The Last Frontier - song by Redgum
Thought I'd post this for people who haven't heard of the band Redgum.
They are a very Australian band from the 80s. Folk-rock kind of vibe. They have a lot of good songs.
This one is called "The Last Frontier" about a road trip to Alice Springs in central Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXgQnFD_gnE
There's a corrugated highway leading north from Port Augusta
Lined with ratted cars that didn't rate a tow
The Salt plains out of Pimba And your eyes begin to stream
On to Kingoonya huddled dusty by the road
Romantic notions shattered like the tyres that didn't hack it
This has got to be the country's last frontier
Where a sports car's next to useless running cattle grids and river beds
We drove a van from 1963
Someone mentioned walkabout And kiss your job goodbye
Just to see the country shimmer through the windscreen
Drinking beer, telling stories While laughter filled the night
And flexi-time's behind you like a bad dream
You got a flat on ANZAC Highway And Lawson on your shelf
Its a Southern Comfort, air-conditioned rage
Where a homestead's more than just a cheap print dangling from a wall
And mateship's more than lines upon a page
We went looking for Australia In between the TV lines
'Cause the ABC just couldn't make it real
Colour documentary From a beanbag on the floor:
Never shows as much as it conceals
A stark and blistered Alice Springs And a river runs with shame
And you wipe the sheets of bulldust from your eyes
Another country's uniform and the mirage it falls apart
To the open gap between the truth and lies
Go and see your country, mate the travel agents scream
Politicians sell it's heart just for a past-time
Signs and high-wire fences hold the land where I belong
It's as if I'm in the outback for the last time
Comments
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@RainyDayMan - it says video not available. good lyrics tho :)
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That's interesting. Link works for me. Don't know if there's some issue there about playing it from another country. You can always search for it if it interests you enough.
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Found it.. not my style, but it had a good melody.
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I found it. Cool tune, love the outdoorsy feel of the guitars, song and story. I'll have to check out more of their stuff. And yeah mate, I love the accent. Interesting how the Australian outback and the American west developed in similar ways. Appears the singer/writer is disillusioned with the way things have turned out. Have you ever heard of a guy named Banjo Paterson?
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Indeed, Banjo is famous in Australia. Man from snowy river and similar poems
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I really liked "We went looking for Australia In between the TV lines"
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that is a great line
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Howdy, Stranger!