Songs about Australian cities: From Midnight Oil to Courtney Barnett
From Midnight Oil to Courtney Barnett, these songs of Australian cities celebrate everything they have to offer.
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The cities of Australia have long served as a fertile muse for our songwriters.
Songs celebrating their icons and underbelly, landmarks and natural wonders, their good, bad and ugly moments, the things that make you want to stay forever or get out for good.
From rock classics by our finest writers now ingrained on the Australian soundtrack to lesser known gems embraced by a new generation of music fans, there is an impressive playlist for the capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Here’s just a sample of the songs of your town.
SONGS ABOUT SYDNEY
BREAKFAST AT SWEETHEARTS, COLD CHISEL
Don Walker has a preternatural gift for translating his keen observations of the character and concerns of Australians into songs which resonate across the decades.
From his seat at a table at a long-lost Kings Cross cafe, the celebrated songwriter sipped his coffee and took in the everyday scene of the daily street sweep and the taciturn waitress to conjure an iconic Cold Chisel anthem.
While the song received little love from radio stations when it was released in 1979, it has become a much-loved staple of their hits compilations and live performances.
DARLING IT HURTS, PAUL KELLY
Kings Cross and its surrounds also proved to be fertile song hunting ground for Walker’s mate Paul Kelly.
The single From St Kilda To Kings Cross was actually written on Walker’s piano in his flat in the inner-city suburb which harboured dozens of famous artists in the 70s and 80s.
A year afters its release, Kelly issued Darling It Hurts – the title a play on the neighbouring suburb Darlinghurst – which documented the local scene of sex workers and drug dealers plying their respective trades.
RECKLESS, AUSTRALIAN CRAWL
The opening lines of this enduringly popular 1983 ballad from the surf rock chart-toppers poetically captured the scene of the idyllic commute across Sydney Harbour.
“Meet me down by the jetty landing, Where the pontoons bump and spray, The others reading, standing. As the Manly Ferry cuts its way to Circular Quay.”
Reckless is one of the most covered Australian anthems with versions recorded by Paul Kelly. John Farnham, Children Collide, Angie Hart and The Butterfly Effect.
DEEP WATER, RICHARD CLAPTON
Like Chisel’s Don Walker, Clapton also had a knack – and sense of pride – for capturing the details about the Australian landscape, way of life and underbelly in song.
“Sitting out on the Palm Beach Road, I’m so drunk and the car won’t go, And my crazy eyes keep looking out to sea,” Clapton sings in the final verse.
The song also immortalises some of Sydney’s famous clubs of the 70s which no longer exist including the Trocadero.
WEDDING CAKE ISLAND, MIDNIGHT OIL
There’s not a word about Sydney – it’s an instrumental.
For all of the namechecks the suburbs and landmarks get in The Oils’ catalogue, this stunning surf rock piece is an evocative musical tribute to the natural beauty of the Australian coast.
It was named after the jagged rocky crop off Coogee which resembles a wedding cake as the whitewash crashes over it.
Honourable mentions: You Gotta Love This City, The Whitlams; The Cicada That Ate Five Dock, Outline; What Sydney Looks Like In June, Alex The Astronaut, Blacktown To Bondi, Mental As Anything; My City of Sydney, Tommy Leonetti
International surprise: Fast Boat To Sydney, Johnny Cash. Country music legends Johnny and June Carter Cash penned their 1967 song after their first tour here … about his love of Australian women. It features the lyric: “I’ll be hopping like a kangaroo.”
SONGS ABOUT MELBOURNE
LEAPS AND BOUNDS, PAUL KELLY
One of the most evocative and much-loved songs about the Victorian capital by a songwriter who has namechecked dozens of Australian places over his four decade career.
While it will inevitably pop up on any “essential” playlist of the master craftsman’s catalogue, Leaps and Bounds has become an annual AFL Grand Final anthem, courtesy of the song’s iconic opening lyrics.
“I’m high on the hill/Looking over the bridge/To the M.C.G./And way up on high/The clock on the silo/Says eleven degrees”.
Fun fact is the B side of this 1987 single was Kelly’s tribute to cricket legend Don Bradman.
FOUR SEASONS IN ONE DAY, CROWDED HOUSE
Neil Finn formed Crowded House in Melbourne with Nick Seymour and Paul Hester, with this melancholic beauty of a song penned when he lived in east St Kilda.
Fans have long associated the title with the city’s fickle weather with many citing the lyric “the sun shines on the black clouds hanging over the domain” as referring to the Kings Domain at the Botanical Gardens.
The song was co-written with Tim Finn and originally intended for the debut Finn Brothers album but instead found a home on Woodface when the older brother joined Crowded House for a bit.
DEPRESTON, COURTNEY BARNETT
The indie rock songwriting genius put the slang term for the Melbourne suburb on the global map with her 2015 hit.
Barnett cleverly skewers the perils of the ridiculous real estate market as the song’s narrator and partner searching for new digs.
“You said we should look out further, I guess it wouldn’t hurt us, we don’t have to be around all these coffee shops,” Barnett sings.
ACCIDENTLY KELLY STREET, FRENTE!
This jaunty indie pop gem heralded the debut album from the 90s chart-toppers.
Sung by the infectiously delightful Angie Hart, its title was inspired by a mix-up when band member Tim O’Connor told his mates he was moving to Kelly St in Richmond when he was in fact about to take up residence in Kenny St.
And then the record label spelled accidentally wrong when printing the single sleeve.
CARLTON (LYGON STREET LIMBO), SKYHOOKS
The theatrical pop rockers were enthusiastic writers about their Melbourne surrounds with a litany of songs about its suburbs including Balwyn Calling and Toorak Cowboy.
This track celebrated the myriad characters of the inner-city hub, the “grey-haired writers and drunken fighters”, “night time junkies and long haired monkeys” and “Divine Lighters and window wipers.”
Honourable mentions: Melbourne, The Whitlams; The Boy Who Lost His Jocks On Flinders Street Station, Painters and Dockers; The Boys Light Up, Australian Crawl; All Torn Down, The Living End and When We’re In Fitzroy, Gretta Ray.
International surprise: Rain, The Beatles
The B side to their 1966 single Paperback Writer was inspired by their visit to the waterlogged city in 1964. Despite coming from a country renowned for its regular precipitation. John Lennon was apparently intrigued by our penchant for “moaning” about the weather.
SONGS ABOUT BRISBANE
STREETS OF YOUR TOWN, THE GO-BETWEENS
Written by band co-founder, the late great Grant McLennan, the song became the much-loved indie band’s “biggest” hit and regularly tops any poll about Brisbane bands and their hometown odes.
While The Go-Betweens often used Queensland and its capital city as its muse, this shimmering pop song employs less direct references to evoke some of Brisbane’s character.
It is often misunderstood as an upbeat celebration of summer in the city as opposed to some of its pointed lyrical commentary about life in the era of the notorious Bjelke-Petersen government.
I’M STRANDED, THE SAINTS.
It’s always a toss up between this track and the more direct reference of the punk rock heroes’ song titled Brisbane (Security City).
This 1976 anti-hit brought the band – and by default, their hometown – to the attention of British music pundits.
The visceral yet melodic music reportedly came to guitarist Ed Kuepper on a midnight train home to the Brisbane’s far-flung suburbs.
DEPARTURE (BLUE TOOWONG SKIES), BERNARD FANNING
Of course you could cheat and just cite Powderfinger’s entire Vulture Street album as a musical celebration of the Queensland city.
But this poignant track from the ‘Finger frontman, who grew up in Toowong, is a specific musical wander down memory lane Fanning wrote after the death of his father and the catastrophic floods of 2011.
It’s a beautiful narrative about family and a sense of place in the world.
ELECTRICAL STORM, ED KUEPPER
The title track of Kuepper’s first solo album is a musical distillation of the oppressive tropical humidity which cloaked Brisbane and the welcome relief as the sky crackled with lightning and shook with thunder ahead of the downpour washing away the cloying stickiness.
“Twelve o’clock in the morning, I can’t even raise my head, Been here since six this evening
Feel like I’m glued to this bed, Watchin’ this electrical storm,” Kuepper sings.
But like many tracks of the era, Electrical Storm is also about getting out of town.
MEET ME IN THE MALL IN BRISBANE, JUDITH DURHAM
The beloved Seekers frontwoman clearly loved holidaying the sunny capital.
The song featured on her Australian Cities Suite album recorded with Orchestra Victoria which was released in 2008.
Its such a jolly celebration of the city, the weather, the “houses on stilts”, trees, bridges and the fact “people say gidday to you”.
Honourable mentions: Inferno (Brisbane In The Summer), Robert Forster; Brisvegas, John Kennedy’s 68 Comeback Special; Sarah, Kate Miller Heidke; Dreamworld, Midnight Oil and Come On Mess Me Up, Cub Sport.
International surprise: Moreton Bay, John Denver. The famed troubadour of Americana – Take Me Home Country Roads, Rocky Mountain High – also fell in love with Australia when he fell in love with actor Cassandra Delaney in 1988. The song featured on the live album he recorded at the Sydney Opera House.
SONGS ABOUT ADELAIDE
ADELAIDE, PAUL KELLY
The national treasure grew up in the South Australian capital and this song gathers vignettes about his childhood.
It describes the street where he grew up, the family home and more poignantly, the death of his father.
The scenes are vibrant with the kind of beautiful detail Kelly uses in his storytelling and yet eloquently simple.
ONE MORE BORING NIGHT IN ADELAIDE, REDGUM
This isn’t a take-down of the city but rather a potshot of the tired cliches levelled at it.
Recorded back in 1978, the song lampoons the sleepy, quiet town tropes which used to dog Adelaide and is full of wonderful details about life in the 70s including the “orange laminex pizza bars” and “hanging out at discos.”
The city would have its revenge in the decades to become known as the Festival State because of its arts culture.
CITY OF LIGHT, HILLTOP HOODS
From their 2005 chart-topping record The Hard Road, these proud South Australian celebrate the duality of their hometown with City of Light.
“I’m from the city of light, with a sky of vanilla/Known as the City of Churches, home of the serial killer,” perfectly exemplifies their gift for brilliant wordplay.
The track also celebrates the group’s early rap aspirations and the hard slog to keep their dreams alive.
HOME AND BROKEN HEARTED, COLD CHISEL
Don Walker penned this track for the band’s self-titled debut album about travelling back home for Christmas in a second-hand Morris bought in Sydney.
But like most Walker sonic tales; it’s not the happiest of yarns. The car almost boils over in the heat, the girlfriend dumps the singer at Christmas and he ends up spending the holidays alone.
The worst news? “The beer we bought for Christmas ran dry this afternoon.”
ADELAIDE, BEN FOLDS
An honorary Australian of sorts who has spent considerable time in the City of Churches clearly loves the city, as evidenced by this musical tribute.
Folds lovingly documents the “bogans” at the “motor race”, the people watching of Rundle Mall, the clear sir and the fact there is “better beer” in Adelaide.
Perhaps its finest attribute, according to the song, is “the world could turn, Or crash and burn
And you would never know it.”
Honourable mentions: Northern, Bad/Dreems; Hindley Street, Powderfinger; Blackwood Hill, Becky Cole; Lost In Adelaide, Spiderbait and Howl At The Moon, Don Walker.
International surprise: Town With No cheer, Tom Waits
The rock poet with one of the most distinctive whisky growls on the planet penned this song when he returned home from an Australian tour with a newspaper clipping which had caught his attention while in Adelaide.
The story documented the sad tale of the imminent closure of the only pub in the railway suburb of Serviceton, on the South Australian and Victorian border.
What’s your favourite song about your city? Tell us in the comments below.
Originally published as Songs about Australian cities: From Midnight Oil to Courtney Barnett
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