Australian Locality Songs 1900-1963
Social observer and sometime pal, Phillip Adams, titled his June 5th The Weekend Australian column 'Let's Sing Our Own Praises' lamenting the absence of regional songs in Australia's popular culture.
"While Venice, Rio and Dublin's fair city have their ditties, Australian metropolises are left languishing. And while songwriters flood the Mississippi and Loch Lomond with their tears, our rivers are, in terms of emotional outpourings, drought-stricken."
Well, Phillip definitely got that one wrong! I am indebted to recorded music
enthusiast Mike Sutcliffe and his associates, all members of ASRA, in compiling this extraordinary list of songs that celebrate our towns, cities and environment.
This list of song titles has been compiled from recordings, sheet music copies and songster books.Not included are the national name and stat names (e.g. Australia, Queensland). Some of the titles are based on older folk songs with undated/copyrighted lyrics. Used in this research was the late Ken Snell's book, Australian Popular Music - Title Index.
Where recordings are known of a popular title, and if recorded within the above mentioned timespan, they are shown after the listing - which shows TITLE --- COMPOSER and/or LYRICIST --- © DATE (if known). Click on the following links which show the songs in alphabetical order:
Feedback
There was a big response from readers on the Locality Songs List. Starting with a big list from Jack Greaves of brass and band songs:
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