Dave Warner's Blog, page 5

A.B.C

More ditties from the Dave Warner songbook

Continuing my trek through the 600 + songs I’ve written, today I’m going cabaret. Yes, I know my best known (and probably best loved) songs are the hard-core, rock, monologues but I love to write in all styles. I guess as a kid, I was lucky enough to have a mum that played everything from musicals to jazz on our phonogram. ‘South Pacific’ lived alongside Dakota Staton. So I grew up with 360 degree musical exposure, not much classical I admit but there were the ballet records.

After I did my one-man show `Australian Heroes’ in Sydney in 1987 I toyed with idea of doing more comedy and cabaret shows. When John Ryan (aka Johnny Leopard) joined me I did a few stand-up shows but never performed these two tunes. The first is original, the second to the tune of `These Foolish Things’.

THE ABC (1988)

C                  Am                      F           G   

What would we do without our darling ABC

C              Am                      F                           G

Who’d highlight castles from the sixteenth century?

C                          Am               F                                 G

And specialise in specials on the plight of chimpanzees

C                   Am                  F              G

Night after night after night after night

C                                     F            G7    C

If we didn’t have the ABC to put us right

Who’d employ John Jost but the darling ABC

There’d be no other post for his flagrant vanity

And how would academics ever make TV

Night after night after night

If we didn’t have the ABC to put us right

Am

There’d be no sports reports with a modicum of wit

Am

Just a great black hole where Drew Morphett used to sit

Am

There’d be no investigative slinging of manure

Am

Just a large downturn in pastel Walpamur

Am

There’d be no Schilberger no smug Ollie

Am                                           G7

No Clive Hansen just Fred Stolle

And how could we live without our darling ABC

Playing seven Mozart symphonies – all concurrently

And who’d bore us silly with repeat British comedies night after night after night

If we didn’t have the ABC to put us right!

AUSTRALIAN HEROES 1987 – `BOGES’

A STUDENT MUST BEAR (To These Foolish Things)

A broken dunny in the next apartment

A mattress harder than the Darling ‘scarpment

A rusty old syringe

These are the things

A student must bear

A reefer stuffed inside an unused textbook

A wine-stained essay and a tutor’s vexed look

A quick tequila binge

These are the things

A student must bear

No place, to park

Full bus and squeeze

Rock bands in refectories

Your head on an unflushed lavatory

Shingles, herpes aids and maybe typhoid

Are little blights that heighten students’ life voids

Scabies flu and mange

This is the range a student must bear

And through it all the certain knowledge

That on your last day when you quit the college

Your prized degree attained

You’ll start again

to loiter in the queue –

The dole was meant for you

Post student blue.

AGGIE

from the Warner songwriting collection

`Aggie’ is a very early song of mine, written I think around 1972 when I was first coming to grips with writing songs. Like nearly all my songs it was written on electric organ. It fits into that singer songwriter era of the 1970s where characters, or grabs of life were rendered by the likes of Cat Stevens. I suppose it’s not unlike a Billy Joel type of song though I heard it more as a kind of Fairports folk-pop thing. Not for bopping to. I’ve never perfromed it and I don’t think I have even done a rough demo of it. Hit the title (Aggie) below and you’ll get it.

AGGIE

It’s late and the pub is slowly emptying

Tom Hicks so drunk he cannot do a thing

And `Won’t you buy me a drink, Love’

Says Aggie in her Friday best

But somehow the boys ignore her as they’ve always done

So Aggie goes out to be blest

`Goodnight.’

By the cop on the corner with the white socks.

So they gather round the eighty-eight

Till ten when they start to dissipate

`And don’t you know it’s cold for a girl as old as me

In my little wooden house with its ancient lavatory

And Tommy my tabby ran and wouldn’t come

Even though I offered him a bone.

Oh well, I guess he’ll be back by morning.’

Wending her way home she hopes to find

Comfort that slipped its leash and stayed behind

And all the Aggie needs is a little piece of mind

After all it’s raining and she’s blind. 

AFRICAN SUMMER

Okay, I’m going to start publishing song by song all the songs I’ve written. Would like to do this in a book but not sure if there is the demand.

Probably one of the very best songs I’ve written, certainly one of the most daring was `African Summer.’ I wrote it one day when I was living at Coldwell St in Bicton not long after returning from the UK. I wanted to do aurally what impressionist and expressionist artists did on canvas – to assault the listener with an emotional non-linear experience. The Gerald Manly Hopkins words flowed out of me – and this sudden concept of Perth as a weird corruption of Africa loomed in front of me – maybe it was the works of the painter Henri Rousseau, I don’t know but it resulted in something unique – especially thanks to the other guys, who all captured the vibe brilliantly and somehow managed to sing the chant all the way through live. This really is a very original and unique song and I’m proud of it.

HENRI ROUSSEAU – TIGER

AFRICAN SUMMER (Warner 1977) (hit link for the song)

African summer African summer

I’m stretched out on Scarborough beach

Can’t find my way to the OBH

In this Australian summer

What’s the connection between an African summer?

Might as well be wildebeest in the savanna

My t-shirt sweated through in this African summer

My rent’s overdue I feel like a beer how about you

In this African summer.

I caught a boat up the Zambesi or the Swan

Caught a swan up the Botswana bwana

In this Indian summer

Indian Ocean swimmer swummer swam under the narrows in an

African summer

I learned about G for giraffe in the sparse primary convent school

In the early 1960s so don’t try and trick me

This is an African summer

The shark alarms are ringing me home

Ringing my neck ringing with sweat

Like a hippo rhino on the Limpopo in an

African summer

The man, the woman, the man, the nightclub, the nightclub

The John Travolta, the drink beer, the man, the woman.

African night African night

Jumping like chimpanzees in their Staggers and Lees in this

African heat

Humidity under the table in the nightclub

In this African heat

Mosquitos and cars, cars and mosquitos

Neon bananas in an African summer.

I caught a boat up the Zambesi or the tsetse or the Swan

Caught a swan up the Botswana bwana

In this African summer

Now smell my skin producing vitamin D

By the sea and the blare of the radio

Says there’s one inch to go

In this African summer, African summer, African summer.

MY CRIME READING FAVES

Dave’s Shelf L-M

Since I blundered onto The Maltese Falcon in the school library at age 14 (I was looking for a book about knights and squires and thought it sounded swords and shields like) I have been a lover of crime fiction. A volume of Sherlock Holmes stories as a birthday gift was the next major crime fiction event in my life but then I seemed to drift into literary books; Kafka, Grass, Pynchon etc. Then on a holiday in Crete, confined to quarters by miserable weather, I scored a bunch of Agatha Christie novels from the seed merchant who doubled as second-hand book reseller. Fortunately the first one I read was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. What a ripper, I was hooked.

Nowadays I write crime novels myself. Number 11 After The Flood will be out in August. A Dan Clement book set in Broome, Western Australia, it is the third in the series. At first draft stage is Summer of Blood. Set in San Francsico in 1967 it takes my two Sydney detectives from my 1999 Big Bad Blood and puts them in SF at the height of flower-power. Fremantle Press have that slotted for Nov 2023.

Despite writing my own books I remain a dedicated reader of crime fiction. For reasons of space I only keep those novels I really, really, enjoy. (Although Kindle and Kobo are good for storage too) On my bookshelf there is no more favourite shelf than the L-M.

I had seen Camila Lackberg’s novels as TV episodes before I discovered the book in a second-hand bin. Her style of Scando-noir is probably the most copied template there is these days, especially by Australian authors. She’s excellent at creating a balance in the private life of her ‘detective’ and the case at hand. Dennis Lehane writes great tough-arsed detective books with complex plots and social resonance. His books make great movies. My great pal and guitarist Johnny Leopard got me onto Elmore Leonard back in the late 80s. Personally, I think Leonard is the best of all crime writers at capturing a character through dialogue. Incredibly succinct but with plots that interweve from multiple characters. Some of his books are far better than others, all good reads but the best like Get Shorty, Rum Punch or Freaky Deaky are sublime. And then of course there is my favourite contemporary crime-writer Henning Mankell. I love the Wallander series, the atmosphere, the marvellous character portraits, the effect of location and the variety of plots. Greg Manson’s novel is hidden down at the end. Greg is a mate of mine and this is his Brisbane crime novel. So good to see a crime novel set there. The Ns and Ps on the shelf below are pretty darn good too.

I hope these thoughts are useful to you as you choose your next crime novel – and of course would be grateful if you stuck some Warner on your list as well.

THE LIZARD IS BACK

The Murder In The — series featuring rock-muso Lizard Zirk has a new life.

Thanks to some welcome elastic thinking by those involved in the Untapped project, a bunch of Australian novels have been resurrected from book limbo and given vitality once more. Among these fortunate titles are three of my books `Murder in the Groove’, ‘Murder in the Frame’ and ‘Murder in the Off-Season’.

The Untapped project sought to see if there would be a demand for out-of-print works if again available. Starting with libraries and then expanding to Amazon Kindle the books have indeed found an audience. My series of books featuring amateur-sleuth Andrew 'The Lizard' Zirk a prematurely retired rock-star came out in the early 2000s. Sherlock Holmes played the violin, for Zirk it’s a Stratocaster. Sherlock had Watson as his sidekick, Zirk has his chauffeur Fleur.

Not quite cosy crime the books are nonetheless relatively light, intended as a breezy read for those who like the clue-puzzle style of Agatha Christie, or the humour of screen pairings of male and female like `The Thin Man’ or ‘Hart to Hart.’ They are a long way away from my more hard-boiled books like ‘City of Light’ and ‘Big Bad Blood.’ However, in the years since they were written there has been a huge upsurge in interest in crime fiction of all genres, and these easy reads seem to be hitting the mark.

There is talk that they may even be out again soon in print but in the meantime you can pick up an e-book or (if in Australia) request them at the most wonderful of institutions, your local library.

Murder in the Groove e-book , Murder in the Frame e-book Murder in the Off-Season

WHAT LOVE REALLY IS

AN ABSOLUTELY NEW WARNER SINGLE

While I continue to write new music I am aware that most of those fans I do still have, really want to hear `the old stuff’. Hey, I’m no different, we always like to delve back into the familiar and bathe in the wave of fond memories that we associate with songs we love. Still, I hear songs in my head of all different varieties and I work on them and create new songs. Many of these you may never hear because the process of actually recording the songs is an intenstive process that requires more time and money than can ever be recaptured by the 1/100th of a cent we artists get for a stream. It also requires the help and goodwill of friends who brings their expertise to bear and I particularly thank Tony Cooper on this one.

I first heard What Love Really Is' in my head about 4-5 years ago when I was on my usual walk by the ocean. The verse came first, then the chorus which I heard as something Brian Wilson circa 1971 might have come up with. The middle was the last to hit me but I really like the change there.

Around this time I had a bunch of new ‘coastal’ songs rearing up at me. Combined with two much older songs in the same vein I was inspired to do a ‘coastal’ album. Well, COVID hasn’t helped progress that and frankly I guess who really cares beside me? Still, I like writing songs and always hope they may touch somebody out there.

So I’m releasing ‘What Love Really Is’ this Friday and hopefully will get the album done. Maybe people who have been through a breakup will find that this song resonates with them. I guess it’s all about the cliche – moving on.

photo Bleddyn Butcher Fremantle 1976

Maybe if we’d met  this  year Love would still be here

Instead of such sorrow  there’d be tomorrow

Maybe if we’d met this week Life would still be sweet

Instead of us scheming we would be dreaming

But when too much water’s flowed under the bridge

It won’t leave you high just dry

When every day your nerves are on edge

It’s time to say goodbye.

Maybe what Love really is is not some potent fizz

But accidental timing a trick of the lighting

And regrettably for us we’ve done Too much since we begun

For our couplets to be … matching

Chorus

Babe I wish it wasn’t so

But one of us just has to go

When every day is more heartbreak

It’s a mistake … to stay

Perhaps one day we’ll meet again

And time will be our friend

And we will be asking, why we did this parting

 But the odds are that when all these

Tears are dry we won’t be here

We’ll find another, more love discover 

When too much water’s flowed under the bridge

It won’t leave you high just dry

When every day your nerves are on edge it’s time to say, it’s time to say … goodbye.

You can download via ITunes or Bandcamp and stream on Spotify etc.

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DAVE’S AUSTRALIA ADVENT JUKEBOX #28

CONVICT STREAK

Finally the endpoint has arrived, the last track on the Australia Day Jukebox for this year. No surprises. There are many Aussie songs I’ve written that I could’ve added: Beneath The Southern Cross, Kangaraoo Hop, The Year East Freo Won The Flag, but this will have to do. Younger Australians wouldn’t understand what it was like growing up in an era of skin tight shorts and John Newcombe moustaches. So I’ll confine my comments to – have a fine day taking pride in whatever you do or love that is uniquely Australian.

CONVICT STREAK

Maybe it’s because of our convict streak

We want to fight everyone we meet

Anzac Day is our day of the year

We march our march and we drink our beer

We don’t like Slopes, we don’t like Yanks

I’d personally like to blow up every Commy tank

We’re only few but we fought in ‘Nam

Packed our guns alongside Uncle Sam

Ask any of us it was no sin

The only crime was that we didn’t win

And the Poms are weak as piss the French are queer

The Germans are wankers but they make good beer

Don’t criticise what you don’t understand

If you think I’m talking shit

You don’t belong in this land

I’m Australian we all are

We watch the tele and we drive our cars

But don’t you ever say we’re weak

Or you’ll learn all about our convict streak

The world began with Adam and Eve

But Australia started at Gallipoli

We put the desert into Desert Rats

Our uncles slipped the boot in down in Lambing Flats

Don’t criticise what you don’t understand

It’s not that we’re behind the times we’re a different land

We might be slobs but we’re not weak

Maybe it’s because of our convict streak

the Poms are weak as piss the French are queer

The Germans are wankers but they make good beer

Don’t criticise what you don’t understand

If you think I’m talking shit

You don’t belong in this land

I’m Australian so are you

Doesn’t matter if you’re Ding or Jew

Just remember while you’re here

You march our march and you drink our beer

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DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY ADVENT JUKEBOX #27

SUBURBAN ROCK

Recorded live at Bombay Rock 1978 this shows how powerful the band was. Wonderful musicianship from all involved, remarkable bass from Paul Noonan, great skins Howie, Leopard sounding like the heir to Hendrix, Tony consumate and Denno brilliant on an array of keyboards. I don’t think many bands have been able to crank out a live track with this much energy. The song itself was a reaffirmation of ‘suburban rock’ my theory made practical. Having formed punk band Pus in 1972, gobbing on ceilings well before Johnny Rotten, it was time to move onto something absolutely original. Enter suburban rock, middle class rock, suburban rock. In this version ‘Fred Stolle’ replaces ‘Bill Lawry’. (Click on title for track).

SUBURBAN ROCK

I’m anti-intellectual I’m a suburban bore

I’m not a punk rocker I been there before

Anyway punk rockers are really heads

They’ve only gone where the hippies lead

Me and my music are of the middle class

Fads come and go but the middle class lasts

Suburban Rock Suburban Rock TV Rock Suburban Rock

I’m Bill Lawry generation and like my father before

Like my beer after work and my four on the floor

I live with my parents don’t smoke shit

If you do you’re full of it

I make no apologies for not being poor

Working class culture’s a loud mouth boor

Suburban rock, suburban rock, TV rock, suburban rock.

I don’t ride subways don’t sheer sheep

I don’t live in the outback I think it’s for creeps

We don’t live in the desert we live by the sea

Take note students of Australian identity

Saturday football Wednesday TV

I’ve got my identity

I’ve got my identity

Suburban rock, suburban rock, TV rock, suburban rock.

I’m anti-intellectual I’m a suburban bore

I’m not a punk rocker I been there before

Anyway punk rockers are really heads

They’ve only gone where the hippies lead

Me and my music are of the middle class

Fads come and go but the middle class lasts

Suburban Rock Suburban Rock TV Rock Suburban Rock

DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY ADVENT JUKEBOX #26

MONSTER’S BACK

This is one of my oldest songs though of course it is constantrly updated. It started in 1974 to mark the return of Pus and then has morphed through the decades while retianing the same overt message. This version is the most recent produced by Tony Cooper. Enjoy. (click on title for video)

DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY ADVENT JUKEBOX #25

MILLION MILES FROM HOME

One of the best songs I’ve written and I know many fans love it, so hope you enjoy it. (Just click on the title for the video)