Hey Three Tuners!

This week's tunage for @ablaze's project where Hivers share three tunes on a Tuesday is a version of a well known Australian song. I'm sure you know this one - but it's been stuck in my head all week. I have no idea why.

It's ear worming whilst I'm surfing.
It's ear worming whilst I'm in the garden.
It's earworming whilst I'm packing.

Maybe it's because I'm feeling sad about leaving my country. For all it's faults, I'm bloody lucky to live here. It's not the golden country - but it's close.

^{photo by moi}

Whenever I want to share a popular song we all know I look to see if there's any interesting covers, and then I remembered this one- I think it's about ten years old but it's still just absolutely glorious and made me love my country again - at least the good parts of it.

Here's another Aussie tune, covered by Perth band 'The Panics'. The orginal version, by 'The Triffids', who were also a Perth band, is such a beautiful, beautiful song that half breaks my heart every time I hear it. Can I just ask that if you don't have a lot of time today to listen to all three, skip the Panics version and go straight to the source underneath it. If you do have time, I'd be interested to see what version YOU like the best.

Have to say though, the original is far superior. I think he's only 24 years old in this clip, and it's 1986. I have to say the comments on YOutube say it better than I can, prickling with the heat of this hot Australian day:

You don't listen to this and think "hmm, yeah, an 80s song". You just feel a brilliant song reaching in, and touching your heart.

If this song had been written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, it would be right up there among his biggest and best hits and EVERYBODY would have heard it and no doubt raved about it... what a huge injustice it was (and still is) that The Triffids were largely ignored in Australia

This is one of the most essential Australian songs ever: the breadth of its poetry and lyric, the great landscape of its music...a long time ago, it followed me all over England and Europe across a year of backpacking, and I felt so proud to know it as somehow "mine": the loneliness, desolation and angst of the outsider lost in a great landscape...Dave and the band were such exceptional musicians and story tellers. After so many years, the power of this song has diminished not one iota - as with a favourite book, I return to it and feel forever haunted, nourished and inspired.

What more can I say?

It's a wide open road indeed.