One of my all time favourite Australian bands is Cold Chisel and I am glad to say that I introduced the band to a few people around the globe and continue to do so! There is nothing like singing your heart along to the sweet sounds of Khe Sanh, Cheap Wine, Forever Now, or Saturday Night after a barbecue and a few beers with friends.
I have always followed the career of Jimmy Barnes with interest and recently read something about his biography in something called the Icons of Australian Music: Jimmy Barnes! The revelations were like how the hell does one live to tell this tale?
The revelations included this pearler on the period of his life from 1998 - 2002:
"I was doing about 10 grams of cocaine a day, maybe taking six or eight ecstasy [pills] and drinking three bottles of vodka - all in a day, every day".
Barnes is now clean and sober. His marriage is supposedly stronger than ever and he is now recognized as a global UNICEF parent. By all accounts he and his wife have raised four well-adjusted kids. This is testament to the character of the individual and to his family that in spite of all these demons he has managed to do what so many struggle to do!
I would not survive a week, let alone four or five years of this kind of drug and alcohol use (or abuse)! Yet, despite this I have no less respect for the man or Cold Chisel, they remain favourites.
Cold Chisel rocks. You know it, I know it. Eternal gratitude for introducing them to me ;-)
ReplyDeleteWords from a working class man
ReplyDeleteOops...indeed...I should have included a mention about this anthem of all working class people!
ReplyDelete"working hard to make a living
bringing shelter from the rain
a fathers son left to carry on
blue denim in his vein
oh oh oh he's a working class man
well he's a steel town deciple
he's a legend of his kind
he's running like a cyclone
across the wild mid western sky
oh oh oh he's a working class man
he believes in god and elvis
he gets out when he can
he did his time in vietnam
still mad at uncle sam
he's a simple man
with a heart of gold
in a complicated land
oh he's a working class man
well he loves a little woman
someday he'll make his wife
saving all the overtime
for the one love of his life
he ain't worried about tomorrow
cause he just made up his mind
life's too short for burning bridges
take it one day at a time
oh oh oh he's a working class man
oh oh oh he's a working class man
oh yeah
yes he is
well he's a working class man
oh
ma ma . . . . . . . i tell you he's a working class man
(bv)
working class
working class man
yes he is
(bv)
working class
working class man
I wanna tell you he's a working class man
(bv)
working class
working class man
ma ma ma
(bv)
working class
working class man
I got to tell you he's a working class man
(bv)
working class
working class man
(bv)
working class
working class man
I tell you he's a working class man
(bv)
working class
working class man
(bv)
working class
working class man
I tell you he's a working class man"
It won't work in actual fact, that is what I suppose.
ReplyDelete