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As if the man hadn’t
already achieved enough in his near four-decade career, one of Australia’s most
well loved and respected songwriters Paul Kelly has just released his first
book which draws inspiration from his life and life experiences as an artist. How To Make Gravy is an autobiographical guide to 100 of Kelly’s favourite
songs, behind every song is a story and Kelly has a lot of them (in fact, 500+
pages worth). His in-depth and vivid accounts of how the songs were conceived
and written are remarkable, and tonight’s launch at Oxford Arts Factory had him
re-telling them with that distinctive Australian voice.
Joined on stage by a
journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald, the crowd was made up of a strange
assortment of die-hard fans, corporate types, and middle-aged parents – all
with the clear enthusiasm for Kelly’s work. Questions were asked as how the
book came about, “It started as linear notes for a CD boxset and slowly evolved
into a novel and the descriptions behind the songs were far too long to fit
into a small accompanied booklet”. Kelly then read chapters from the novel,
first up was 'Careless', one of his best-written songs. After reading the
chapter, Kelly gave an amazing performance on the guitar and harmonica to a
gushing crowd – you could even hear a few people singing along despite the
slightly formal nature of the evening.
More questions were
asked about sections in the book such as Kelly’s involvement with heroin, he
said “I wanted to write about it, as being addicted to heroin is very different
to using it on and off for a very long period of time”. He claimed he didn’t
need it unlike an addict, but it did affect his life to some degree and to
those around him. Kelly went on to discuss some of his most memorable live
performances including a New York show in the early days with some of his
heroes right up to the Leonard Cohen support shows in 2008.
Kelly joked that How To
Make Gravy came about a request from a John Farnham-organised Christmas
benefit record. Instructed to write a song about Christmas, Kelly decided to
write it about Christmas from the perspective of a prisoner. A slightly grimmer
tone than Farnham was allegedly after. It still remains to be one of his most
quintessential songs, and a popular live favourite.
After the three
chapters and songs that followed, a small Q&A between the crowd and Kelly
occurred which was generally filled with trivial questions or arrogant humour,
one crowd member said “Hey Kelly, why didn’t you narrow the 100 song boxset
down to your only three good songs”. It made me pretty mad and I imagine it did
for some others, especially since the guy who said it was probably living a life
of repetitive misery or working at a hot-dog stand. Either way, a lot less
accomplished than the Australian legend. After the Q&A, Kelly signed books
for the endless like of audience members who had come to see one of our true
national treasures.
