There are so many places across this state made famous in songs, we thought we’d take a moment to look at some of the NSW towns that have had their moment in the musical spotlight.
What songs have we forgotten? Let us know in the comments below.
- Pub with No Beer, Slim Dusty
There are a couple of pubs that lay claim to being the pub with no beer, and the reason is probably because the song dates back to a poem.
In 1943 farmer Dan Sheahan went to the Day Dawn Hotel in Ingham, north of Queensland, and upon finding it drunk dry, he penned A Pub Without Beer.
Country singer Gordon Parsons adapted a song to the poem, but based it on his own local at Taylors Arm – the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
But that, as they say is history, and when Slim Dusty released the song in 1957 it became the biggest selling record by an Australian at that time and was the first single by an Australian artist to make the British charts.
- Tenterfield Saddler, Peter Allen
This song was written by Peter Allen in 1970, but not released until 1972 as the second single from his second studio album of the same name.
It tells the story of Allen’s the musician's life.
- Manilla NSW, Darren Hanlon
A song written about and inspired by the town of Manilla, by Australian singer, songwriter Darren Hanlon.
It appeared on his 2006 record, Fingertips and Mountaintops, and finishes with the artist musing “I may make me a home in Manilla, Manilla New South Wales”.
- I’ve Been Everywhere, Lucky Starr
Many country towns – and everywhere in between – are named in this song made popular in 1962 by Lucky Starr.
It was written back in 1959 by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959.
- Freedom Ride, Troy Cassar-Daley
Released in March this year, this song off the album of the same name also features fellow Australian musician Paul Kelly.
He performed the song, which mentions Moree, with Kelly at the 50th anniversary re-enactment of NSW's freedom ride.
- Don’t call Wagga Wagga “Wagga”, Greg Champion
There are a lot of town names around Australia that just repeat the same name twice… like Woy Woy, Mooney Mooney, and of course Wagga Wagga. In this classic piece of Aussie advisory by Greg Champion and Jim Haynes, we learn NOT to call Wagga Wagga “Wagga”.
- Paragon Cafe, Tim Rogers
This piece finds Tim Rogers in a moment of introspection, reflecting on his journey as he stops for a feed, as so many people have done over the years, at the iconic Paragon Cafe in Goulburn.
