Somehow that front room at Stuart Street in Northbridge, dark as it was and unremarkable, gave me the surroundings for this song and
for kathleen, two of the more narrative pieces on the CD. The lyric of as long as I know you love me contains not only predictability
but also the occasional personal view. "…letters filled with sacred lines…" mean more to me than words in so-called holy books. Letters
from those I love are of my knowledge and reckoning and more preferable to me than the hand-me-down disarray of hearsay attributed
to writers of letters in tomes that should have been assigned to mere history rather than being venerated by those who perhaps rely
on third party supplication.
An Extraordinary Way
Location, location, location; the catch cry of real estate agents who wish to peddle
their properties on burgled boundaries was also the basis of the move by Eddie Koiki Mabo to focus attention on the location of his
people's land. He realised that his people truly had the right to it. I agonised over the phrase "He was an ordinary man" because
I understood that he was exceptional. It was, in my poetic style, a way of contrasting the power of his personal mission with the
perception that he was not up to the task of leading such a monumental change. I know his legend will mature in the best possible
way because I believe compassionate people outweigh all others, if not in numbers then certainly in attitude.
As Long As I Know You Love Me
Old Karri Town
'Unique' is a unique word. It applies to eucalyptus diversicolor, known more commonly as the karri, that majestic tree
that's a native of the south west of Western Australia. There is a particularly attractive place on the south coast of WA, Denmark,
which used to be a karri town and a jarrah town and a marri town in those bad old days when all these giants of the forest, unique
to the south west of WA, were culled relentlessly. My first visit to that area opened my eyes and mind to that rare blend of spirit
and earth I believe resides there. In moments of alternative influences I've thought about leaving that area to move closer to others,
but then I think to myself, hey, why don't they move to Denmark? The old 'paean of praise' phrase pops into view but loving that space
goes into a different realm. In some ways it should be recognised as its own realm, its own flora, its own fauna encapsulated in an
area roughly the size of Liechtenstein. However, it is now an old karri town and thankfully not a new karri town. At least there will
be some tall timber for my grandchildren to gaze at in awe when they visit.
Soul To Soul
How intriguing to think that there could be
someone with whom one could be soul to soul. The ephemeral soul is credited with such subjective qualities that it takes on a separate
being for some. Perhaps then if, as a believer, my soul comes into close contact with, as a believer, your soul we could have soular
power. The sum will be greater than the total of the individual components. The concept of soul gives those non-secular folk an acceptable
route through their repressed pagan depths. In reality it may be just the sublime extension of the human brain's capacity for esotericity.
The song itself floats over a safety net of majors, minors, suspended ninths and a singing bowl. With the permission of my co-writers,
Annette Ducharme and Andrew Matheson, I will be entering soul to soul into the competition for Up And Coming Wedding Song Of The Twentyfirst
Century. Please consider it for your next nuptials. It will not disappoint.
I Wish You Would Change Your Mind
Secretly hoping that Eric
Clapton or a similar performer will cover this one. This is a rare excursion into a sad lyric for me. Luckily Jim Fisher was there
to make sure the maudlin quotient was not breached. Would like to claim the electric guitar solo as mine but Michael Cristian's fans
know his talent for tasteful restraint and they would have reported me to the guitar police in a trice. "Easy fixing broken windows…"
but fixing other things may not be so straightforward. Sometimes a change of mind is all that is needed. People who know me understand
that I frequently have difficulty taking this kind of advice.