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Singing Along

6 December 2005
Filed under Melbourne, Music, Text

Just about my favourite song of Paul Kelly’s is based on a Raymond Carver short story, and it’s called Everything’s Turning to White. Robert Altman used the same story in Short Cuts - it’s the one about some guys who go fishing and find the body of a young girl in the river. Rather than pulling her out, they move a little further upstream to fish, and report it a few days later when they finish their camping holiday. It’s a brutal and haunting story, and the song can bring tears to my eyes on the right occasion.

Last night, when Sophie and I went to see the first night of Paul’s four-night, 100-song ‘Solo from A-Z’ extravaganza at the Spiegeltent, I didn’t expect him to make it to ‘E’, but he eventually got there in the encores. I was standing up the back near a bunch of drunken yobbos*, and was somewhat amused to hear them singing along. Everything’s Turning to White is told, with wrenching pathos, from the point of view of a woman, which is funny enough - but I had to stifle a laugh when they merrily belted out “the girl had been strangled to death and also molested” (although to give them credit, they did kind of tail off a bit at ‘molested’).

* A Paul Kelly concert is the only non-sporting cultural event that bunches of blokes can go to in Melbourne without looking poofy. It’s a fact. It’s also apparently the only cultural event in Melbourne at which it’s acceptable to RING SOMEBODY ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE WHILE THE CONCERT IS IN PROGRESS. Bah.

Views from the Floor

jellyfish says:

Was the concert good? Are you going to the others? One of those things you see in the program and go, 'Yeah, that'd be ace' and then (if you're me) totally forget to do anything about. Bah.

And you're absolutely right about the yobbo factor. I once went to a Paul concert in London. BAD MOVE. Every Aussie gimp on a beer-pulling English working holiday had stumbled out of their Shepherd's Bush hovel and into the concert venue, where they proceeded to talk through the show and occasionally yell 'Play every fucking city!' in Paul's direction. Then one of then stole my camera. Bad.

Virginia says:

The concert WAS good, but it felt a little bit like going through the motions - the 'B's were pretty boring, and the alphabetical format made the structure a bit odd. Still, we got to hear Deeper Water and Dumb Things, so we didn't dip out on the hits.

kate says:

Paul Kelly at the racecourse is also a bit odd. For starters it was daylight.

I wanted to go to the alphabetical gigs but finances intervened.

There's also a Dan & Al show at the tent this Saturday, which I will miss, but should be fab and of interest to Kelly fans.

Speak, friend, and enter


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