This is Australia

This summer just gone was the hottest summer I can remember. Never before do I recall willing on Autumn like I did in February. And never before have I had the strains of Gang Gajang’s ‘Sounds of Then’ running through my head so often, wearing musical grooves into my brain.

Out on the patio we’d sit,
And the humidity we’d breathe,
We’d watch the lightning crack over canefields
Laugh and think, this is Australia.

For me, no other song conjures up so perfectly the feel, sensations and experience of our hot summers. Pure association, I guess. Continue reading

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Summer’s Story

“Out on the patio we’d sit,
And the humidity we’d breathe,
We’d watch the lightning crack over canefields
Laugh and think that this is Australia”

Sounds of Then (This is Australia), GANGgajang, written by M. Callaghan, released 1985

I love this song. To me it encapsulates the feeling of summer in Australia. That refrain particularly. I can’t articulate why or how, but when I hear it, images flash across my mind, fleeting yet intense, all hot and sultry. Cotton, sweat beading on skin, heat that means you can’t move, the click of a ceiling fan in motion, icey drinks. For me, it’s evocative and takes me some place else. Continue reading

The Sounds of Summer

I hope this blog post finds you happy and revived after the Christmas and New Year break. Wherever you were and with whomever you celebrated, I trust it was fun and yummy. We had a quiet and relaxed Christmas here, and New Year has been fun, catching up with friends.

In between, I’ve been enjoying the familiar sounds of summer – the two that top my list are: the drone of the cicadas and the cricket on the radio.

Bush Radio Continue reading