1. The First Song I Wrote
I’m a latecomer to songwriting, and wrote my first song (‘That Ain’t Love’) in my mid-20s. It wasn’t about anyone in particular, but came to mean more to me as I grew older and had to live through some of the dysfunctional things in that song. We recorded it on our EP, and we still play it live on occasions.
2. The Last Song I Released
Our last release was ‘Wild Eleanor’(you can find it on YouTube, Spotify, et cetera), which Jimmy [Daley, mandolin] wrote about a night in a shearing shed in rural New South Wales. Classic story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl. He didn’t remember her name afterwards, but he settled on Eleanor for the song. If you were said girl, get in contact. We had our five minutes of fame with this when we played it on The Bachelor (ugh), and it won an award at the Australian Songwriters Awards.
3.Songwriting Secrets
Jimmy and I share the songwriting in our band, and his approach differs from mine. The only common tip would be keep writing, and write a lot. Something will stick eventually.
4.The Song That Makes Me Proud
Jimmy wrote a song called ‘Council Chambers’ for my wedding day, which will always be special. It’s on our EP, although some of our other songs explain why we don’t play it any more.
5.The Song That Changed My Life
I heard Paul Kelly’s ‘To HerDoor’ a hundred times when I was a kid (and hated it), but as an adult I paid more attention to the songwriting. Paul says more in the opening four lines than most songwriters can in four minutes.
Sydney Rock ‘N’ Roll & Alternative Market, featuring The Morrisons, The Detonators, Cruisin’ Deuces and The Drey Rollan Band, happens Sunday November 27 atManning Bar.
