My 'Top 40' for Australia Day

Recent crazy statements by our politicians have got me all fired up about Australia Day this year. That got me thinking about what songs make me feel 'Australian' ... or urge me to get up and dance, or sing along, with an Australian performer.

Accordingly, on a 'Top 40' degree Celsius day in Melbourne I chose to while away a few hours by trawling through my CDs and LPs (yes!) to create my own personal 'Top 40' list of favourite songs by Australians ... even if expatriate ... or songs about Australia. Some of these songs take me back to the innocent rosy glow of my childhood.

Excluding the National Anthem Advance Australia Fair, here they are, grouped in alphabetical order by themes. Would these songs make your list too? If you don't recognise some, you can probably catch them on Youtube. 

Australia Day 
1. Aeroplane Jelly Song, Advertisement 
2. Bapa, Geoffrey Gurumul Yunupingu 
3. Bound for Botany Bay, Lionel Long 
4. From Little Things Big Things Grow, Paul Kelly & Kev Carmody 
5. Great Southern Land, Icehouse 
6. Happy Little Vegemites, Advertisement 
7. Home Among the Gum Trees, John Williamson 
8. I am Australian, The Seekers 
9. I Still Call Australia Home, Peter Allen 
10. I’ve Been Everywhere, Lucky Starr 
11. Little Boy Lost, Jimmy Little 
12. Pub with no Beer, Slim Dusty 
13. Song of Australia, Peter Dawson 
14. Waltzing Matilda, Peter Dawson 


ANZAC Day 
15. And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Eric Bogle 
16. Is ‘E an Aussie, Lizzie Is ‘E?, Flotsam and Jetsam 
17. Khe Sanh, Cold Chisel (Jimmy Barnes) 
18. The Road to Gundagai, Slim Dusty 


Christmas Day 
19. Orana, Bombala Rotary Community Choir 
20. The North Wind, Bombala Rotary Community Choir 


Sing and Dance Songs 
21. All out of Love, Air Supply 
22. Beds are Burning, Midnight Oil 
23. Don’t Dream It’s Over, Crowded House 
24. Down Under, Men at Work 
25. Eagle Rock, Daddy Cool 
26. Friday on my Mind, Easybeats 
27. Funky Town, Pseudo Echo 
28. Hanging Five, The Delltones 
29. Help is on its Way, Little River Band 
30. Howzat, Sherbet 
31. I’ll Never Find Another You, The Seekers 
32. Jive Talkin’, Bee Gees 
33. Love is in the Air, John Paul Young 
34. Most People I Know Think that I’m Crazy, Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs 
35. Oh Boy, Diana Trask 
36. Pleasure and Pain, Divinyls 
37. Say I Love You, Renée Geyer 
38. Somebody I Used to Know, Gotye 
39. Stayin’ Alive, Bee Gees 
40. The Real Thing, Russell Morris

Some ‘big name’ performers are missing from my list because I couldn’t think of a single song of theirs that I liked enough to include!