Missy Higgins’ Scar listed among 60 best Australian songs since 1964
The Weekend Australian has named the 60 best Australian songs of the past 60 years, and Missy Higgins’s 2004 breakthrough hit Scar is among a rich mix of styles and genres.
Some songwriters, upon completing their newest work, are struck with a bolt of certainty that the music they’ve just composed will resonate through the ages as a sure-fire classic.
Missy Higgins certainly didn’t feel that way in 2004, aged 20, after she put the finishing touches on Scar, the song that would launch her sparkling career – and which The Weekend Australian has named as one of the best Australian songs from each of the past 60 years.
Its earworm chorus cascades in a series of questions: “And doesn’t that sound familiar? Doesn’t that hit too close to home?” she sings. “Doesn’t that make you shiver, the way things could have gone?”
As a vocal melody it’s a clear winner, and perhaps you’ve heard her voice in your ear while reading those lines just now – but it was that very sense of irresistibility that had the artist second-guessing herself.
“I thought that it was a bit cheesy,” Higgins, 40, told The Weekend Australian. “I was really worried about it; I thought that it was too catchy, and ‘pop’ was a dirty word.”
Led by Higgins’ plucky piano playing, acoustic guitars and a horn section, Scar – co-written with US musician Kevin Griffin – was a culture-shaping beast on release. It became a chart-topping, ARIA and APRA award-winning hit, and led into the runaway success of her first album The Sound of White, whose 12-times platinum certification indicates sales in excess of 840,000 copies in the CD era.
Its success, however, was double-edged for Higgins.
“I actually went through a little phase, in my mid 20s, of feeling a bit resentful of it: ‘Gosh, I’m going to be stuck playing this song for the rest of my life, and it’s just this silly, boppy pop song’,” she said. “I just didn’t think it had enough depth, or it wasn’t cool enough or something.
“But I’ve completely done a 180 on that now.
“I’m so grateful for that song, because of the joy that it brings me and the audience. I have a lot to thank that song for. It really lit a fire underneath my career – or a rocket, I should say.”
That rocket is still mid-flight: Higgins is nearing the end of a 40-date national tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of her debut, while also previewing songs from her forthcoming sixth album, titled The Second Act, to be released on September 6.
The sold-out tour has shifted about 80,000 tickets, and each night her crowd thrills at singing along to plenty of her songs, but perhaps none more so than Scar.
In Review today, as part of The Australian’s 60th anniversary celebration, we name the best Australian song from each of the past 60 years.
History editor Alan Howe has selected tracks from 1964 to 1989, and this writer has picked the greatest songs from 1990 to today.
Our list offers a rich mix of styles and genres; it features both chart-topping hits and lesser-known numbers, while telling the story of Australian music through 60 songs that shaped the nation.
Of her inclusion, said Higgins: “I’m thrilled. I’m chuffed. I’m really proud for ‘little Missy’: she’s still around today, and her songs are still fighting.”
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