Awesome Aussie Songs

Come A Little Bit Closer by The Delltones

Come A Little Bit Closer is the comeback record released by The Delltones following the death of their lead singer Noel Widerberg.

With the support of Noels family, The Dellies recruited former Crescents member Col Loughnan and they hit the studio with Johnny O'Keefe as producer. Together they created a classic version of Come A Little Bit Closer.

The song was the highest selling Australian single for 1963, as well as winning Song of the Year at the Australian Radio Awards.

Our specials guests are Pee Wee Wilson and Col Loughnan.

What’s Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner

What's Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner has become an all time classic song. In this episode we speak with the songs co-writer and producer Terry Britten.

Not only did What's Love Got to Do With It win Terry a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1985, the song has also gone onto be inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame and has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

The former Twilights guitarist sums it up perfectly in this episode "Can you believe it, this Adelaide boy from Tea Tree Gully going all the way to the Grammys".

Yes, we do realise Tina's not an Aussie but her links with Australia are many and in this episode we pay tribute to Tina and her Australian connection.

Curiosity Killed the Cat by Little River Band

This episode is on the Little River Band and their debut single Curiosity Killed the Cat

The Little River Band are one of the most successful acts in the history of Australian music.

On the US Billboard charts, they’ve had 10 singles reach the Top 20 and they’ve sold more than 30 million records worldwide. The band were renowned for their tight harmonies and brilliant live performances. 

Our specials guests are LRB legends, Beeb Birtles and Glenn Shorrock.

Velvet Waters by Tony Worsley & the Fabulous Blue Jays

This episode is on Tony Worsley and the Fabulous Blue Jays and their hit song Velvet Waters

The group came together when leading promoter Ivan Dayman teamed up Brisbane singer Tony Worsley with well known Melbourne band The Blue Jays.

Before teaming up with Tony, The Blue Jays were one of Melbourne’s most popular bands, having formed in 1959. The band went through various line up changes and included musicians Frankie Brent, Chris Lawson, Doug Stirling, Bob Johnson, Laurie Allen, Johnny Cosgrove, Alan Easterbrook, Ray Houston, Dennis Tucker, and Doug Flower.

By the time the Blue Jays had teamed up with Tony the band consisted of drummer Bob Johnson, guitarist Mal Clarke, Ray Eames on lead guitar, Paul Shannon playing sax and Royce Nicholls on Bass. Jimmy Cerezo  would replace Ray Eames.

Originally Velvet Waters was an instrumental song by American band The Megatrons before Australian songwriter Dorothy Dodds added lyrics to the tune. The first version with lyrics was recorded by Bruce Gillespie.

Our special guest is Tony Worsley

Hey Are You Johnny Diesel?

This mini episode comes from episode 16, Crying Shame by Johnny Diesel and the Injectors. Since their self-title debut album was released in 1989, Mark Lizotte aka Diesel has become a mainstay of the Australian music scene.

Diesel emigrated to Australia in 1971 with the Lizotte family settling in Perth. After his first band Innocent Bystanders broke up, together with a few bandmates they formed a new group – a then unnamed band – here’s Diesel telling the story of how Mark Lizotte morphed into Johnny Diesel.

Johnny Cash is Still in the Air

This mini ep takes a look at music royalty Col Joye and the Joy Boys and the time they had to hold the attention of an 8000 strong crowd waiting for Johnny Cash to arrive at the stadium.

The band was at the very start of rock n roll in Australia and they are true pioneers. In this era, Col Joy and the Joye Boys popularity and chart success is only rivalled by that of Johnny O’Keefe and the Dee Jays. They also hold the distinction being the first Australian act to have a Number 1 record with Bye Bye Baby.

You can hear more from Col in our episode on Bye Bye Baby which is episode 5 – there is also another mini ep on the time Col was playing for our troops at the Vietnam War, when suddenly he found himself at the Battle of Long Tan.

Blueys Dad is a Rock Star

As Blueys father, he is perhaps the most beloved heeler dog dad in the history of animation – Bandit is voiced by Custards’s Dave McCormack.

Custard where part of Oz music history when they played at the Crowded House farewell to the world concert, staged at the Sydney Opera House – via their first hit song Apartment, Custard had already had history with the iconic building.

Here's Dave talking about Apartment and how they came to shoot the songs film clip.

 

For more on Custard, check out episode 48 where we take a look their song Girls Like that.

Is That Me at the MCG?

This mini episode comes from 90’s band Fini Scad – they were band that shone brightly, if only briefly and are best known for their song Coppertone.

We spoke with Fini Scads drummer Jono McPhee and he was brutally honest about the highs and lows of the music business. While it wasn’t always sunshine and lollipops for Fini Scad, they still had plenty of ‘rock star’ moments. They toured with Midnight Oil and they were selected by Micheal Gudinski to play at Mushrooms 25^th Anniversary at the MCG.

Death of a Pop Star

In this mini episode we take a look at the tragic death of one of Australia’s early pop stars, the lead singer of The Delltones, Noel Widerberg.

 

The singers death came as a huge shock to teenager all around Australia.  The excitement that came with this new craze of rock n roll, was suddenly shattered with the death of one of their teen idols.

We speak with The Delltones legend Pee Wee Wilson

You Shot Me You Bastard!

This mini ep is about the time Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs toured with way-out English performer Screaming Lord Sutch.

 

We speak with member of the Aztecs Tony Barber, no, not the Sale of the Century host but the bands guitarist. Tony emigrated to Australia in 1964 and he became a driving force on the beat pop scene.

You can hear more about Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs in episode 28 were we take a look at their first No.1 hit record Poison Ivy