Australian Songbook

Australia Songbook is The Beggars fourth release following on from “Beggars”, “Desert Flower” and “Dreams”. Recorded at a cracking pace in 4 days at Sody Pop studio in Adelaide, Australian Songbook is a tribute to The Beggars favourite Australian songs and songwriters from Banjo Patterson through to Paul Kelly. The album captures a great live energy that is missing from so many modern recordings. The Beggars are joined on this recording by master musician Trev Warner on the fiddle and dobro.

The Beggars are launching their new album Australian Songbook with concerts in South Australia and Victoria through April. If you have a radio show and are interested in an interview or possibly a live studio performance please contact us.

Australia Songbook is The Beggars fourth release following on from “Beggars”, “Desert Flower” and “Dreams”. Recorded and mixed in 7 days, Australian Songbook is a tribute to The Beggars favourite Australian songs and songwriters from Banjo Patterson through to Paul Kelly. The album captures a great live energy that is missing from so many modern recordings. The Beggars are joined on this recording by master musician Trev Warner on the fiddle and dobro.

Waltzing Matilda and Pub with No Beer are known all around the world but some of these songs such as Auctioneer and The Whale will only be familiar to Australian music fans. They may tell a story of life in the bush or in the city but they all have an Australian voice and a place in the story of our music.

Australian Songbook track list………..

• There is some of the rich acoustic harmony of 60s Australian supergroup The Seekers’ in The Beggars’ DNA. So their 1965 hit A WORLD OF OUR OWN was a natural choice
• Johnny Ashcroft’s 1960 recording of LITTLE BOY LOST was the first 45rpm record to go gold in Australia, and in 1961 the first to go gold in New Zealand. The song was written around the true story of the search for four year old boy, Steven Walls, who was lost for four days in the New England Ranges of New South Wales.
• Co-written and recorded by Johnny O’Keefe the original Australian Rocker, in 1958, THE WILD ONE/ REAL WILD CHILD has been covered by Joan Jett, Jerry Lee Lewis and Iggy Pop.
• Released in 1958, THE FATAL WEDDING was co-written and recorded by the clown prince of Australian country music Chad Morgan, also known as ‘The Sheik of Scrubby Creek’.
• I’VE BEEN A FOOL TOO LONG is a fine song from Slim Dusty, featuring his trademark yodel – once a big part of the Australian country music sound.
• Australian award-winning country/bluegrass band The Flying Emus penned this heartfelt song AUCTIONEER, an all too familiar story of hard times forcing Australian families off the land.
• Voted by songwriters as one of the 30 top Australian song of all time, ALONG THE ROAD TO GUNDAGAI is a much loved folk tune written by Jack O’Hagan and first recorded by internationally regarded bass/baritone Peter Dawson in 1924.
• WAY OUT WEST “Living and working on the land…”Moving from the city to work the mines in an outback desert town that’s the story of this song by cult country band The Dingoes. Released in 1973.
• Of the hundreds of fine songs penned by master Australian songwriter Paul Kelly, TO HER DOOR recorded in 1987 remains one of his most popular, and shows his mastery of lyrical economy.
• Released by Slim Dusty in 1957 and for many years unchallenged as Australia’s biggest selling record, PUB WITH NO BEER went on to be at hit in the US, Canada and Europe.
• WALTZING MATILDA, a great Australian song that is sometimes called Australia’s de facto national anthem. The title means walking/waltzing with your goods in a bag/Matilda on your back. Legendary bush poet Banjo Patterson wrote the lyric in 1895 and The Beggars’ own version features the setting often referred to as the Queensland Version.
• A favourite from the First World War period; SUVLA BAY was suppressed by the authorities because of its anti war sentiment, it became popular again during the Second World War period.
• Fielding and Dyer’s wonderful 1972 song THE WHALE chronicles the perils of hunting the great whale. The single was an Australian top 5 hit.
• Written by Geoff Mack in 1959 and recorded by Lucky Starr in 1962,I’VE BEEN EVERYWHERE is a tongue twister of Australian place names that has been reworked with new place names and rerecorded by Johnny Cash, Hank Snow, Rolf Harris and now The Beggars
• Progressive rock band Spectrum’s classic I’LL BE GONE, released in 1971, has proved to be one of the most enduring Australian songs from the period.