The music sounds timeless but the subject-matter is so very now. The latest video from Paul Kelly is his response to the Australian bush fires that ravaged the country last year, an event that seems long-forgotten amidst the current global crisis. With lines like, “Sleep now, don’t worry, there’s no need to hurry,” and, “With acid seas rising to kiss coastal mountains,” his writing is lyrical and yet brutal. It’s a call for action on a problem that hasn’t gone away while we have been distracted.
The video footage, mostly donated by conservation organisations, show the natural world: both its beauty and the damage we have inflicted upon it. The critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter says: “It’s a lament in the form of a lullaby. A lullaby that sounds a warning. I hope it doesn’t come true but some of it already has.” Magical stuff from this enduring favourite.
