Jimmy Barnes reveals plans for a new book and songs after surgery

Music legend Jimmy Barnes has revealed what he plans to do after he undergoes surgery for an agonising health issue.

All Jimmy Barnes wants for Christmas, besides a new hip, is a No.1 record.

The beloved rocker is shooting for a record-breaking 20th No.1 with Blue Christmas, his first collection of seasonal favourites.

While he will be forced off his feet after his final concert at the Valo Adelaide 500 this weekend ahead of surgery in two weeks, the Working Class Man will still be hard at work.

Barnes, 66, will spend his time signing thousands of personalised Christmas cards to fans who are rallying to support the record this week in the campaign to get Blue Christmas to No.1, confirming him as the artist with the most chart-toppers in ARIA chart history.

That Christmas card challenge will help distract him from the excruciating pain he has suffered in recent months because of an enduring back condition and deteriorating hips from 50 years of “jumping off PAs, abseiling from the roof of the (Sydney) Entertainment Centre to the stage and dropping the last three metres, hanging off lighting trusses, jumping off horses, all the dumb things”.

Barnes spends half his gigs singing while bent over. Picture: NCA.

“Jane is the best nurse in the world so she’ll make sure I pace myself so I don’t get sore because sitting in a chair too long it hurts,” he said.

“It hurts lying down, it hurts walking, it hurts breathing and there’s nothing you can do. I’m not big on painkillers.”

Barnes hopes to be out of hospital after the surgery a couple of days before Christmas Day to reunite with his family at their Berrima home.

His wife Jane has already joked she will be wearing the sexy latex nurse uniform she bought to greet him when he had his heart surgery in 2007 to replace a congenital faulty aortic valve.

“She wore it when I came out of ICU after the heart surgery and it just about stopped my heart then,” he joked.

Jimmy Barnes with his wife Jane in her sexy latex nurse’s uniform. Picture: Facebook.

Barnes said he will also spend his recuperation writing a new book and songs for his next album.

The cancellation of his shows, announced on Tuesday, come after Barnes recently cancelled a gig in Penrith citing “rising Covid cases” but it now appears the show couldn’t go on due to the Working Class Man suffering crippling pain.

Barnes, who is notoriously restless and can barely sit still for longer than an hour, joked his family will have to put up with him playing his first silly season record Blue Christmas on high rotation during his recovery.

“The operation will keep me cooped up over summer and I’m a notoriously cranky patient,

so I probably need to buy noise cancelling headphones for my family too – that way

they’ll hopefully still be talking to me when I’m back on my feet,” he said.

Barnes has suffered crippling hip and back pain in recent months. Picture: NCA.

Barnes has enlisted family and friends to fill in on the gigs which couldn’t be rescheduled.

The Hoodoo Gurus will step in to headline the By The C festivals, while Jon Stevens, Daryl Braithwaite and Diesel have been added to the line-up for Summernats in Canberra on January 26.

“I’m very grateful that the Gurus have agreed to headline these three big gigs in my

absence,” Barnes said.

“(It) means that the other bands on the bill, like The Living End, Wolfmother and Noiseworks, will still get their chance to rock. That’s important for everyone after all the disrupted touring over recent years so I strongly encourage people to #keepyourticket and support some of our finest Aussie artists at these shows.”

For all rescheduled dates, cancellations and ticket details, go to jimmybarnes.com