Last night I had the complete pleasure of going to a Colin Hay concert. He's the Scottish singer who led the Australian band Men at Work in the 80's.I guess I got into his music a couple of years ago when I heard his solo work through the television show Scrubs. His music is exactly my favorite kind - acoustic, singer/songwriter, a little bit indie, and great, existential lyrics. And his voice is incredibly powerful. I noticed when he's going for the higher notes, he throws his head back and his voice gets huge and envelopes the whole room. And it looks effortless. All that, and he's hilarious, too. I had a great time.
Although they don't do his stage presence justice, here are a few vids. This is a great video of Colin in a Scrubs episode playing Overkill, and here's the audio of one of my favorites - Waiting for my Real Life to Begin. And this is Beautiful World - a song that always makes me feel good, and thankful, and has the bonus of containing one of my favorite lyrics ever - listen for ". . . where a man can still be free, or a woman if you are one."
THANKS!!! for the reminder. I just went to emusic and got Colin Hay's albums. Yay! Great stuff, I'm a wee bit jealous.
ReplyDeleteYou know when your real life will begin? Peace Corps.
ReplyDelete(Wow, I had to think about that one for a few minutes.)
How exciting. I much prefer his solo work too. The Men At Work song Downunder became overkill for me. It also became like a surrogate anthem for Australians - "Where women groan and men chunder". Go figure.
ReplyDeleteHave you read some of the comments left on YouTube for Beautful World. Sad. The power of music is amazing though.
I should explain that the words "Where women groan and men chunder" were the lyrics that we used to sing and I am sure that there is a version of the song with those lyrics, at least here in Oz.
ReplyDeleteI just came across this blog from another, and I can't thank you enough for introducing me to Colin hay. I had no idea, and now I can't stop listening to him.
ReplyDelete