Stranger than Fiction, Larger Than Life: the Finn Brothers song-by-song discussion thread

"I Love You Dawn" is a very humble and romantic song, sung very well by Neil. When I first heard this I felt it was almost too simple and a bit too private but now I think that is exactly the song's strength. The first phase of a love relationship (infatuation) and the last phases of a relationship (breaking up) are obviously both very common themes in rock lyrics, but this is a song that portrays an ongoing relationship where the two persons have been together a very long time and have had, and still have, everyday challenges to deal with. Sharon is married to Neil the person rather than Neil the rock star and beyond the (perceived) glitz and glamour of the music world there are bills for them to be paid, trash to be taken out, grocery to be shopped and so on. Both all the aspects of life as a musician and all the dull, ordinary things in life can cause friction in a relationship and this song shows awareness of that and a resolve to keep romance in the relationship.
A fine song though it does musically feel a bit short.
4/5

 

What a terrific set list

 

I Love You Dawn works well and would have made a solid album track.

3/5.

 

I Love You Dawn is album material. Lovely song.

3.5 / 5

 

Our votes for "I Love You Dawn":
1-0
2-0
3-1
4-9
5-1
Average: 3.8636

 

Sorry for the late post; I actually slept until 9 today, which rarely happens. There's my day off wasted.

Anyway, today's song is "My Telly's Gone Bung", written by Paul Hester and produced by Crowded House.


My Tellys' Gone Bung

"My Telly's Gone Bung" was released in 1999 on the Afterglow compilation.

 

"My Telly's Gone Bung" is fun and it has some elements I like: the organ solo and the tag, and I like the crack of the drums. It's a good arrangement worked up by Finn, Hester, Somebody and Hart, but nothing can elevate it over classic B-side material.

This presents a dimension of the band -- namely their goofy humor-- that was evident from their live show and some of their TV appearances and interviews, but only very occasionally from their studio music which is dominated rather by Neil's melancholy.

Paul's lyric is decent and I think the song hits its mark -- it's not aiming too high. Of course, it's not nearly as melodically interesting or well-crafted as one of Neil or Tim's songs, but there are some dark depths there, as there is in most humor.

Paul's voice is also a little too nasal and limited: it makes an excellent high harmony vocal to Neil's leads, pitched much like Tim's voice...but without the beauty of voice that Tim has.

It's a very warty voice and that is all-too-apparent on a slower number like this one. It sounds a little better on rockers like "This Is Massive."

But maybe the voice suits the material. I'm not sure it would have been improved with a lovely Neil vocal.

Anyway, I'll give this song a likeable 2.7/5.

 

I agree. This is perfectly good B-side material and, while I think it achieves its goal of humorous self-deprecation, I don't think it sat at all comfortably alongside anything album-worthy. I give it a 3/5.

 

'My Telly's Gone Bung' is a fun little song with humorous lyrics. It might have fitted on Woodhouse or the debut album. I'm not sure it would have fitted on either ToLM or TA.

The organ solo is nice and makes it sound very CH-y. Same for the piano and guitar on the outro. The melody is quite nice and not as simple as some songs of this ilk.

I think this song matches if not exceeds Italian Plastic musically. It might have improved the album if IP was replaced with this, but I'm happy with what we have.

3.5/5

 

Yeah, something that could only have been a b-side and I'm guessing it was written very quickly.

Rather likeable though despite its limitations.

2.5/5.

 

Not released as a b-side during the Woodface-era; never performed live... I usually skip this one.

2.5 / 5

 

My Telly's Gone Bung is quintessential Paul Hester, boatloads of fun with underlying darkness if you read the lyrics a little more closely. It would have a great b-side, but wouldn't have fitted onto a non-archival release.

I like it a lot and miss what Paul brought to Crowded House 3.75/5

 

Paul could've been a great lead singer if he'd cared to focus on that.

 

Oh Paolo. I wish I liked your songwriting better. But the lyrics are clunky, and the melody is rudimentary. There's a kernel of an idea here, but it's undeveloped (and I'm not sure it bears much development). I'll give it credit for a lively arrangement and performance. But this is a song I always skip when it comes up on "Afterglow."

2/5

 

Fun fact: Johnny Carson accidentally called the record "Woodhouse" when they ere promoting it on the Tonight Show in 1991 - you're in good company!

That's blasphemous. As much as I enjoy this tune, IP is so good and sweet and Paul...

I'll go with a 4/5 on this one, part of it is that I really like the song more than some I've given a 3 to, and maybe not as much as some I've given a 4 to, but I can't separate my affection for Paul with how I'm rating this tune.

 

It is nice that there is a Paul Hester track on "Afterglow" with his unique kind of humour. This is quite a fun track with good energy, though it is hard to see this one on a regular album. I'm guessing the band had some kind of agreement that he would get one track per album (which he had, apart from on "Temple of Low Men") and when it came to the selection for "Woodface" this lost out to "Italian Plastic" fairly early in the process. The latter song is stronger both musically and lyrically in my opinion. As a fun filler on a rarities/outtakes album I think this song found its right place.

I should say I like Paul's later songwriting more, especially the Largest Living Things stuff. Hearing this song reminds me of when I was in Melbourne in February 1999 and got to see Largest Living Things play at a daytime festival in St Kilda. Paul was the lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist and he was quite a good frontman. As it happened, Peter Jones was standing next to me during the gig and he and Paul had some funny banter when Paul spotted him, ending with Paul saying "...and thanks for returning my drum sticks, mate!" They seemed to get on very well. After the gig, I met both fan club president Peter Green and Paul himself. I told him I had been at Crowded House's gig in Stockholm in 1986 (I also met him briefly at the band's second gig in Sweden in 1991) and he was really chuffed about that, introducing me to some of his mates and telling them "he was at our first promotional tour of Europe in 1986!" (well one gig anyway). His partner Mardi and their daughter Sunday (then four and a half years old) was present as well and he really doted on them, they seemed so happy together. Paul was certainly very nice on that occasion and happy to talk. When I was about to leave I asked him if he could recommend a restaurant in the St Kilda area and he suggested I try The Galleon Café. I went there and couldn't resist telling the waitress, "Mr Paul Hester recommended this place to me". She was delighted with that and apparently he was a regular there. It's so sad Paul's life ended too soon and as a songwriter, I think his best song is the incredibly haunting and poignant "Walking Into Rooms" on the fan club "I Like It Rare 3" release in 2005.

By the way, regarding Paul and "Afterglow", at the time it was being prepared for release, I read an article (or perhaps an interview with Neil, I don't quite remember) where it said that Paul was going to add or re-do some drum parts for the album. I don't know the extent of this work, or which songs it applies to, if at all. Perhaps @Jaffaman knows more about this?

"My Telly's Gone Bung" gets 3/5 from me.

 

That was mentioned by the fan club's Peter Green in his online diary. He said there was talk of Paul replacing drums on the 1995 recording of "Anthem". It never happened, although Neil did redo his vocal in 2015.

 

If I remember correctly, I first typed Weedhouse and then corrected it. Not enough it seems. That's my brain in action, yet again.

 

"My Telly's Gone Bung" is a fine little tune. It's nothing amazing, but it's enjoyable on its merits. I'm guessing that this never received serious consideration for inclusion on the album that became Woodface, although I suppose it might have served as a b-side at the time. In any event, it wasn't released until its 1999 inclusion on Afterglow.

3.4/5

 

Our votes for "My Telly's Gone Bung"

1-1 ( @wayneklein 's vote rounded up to 1)
2-1
3-5
4-3
5-0
Average: 2.685

 

He should just release an album with these songs on it. It would be great.

 

Today's song is "Time Immemorial", written by Neil Finn and produced by Crowded House.


Spotify: Time Immemorial

"Time Immemorial" was included in the "Nickless" period of songs recorded at Platinum Studios in 1989 in the Chris Bourke book. However, the original liner notes for Afterglow say that the song was recorded at Tim's Periscope Studios in 1989/1990 yet engineered by Chris Corr (not Paul Kosky, who normally seemeds to engineer at Periscope.) I'm not sure what the truth is. Perahps the song was actually begun at Platinum and finished at Periscope.

It was not considered for the original Woodface, as Mitchell Froom thought it was "too folky." It was released in 1999 on Afterglow.

 

I realize I missed the vote for "My Telly's Gone Bung". It won't matter. I would give it a 0.

 

"Time Immemorial" From 0-5 I give a three. Nice tune. Lyrically not quite what I expect from Neil.

 

"Time Immemorial" is folky, even more so than the likes of "Better Be Home Soon". Like that song you can imagine it being sung around a campfire centuries in the future.

There's, again, a sense of calm and simple resolution to this in contrast to Neil's songs from 87/88. I get the feeling that Neil has come to terms with the loss of something. I feel that this is a song about his family and his relationship and the sort of quiet seclusion he found at home away from the camera's and fame and fortune, thus tying it in with songs like "I Love You Dawn" and "My Legs Are Gone".

"The house that we live in is falling apart" verse of course can be taken a couple of ways. On the one hand Sharon, Neal and Liam had literally moved into a house that was falling apart: a big mansion with a tennis court-- but a mansion that had been uninhabited for 50 years and needed a lot of work for it. He bought it for $550 000 AU, but probably also needed to take out a loan for reconstruction and so on. But it could also be read as a comment on the state of Crowded House, I suppose, with the ouster of Nick. Crowded House were always on the verge of breaking up, as the laid-back Nick and the uptight Neil clashed and Paul was psychologically unstable.

In the middle eight, there's a hint of discord and he says "Okay, we're lucky, but then again..." and a little folky guitar diddle.

I end up feeling that the song is both about Neil's career and about his family life at the same time, the usual jumble...but the music speaks of resolution and inner peace...until the strange tag with it's moog-ish synthesizer and uneasy piano pounding, reminding the listener that peace and happiness we find is never permanent; there is always something beyond the horizon waiting to surprise us.

I think its a fine song and one that I've grown fond of; though back in 2000 when I first heard it I found it very boring. Now I quite like it: the melody, the easy-going feel, the subtle organ or harmonium or whatever in the verses and Neil's lovely vocal.

3.9/5