident On South Dowling
My baby was dying
Turning so blue
Four feet from me dying
My head was like glue
Loaded and sinking
To the vegetable zone
She just kept on sinking
Now she’s mineral and bone

I couldn’t save my baby
We lived on the first floor
We lived in two rooms
Now my poor baby
She lives with the worms

A head full of rocks
It’s a heavy heavy head
I was watching a movie
Where someone looked dead
Now people that whisper
Now people they stare
They say I couldn’t save her
Even though I was right there

I couldn’t save my baby
We lived on the first floor
We lived in two rooms
Now poor baby
She lives with the worms

Here’s another song - All the dumb things youtube.com/watch?v=RonQBpFm9EI

HG

and be sure to check out one of the many clips of john butler doing ocean…i saw him at fuji once; when he gets going on this song it is spine-tingling good…it’s just some open tuning trickery but it’s nice, i like…

Good finds there HG.

Thanks for the well wishes you guys.

Well since it is one for the boys, and that flashback to Paul Kelly led me on to other vistas, here’s that pocket rocket poseur Mark Seymour and Hunter & Collector’s classic Say Goodbye.

Original film clip with that old Holden, hood up, just outside Melbourne. Superb!

I loved my old cars, I really did, but got it’s good not having greasy hands.

HG

Where do you come up with this stuff?

Just listening to that song, there is a lot of Nick Cave in there.

Great Song. I traveled all through Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand listening to that song on my walkman. I must have heard it 10,000 times. Still Good.

Fits like a glove, don’t it? :laughing:

HG

He’s making a comeback in the theater scene, working on a musical or some such thing. It’s hard to believe that band ever dipped off the radar let alone face oblivion.

Yeah that track reminds me of driving in Oz - those old cars, Valiants and the like, hood up on some dusty stretch kicking rocks and wondering how to fix 'em. Love that distinctive big sound Hunters & Collectors throw out.

HG

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Love that distinctive big sound Hunters & Collectors throw out.

HG[/quote]

Are they Australian?

Love that band, too.

Fox - Good luck with everything. I hope it all turns out well. Your original post really touched a chord, to the point where I don’t even want to contemplate something like that.

Yes indeed, very much so. They’re from Melbounre. Back in their time they always seemed to be playing somewhere, I mean in the sense that it was always an option to catch a Hunters & Collectors gig. Fantastic live.

HG

[quote=“Fox”]About six years ago my wife was diagnosed with cancer.

Previously she went to the doctor every six months for a check up and the usual blood tests. There was a time there when I went with her every time, but these days she goes alone, not without my support, but she goes alone.

Yesterday was one of those days. She was going to collect the results. I’m not normally superstitious but when Hanged Man comes to Fool I’m anybody’s Devil and I miss interpret things.

In my car, I’ve had playing for months an old Paul Kelly album called Deeper Water (for those of you who don’t know Paul Kelly, he is widely considered Australia’s greatest song writer). It was one of those albums that required a second listen and in my case a 510th listen, but I was finally turned on to what he was expressing.

So on Tuesday, winding my way up through Yang Ming Shan National Park whilst my wife was picking up her results, I heard these lyrics:

Deeper Water

On a crowded beach in a distant time
At the height of summer see a boy of five
At the water’s edge so nimble and free
Jumping over the ripples looking way out to sea

Now a man comes up from amoungst the throng
Takes the young boy’s hand and his hand is strong
And the child feels safe, yeah the child feels brave
As he’s carried in those arms up and over the waves

Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on

Let’s move forward now and the child’s seventeen
With a girl in the back seat tugging at his jeans
And she knows what she wants, she guides with her hand
As a voice cries inside him - I’m a man, I’m a man!

Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on

Now the man meets a woman unlike all the rest
He doesn’t know it yet but he’s out of his depth
And he thinks he can run, it’s amatter of pride
But he keeps coming back like a cork on the tide

Well the years hurry by and the woman loves the man
Then one night in the dark she grabs hold of his hand
Says ‘There, can you feel it kicking inside!’
And the man gets a shiver right up and down his spine

Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on

So the clock moves around and the child is a joy
But Death doesn’t care just who it destroys
Now the woamn gets sick, thins down to the bone
She says ‘Where I’m going next, I’m going alone’

Deeper water, deeper water

On a distant beach lonely and wild
At a later time see a man and a child
And the man takes the child up into his arms
Takes her over the breakers
To where the water is calm

Deeper water, deeper water,
Deeper water, calling them on[/quote]

Here’s Deeper Water on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVfwtxxbF1k

There is absolutely nothing I can say that can make you feel better, or help your wife. The best I can do is offer you my condolences. I sincerely hope that in some way things work out for the better. That’s the best I can offer you. Sorry, mate.

On edit: There’s a band from New Zealand, the Chills, that had a very haunting song on the same subject, called “Pink Frost”.

On edit again: I was going to post the lyrics to that song, but they were too depressing. I don’t want to upset you at this sensitive moment. But, perhaps after she has…you can listen to that gone. It has helped me dealing with people that I have lost.

Fox, the lyrics to that song are so easy to understand. I’ll listen to it later.

I hope it’s good news.

[quote=“Maoman”]
Here’s Deeper Water on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVfwtxxbF1k[/quote]

Great link, thanks! I’m very interested in checking out new music in the Paul Kelly, Richard Buckner and Lucinda Williams range right now.

Great song. I like the meaningful ones.