Song #33 OO A LA LA; OO A LA LA

 

OO A LA LA; OO A LA LA

LISTEN:   option A  /  option B (with Hiske)

I don’t see nothing wrong if you always win

You gotta take it all and it ain’t no sin

I’ve lived far too long with nothin’ in my hand

You gotta take it all and you gotta have a plan

Sorry if it’s your gasoline I’m using

Sorry if it’s your own space I’m taking

 

CHORUS

Up goes down, follow the sun

You gotta change your life for another one

Up goes down, follow the sun

You gotta change your life for another one

 

Once you had it all but now you don’t

Yesterday he came but tomorrow he won’t

You’re looking back to yesterday but that’s forever gone

Get up and look ahead come on come on

Many say to me that time is running out

I’m gonna find new shoes to run in

 

CHORUS

Oo a la la, Oo a la la, Oo a la la, Oo a la la (x4)

(and fade)

 

Michael Coghlan/Hiske Weijers 1983

A blatant attempt to write a bright and meaningless pop song. A quite catchy melody links a bunch of cliches. It’s actually a lot of fun to play.

 

Song #32 A Song for Innocence

 

SONG FOR INNOCENCE

 

I’m reaching out for love

And I fear that when it comes

It will pass me right on by without a word

This sad old crying world can leave you down

 

We all know this world has problems

We all know that times are hard

But try and accept with wisdom

The many things you cannot change

Let your anger turn to joy if you care at all

About that drunk and lonely man on the road – goin’ nowhere

 

If you want to point a finger at the poor old man’s oppressors

If you want to preach a message then make it one of hope

And if you have no hope left in you keep you quiet

What are you doing preaching words of shock and hate?

 

We are all tethered to the same big tree

We’re all in this together: sadness, you and me

If you wanna give us something clever, give us words of hope

Try and make it easier for those who’ve lost their way

Your shocking angry sermons are a waste of words

 

No one’s listening

Are you listening?

If you’re listening

Sing I am listening…..

 

(Copyright Michael Coghlan 1983)

 

COMMENTARY

I had gone back to the theatre for the first time since I left school and found myself in a production that I think may have been called Songs of Innocence and Experience. Just checked and yes it was a collection of poems by William Blake.  There was a scene where the director wanted me to read a particular poem that I found offensive and I refused. It was one of those moments where I can be quite stubborn – I didn’t feel like such a poem added anything of value to the world. I know I didn’t read the poem in the play – perhaps someone else did – but I went away and wrote this song in response. I didn’t ever show it to the director! For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed the production and have many find memories of it.

Argentina and Adelaide’s Lockdown – Another COVID Tale

for my dear friend Rita in Rosario :)

Argentina and Adelaide’s Lockdown – Another COVID Tale

What does Argentina have to do with Adelaide’s lockdown? Well as it turns out, very little! Earlier in the year an 81 year old Adelaide resident, originally from Argentina, went back to Argentina for a visit with his daughter. This immediately begs the question - how did they get permission for this journey? There are few details made public about why they were allowed to travel to Argentina and back but the fact is hundreds of Australians have been refused permission to leave or enter the country.

However, the man and his daughter began their two weeks hotel quarantine in Sydney on their return. Towards the end of this quarantine period the man apparently had a fall in his hotel room and had to be transferred to a general hospital. He was COVID tested, found to be negative, and eventually discharged and returned home to Adelaide.

Some days later he developed breathing problems and together with is daughter presented with his symptoms at the emergency department of a local hospital at 2.30 am. What kind of person walks into a hospital with breathing problems in this day and age? What the hell were they thinking???? He was COVID tested, found to be positive, and immediately 57 emergency ward staff at the hospital are sent into quarantine and the emergency department shut down!

When this story was reported in the media we all started thinking it was another case of someone bringing COVID into Australia from overseas. BUT, it turns out the 81 year old gentleman caught the virus in the hospital in Sydney!! Because he and his daughter had been cleared of COVID in Sydney they just went about their normal life when they got back to Adelaide. Now he and his daughter and 10 other people in the community are infected, and thousands of primary contacts – from restaurants, schools, offices, shops - are in home isolation. And the entire state of South Australia is now in a 7 day stay-at-home lockdown.

So if the old man hadn’t fallen over in his hotel room this wouldn’t have happened. But he can’t be blamed. The virus was already raging in Sydney. It did come from overseas – an overseas aircrew passed it on to the driver of a minibus some weeks earlier and it quickly spread because the NSW state government were reluctant to enter lockdown. In the end they had no choice, but they were too late. By then the virus had spread through most Australian states and consequently I sit here in lockdown again.

COVID TALE II

 A friend of mine has been playing with some musicians for a few years and gradually developing a collection of songs they might eventually play at gigs. Recently a new member joined the band. When my friend went to this new person’s house for band practice the band were talking about COVID vaccinations and a couple of them were saying they would not be getting the vaccine. When my friend told the others he was already vaccinated he was told he was not welcome at the house because he would now be passing the virus on to other people in the band!! My friend has since left the band and is really disappointed. Three years of building up a repertoire and musical relationships down the drain because of dumbf***ery.

COVID-19: the gift that keeps on giving.

 

 

 

Illuminate Adelaide – Light Cycles

 

Botanic Gardens, Sun 18 Jul 

Light Cycles is one of the flagship events of Illuminate Adelaide, and has been created by Montreal-based multimedia studio Moment Factory. The light and sound installations that entrance as you wander the lit path through the darkness are tailored to specific parts of the gardens. The bamboo garden becomes this wondrous spectacle of dancing light on the densely packed bamboo stalks. Mesmerising beams of light dance and bounce of trees on the other side of the lake in a hypnotic, wondrous spectacle. Elsewhere a myriad of twinkling lights gives the effect of wandering through vast open fields. And the beautiful Victorian glass (Palm House) seemed like it has been sitting there for a hundred plus years just waiting for Light Cycles to realise its full potential.

Each installation is accompanied by soundscapes that are part music, part sound effects. They tantalise as you draw near the next installation and perfectly complement the visual fantasies on offer.

It was a brilliant decision to hold this event in winter. OK – so a few nights may be lost to poor weather – but dragging yourself out into the cold winter night makes you somehow appreciate the whole experience even more. The cold no longer matters as you’re transported to a world of fantasy and wonder – just a little bit Zen really!

No doubt everyone wandering through Light Cycles is aware of how fortunate we are to be living virtually COVID free in South Australia. So it was alarming that the early part of the session I attended was a logjam of people in long queues ignoring social distancing and not wearing masks. Organisers have to sort this. Let fewer people in per session and monitor the crowd movement to keep people properly spaced. (As I write Illuminate Adelaide management are working on a plan to address this issue.)

But once past the logjam it was possible to enjoy the rest of the circuit wandering at a leisurely pace and let the senses take over; let your eyes, ears and mind explore the colourful darkness as art, light, technology and sound transform the gardens into – yes it’s a cliché – a winter wonderland!

POSTSCRIPT: 3 days later Adelaide went into a 7 day COVID lockdown. Hopefully this wonderful event can re-emerge on Jul 28th ....

What Australia Has Lost

I began reading Anh Do’s The Happiest Refugee yesterday. Anh and his family came here as boat people from Vietnam in 1980. It wasn’t long before the tears came. Not just because of the intensely emotional circumstances surrounding their gruelling boat journey away from Vietnam, but because of what Australia has lost as a nation.

Found in the South China Sea, Anh’s family were ferried to Malaysia and after time in a refugee camp they were resettled in Australia. Anh writes that for some years his family used to thank Bob Hawke in their nightly prayers for letting them come and live in his country! In fact, the number of times Anh recounts outpourings of gratitude from his family towards Australia is disarming. I cried because I felt enormous pride that we were once a nation that took in refugees and gave them shelter. I was proud to be part of that Australia. I cried too because our more recent policy towards refugees sees them languishing in a stateless limbo for years. I cried because I’m embarrassed that we have become so mean-spirited to those in dire need.

Anh Do’s story is full of references to decent human behaviour from average Australians helping newcomers adjust to life here. On the personal level, when you do someone a good deed it generally makes you feel good. And when you receive sincere gratitude in return you feel even better. Imagine all the cases in those times when Australians helped out newly arrived migrants and were bestowed with kindness and gratitude in return. What an enormous well of karma and wellbeing must have been built up from all of this selfless giving. On the collective level we can think of it as a vast store of social capital: it made the country feel good about itself. Societies with deep reserves of social capital exhibit effective functioning of social groups through interpersonal relationships, and a shared sense of identity. And not only did this result in a large number of people feeling good about themselves and the society they belonged to, but we also benefited from having wonderful people like Anh Do becoming part of our culture.

In contrast, what we have now is a policy that turns refugees away or keeps them locked up in off-shore detention indefinitely. There is no opportunity for Australians to demonstrate their generosity to newcomers; no opportunity to feel good about helping others who come from far away; no opportunity to gain invaluable social capital and feelings of wellbeing on an individual or collective level. Instead, we have become a nation that turns its back on those who ask for our help. How many Anh Dos have we turned away or confined to offshore detention? We will never know. Instead, we are left with the self-satisfaction that we have denied access to those in need; a strange and empty feeling that we have somehow protected and preserved our way of life. All I feel are awkward feelings of guilt and sadness – sadness that we have squandered a golden opportunity to simultaneously help others, nurture a national identity that is proud of its willingness and ability to welcome those in need, and improve the diversity and richness of our communities.

What a sad and shallow nation we’ve become. I’m glad that we did at least once upon a time accept the likes of Anh Do and his family into our lives.  

 

Song #31 (Something New) The Silly Song

 

SOMETHING NEW (THE SILLY SONG)

Dunno what to do?  do something new

Dunno what to say?  say something new

Dunno what to think?  think something new

Dunno what to sing? sing something new

For you

 

CHORUS

Make the spine tingle

Sing something to make the day go

Make the spine tingle

Sing something to make the day glow

You should never be stuck

For something new to do amigo

Get up off your butt and pull your finger out amigo

Lie wasn’t meant to be easy-o amigo

And you don’t really have to do a lot to make the day go

 

SECOND VERSE

Dunno what to _______ ? _________ something new

Choose from:      eat, write, sit, wear

                Paint, drink, drive

                Cook,  smoke,  jump,  think

                Sew,  hit, scratch, fly

                etc

 

CHORUS

 

(Michael Coghlan/Hiske Weijers  1983)

Commentary

Another song from Hiske and I in a lighter mood to add a sense of fun to our performances. It did the job quite well. Features the phrase made fanous by the Australian Prime Minister of the time (Malcolm Fraser): Life wasn't meant to be easy!

 

 

Song #30 Sunny Avenue

 

SUNNY AVENUE

(Listen) 

Walkin’ along sunny avenue

Wondrin’ where all – all my time goes

Seein’ palm trees in my head

How and where will I get the bread

So many things to do

On this sunny avenue

Think I’ll stay home

Why go anywhere

 

All my friends are scrimpin, savin’

For their dream world far away

But we’ve got blue sky

And we’ve got Queensland

Why would we ever want to leave it?

What’s the point in tryin’?

What you gonna find there

That’s not here?

 

BRIDGE/CHORUS

Gotta cross them bridges

Leave everything behind

Gotta cross them bridges

Leave everything behind

Everybody’s always telling you

Just where you should be going

But if you decide yourself

You’ll come up with something better

 

All my friends are scrimpin, savin’

For their dream world far away

But we’ve got blue sky

And we’ve got Queensland

Why would we ever want to leave it?

What’s the point in tryin’?

What you gonna find there

That’s not here?

 

BRIDGE/CHORUS

(1982 Michael Coghlan/Hiske Weijers)

Commentary

Hiske and I wrote this one together. It was an unabashed attempt at writing something commercial sounding - a pop song really. No deep or hidden meanings here. Just a bunch of cliches that hang together nicely with a jaunty reggae rhythm. Still play it occasionally.