Week 12: Kev Carmody

Watching a program over the weekend about the life's work of musician Paul Kelly (Paul Kelly: Stories of Me, Sunday 27th October, 9.30pm, ABC1) reminded me about an album we have at home called Cannot Buy My Soul, a tribute compilation of the music of Kev Carmody. I was reminded because the program included the song From Little Things Big Things Grow, which was co-written by Kelly and Carmody in 1991. As a whole, the oeuvre of Kev Carmody speaks about Indigenous rights with this particular song telling the story of the Gurindji Strike which began in August 1966. After years of the exploitation of Indigenous people who were forced into labour for very little food, money and shelter because they wanted to stay on their land which had been overtaken by cattle farming, Australia felt the shockwaves of revolt when spokesman Vincent Lingiari led a walk-off at the Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory. The strike lasted for seven years before the Labor government of Gough Whitlam finally negotiated with the Vesteys pastoral company to give back a portion of the land to the people, immortalised in the following image:

Vincent Lingiari and Gough Whitlam [Image Source: National Museum of Australia]

It is interesting to note that this was not the first Indigenous demand for Land Rights, but it was the first to attract wide public support within Australia. I am overwhelmed by the strength of the Gurindji people to maintain the strike for seven years, which through their persistence ignited the spark in the Land Rights cause to allow many more language groups to reclaim their land.

[Information Source: ABC Online]

The passion Kev Carmody holds for further work in eliminating Indigenous poverty and achieving equality in all respects is clear in his songs. Other tracks of his include Thou Shalt Not Steal:

Thou Shalt Not Steal

In 1788 down Sydney Cove
The first boat-people land
Said sorry boys our gain’s your loss
We gonna steal your land
And if you break our new British laws
For sure you’re gonna hang
Or work your life like convicts
With chains on your neck and hands

CHORUS
They taught us
Oh Oh Black woman thou shalt not steal
Oh Oh Black man thou shalt not steal
We’re gonna civilize
Your Black barbaric lives
And teach you how to kneel
But your history couldn’t hide
The genocide
The hypocrisy to us was real
’cause your Jesus said
you’re supposed to give the oppressed
a better deal
We say to you yes whiteman thou shalt not steal
Oh ya our land you’d better heal

Your science and technology Hey you can make a nuclear bomb
Development has increased the size to 3,000,000 megatons
But if you think that’s progress
I suggest your reasoning is unsound
You shoulda found out long ago
You best keep it in the ground

Job and me and Jesus sittin’
Underneath the Indooroopilly bridge
Watchin’ that blazin’ sun go down
Behind the tall tree’d mountain ridge
The land’s our heritage and spirit
Here the rightful culture’s Black
and we sittin’ here just wonderin’
When we get the land back

You talk of conservation
Keep the forest pristine green
Yet in 200 years your materialism
Has stripped the forests clean
A racist’s a contradiction
That’s understood by none
Mostly their left hand hold a bible
Their right hand holds a gun

...and Pillars of Society:

Pillars of Society

The pillars of society
Cruise down the road each day;
They got the economic wherewithall
We can’t afford to pay
They got numbered bank accounts
Their system assures they win
They exploit the population we on the outside lookin’ in

CHORUS
Them pillars of society
Drive us like a tool
To them that cool

They drive Mercedes Benz and Porsches
Live Rolls Royce gilt-edged lives
You can tell the affluent effluent
By the status symbols that they drive
When you on the dole queue
They tell you to your face
You a bludger on their system
And a blight on the human race

They grace the social pages
Always make the news
At the church on Sunday
They crowd in the front pews
There’s a hierachy of dominace
With the power at the top
If you think you’ve found the magic key
You’ll find they’ve changed the locks

Walkin’ down the freeway
On their dotted line
We’d like to make decisions
But they won’t allow the time
It’s said religion is the opium
I say the media’s the cocaine
24 hours of propanganda
druggin’ my poor brain

They confer titles of status and dominance
On their progeny and their class
“sir” – “Your honour” –
“Your Grace” – “Your Highness” –
We’re made to polish
And lick their____brass
But you my friend can be like them
If you have their million dollar fee
But you’ll find their system’s designed
To keep us in line
And walkin’ on our knees

[Lyric Source: Kev Carmody]

The lyrics Carmody writes are beautifully poetic, reminding me of the songs of Bob Dylan in their social consciousness. I love to listen to the covers from the Cannot Buy My Soul album as they demonstrate the immense respect the contemporary music world holds for him. I think Carmody is an amazing figure who continues to write and inspire even in his late sixties, and he demonstrates that art can have a message and still be enjoyed popularly.

Kev Carmody [Image Source: Australia Council]