Me too..... as much as i loved the song, i didn't really understand. This song takes me back to a time when i had just arrived in Australia & some good times :)
Yup, this, Cheap Wine, Oh No Not You Again, Come Said the Boy, Sons of Beaches. All speak of a time and a culture past and invoke memories of those days for all who lived them.
Hell yes!! When you had the best mates who introduced you to bands like this and now older you look back and reminice. Good times. Wish they did not end.
If you didn't love Shane Howard for his music, you'd love him for everything he's done over the years to support the careers of up and coming Aussie musicians. He's kind, talented, and generous. One of the greats.
This song reminds me of when the world was a different place and Australia was still challenging but a great place to live, i would give a million dollars to go back in time to 1982.
It takes me back to a share house on the PCH at Coolie a hundred yards from the Tweed. Orchy bottle bongs and JJJ on a Sunday arvo (only time we got it in QLD then).
I’m from the rural southern US, and I stumbled across this song about 6 months ago. I was already a fan of the 80s Australian music scene, and this song just added to it. It has quickly become one of my favorites. I have a dear friend from Queensland who came over here for a year when we were in high school and this song always brings her to mind. We’re both in our late 20s now and can definitely relate to this song.
Glad you enjoyed it. The Australian music scene was huge in the 80s. A few lesser known bands include The Machinations. Uncanny X Men. Boom Crash Opera. The Models. Some of these are more pop though.
Fascinating! Southern US culturally always seems so utterly alien to Australia, for me (especially the extreme Christianity, where Aussie Christians prefer largely to be unassuming). So nice 2 hear of cultural links w some down that way. (Also, Shane Howard was, may still be, a relaxed Catholic, informed by principles of social justice after Vatican II.)
This song was released 40 years ago in 1982, I believe. Where did that time go? Those were great times and this song makes me think of Australia, my home 🇦🇺
This delicious piece of Aussie poetry to music makes me desperately home sick for 1970s/80s Australia. Listening to it just now strangely I could still hear the vinyl crackle.
I used to go see Goanna on a Saturday night in the pub scene in Melbourne. Solid Rock performed on stage in a local pub arena is a memory I'm so happy to have. Experienced Shane singing a rocked-down version in an outdoor venue in St Kilda a while ago too .. just brilliant.
Me (1982) listening to this song at my friends place (over and over) while playing donkey kong on a double screen Nintendo Game and Watch. Best memories.
Spirit of Place was the second album I bought with my own money I earned from washing cars and boats at my parent's holiday units in Hervey Bay QLD in 1983. Good times. I miss the 80s!
In the 80's when this song was released (1983) I was travelling Australia in my beat up Holden HQ Panel van -moving from town to town "getting myself together financially" in each place until the fun had run out and it was time to move on. Great days - great friends - great times. This song takes me back every time - Damm! - nearly 40 years!!!!
Unfortunately Shane Howard copped an absolute shitload of abuse on social media from a lot of dickhead self-proclaimed "proud Australians" last year because of his views, to the point where he stated in the press that although he loves his birth country, he cannot be proud of it. And he returned his Order of Australia medal too. Still a man of principle.
I'd forgotten just how wonderful this song is. You'd never find such brilliant instrumental backing in songs of today. There's just so many components making up that sound.
Yes...so so fortunate to be brought up in the 70/80's. .the pub scene for music was unreal...saw everybody that ever was ....Thankyou for the brilliant music & memories 👌🥇
Sometimes it amazes me how absolutely criminal the amount of lack of exposure a some great Australian song gets. This is case in point. Wake up media or people.
Such happy happy memories of my days living in Aussie, discovered Goanna then, back in the 80's...makes me just as happy now 30 years later...kiwi bird.
Well I'll be buggered! A positive comment about Australia coming from a New Zealander? Have I entered a parallel universe? Thanks mate, I'm glad you enjoyed your time here.
yes bro'. feel so fortunate to have lived in Oz at its heights, we thought these classics were normal then but oh so meaningful now. Could have been champions. Hey Hey its Saturday. Red Faces. And, also fortunate to leave in 2009. What a bloody shame. A spirit squashed. Honest Govt Ads... a vestige still clinging on... check them out. Capt Stew.
I haven't this song 'Living On The Razor's Edge' for at least 30 years,gee It brings back so many happy memories growing up in Geelong and heading down to the west coast on those summer weekends,the whole album is pretty good as well. Regards, Doug Hughes Williamstown Victoria,Australia
This song "Razor's Edge" (track 3) coupled with (track 4) "Scenes (from an occasional window)", are my two favorite tracks on the amazing "Spirit of Place" album. These two tracks are basically one continuous track as they just meld together. I never tire of these songs nor do I ever tire of this album. For me this album is my all time favorite recording. I've been listening to this album for 36 odd years now and it has never grown old. Shane Howard is a staggeringly talented singer and songwriter. Rose Bygrave is seriously talented too and her contributions here are very evident. Pound for pound Oz produces the best musicians/singers/songwriters on the planet.....so much amazing music coming off of that island......wished I lived there to experience it all live.
LYRICS Got a letter from Davie just the other day Said livin in Queensland was not OK Can't find the money just to pay the rent 'nd the food and the herb - Well they're just heaven sent He's been livin' on the Razor's edge Tryin' to touch the sun He won't fall for that same old trick again Cathy's alright. She just gets lonely everyday She's livin' with a dream-world of yesterday And there she is but here she'll stay "Well it just never works out," she said, "Anyway!" She's been livin' on the Razor's edge Tryin' to touch the sun She won't fall for that same old trick again Lulu's too tired of livin' down by Torquay She's gettin' herself together - financially Says "One of these days I'm just gonna lie in the sun" But right now I'm wondering does that day ever come? She's been livin' on the Razor's edge Tryin' to touch the sun She won't fall for that same old trick again Got a letter from Davie just the other day 'nd the note just read, "Please come to Byron Bay" Well the heart says 'Go' 'nd the head says 'Stay' 'nd the big wheels just keep turnin' everyday... Don't go livin' on a Razor's edge Or tryin' to touch the sun 'Cause you'll just fall for that same old trick again - (that's what they tell ya') Well we're livin' on a Razor's edge Tryin' to touch the sun 'nd we won't fall for that same old trick again (Such a fine line... ...I was meanin' to write)
This is my absolute favourite Goanna song (which, particularly for an album like 'Spirit of Place') is hard to pick! It saddens me that Solid Rock gets all the attention (well it is an amazing song), but Razor's Edge is as good!
Manly beach 1982 with a beautiful Canadian girl,at 5ish into Manly Styne ,king prawns & Scallops from fish shop on the end of Manly corso,pure Heaven.I miss Australia & my Aussie mates so much,love you North shore.x
I think we all live on a Razors Edge. Not one of us knows exactly where our lives will end up. Day by day or with each turn of the wheel we try to find a bit of happiness but for some it will forever elude us. My Australian friend sent this song amongst others to me on a Cd that forever changed my outlook on lyrics of songs. Thank You MISH!
Actually this song brings tears to my eyes. So relatable and thinking about my 20’s in the 1990’s and trying to chase that dream of living independently.
I ran into Brolga, the bass player, a few years back. I'm a smaller time muso than him (actually met him through the course of my real profession). He told me to buy an acoustic guitar from Aldi. Reckoned they were great. He was right. So I bought two. My mate bought two too.
This is an unabashed "Ausie classic" and one of my personal favorite songs. Solid Rock was possibly the better choice for the single, with its "invasion" theme, but musically, I think this is streets ahead as a song and Goanna were never better. The lyrics capture beautifully the way people get trapped in their lives; the vocals are excellent and the playing is outstanding - pity the video misses some of the intro and all of the outro part, which is some more beautiful guitar. A sublime solo by Ross Hannaford, but I also think Graham Davidge was one of Austraia's unsung guitar greats and if not then definitely one of the best guitarists to come out of Adelaide. He deserved more fame than he received (although he did seem to have a habit of having doors open to him and not stepping through those doors - he was briefly a member of LRB; he left Goanna etc.).
Wayne Manna My daughter is close friends with Graham’s daughter, and even though I have known Graham for years, I only found out recently that he is an Aussie music legend! I had no idea as he never mentioned it. He is such a lovely guy and very humble. I also found out that my stepdad was friends with Graham’s brother Brian... such a small world!
Such an awesome long to listen to in 2020 as when it was released in 1982 when songs were from the heart and soul, i wish i was still in the 80s, The 56 people that don't like this song need to be deported from Australia
Yea I saw them in the early 80s, in St Kilda, upstairs somewhere. I don't think this song was released yet. But their other hit song "southern land was". And the pretty lady (backing) stood out then, as she does in the video. Gee I'm glad I saw them back then
I remember the flat very well in Punt Road South Yarra and climbing those steps. I lived here for about a year. Then I was in Sacramento USA a year later and this video came on of Goanna with Who Could It Be Now. I looked at my mate and said that is in the flat I was in a year or so before. Then I met one of band members about two years ago and he said they did lots of videos in that flat, and this is another.
The number of times in 1975-76 I walked across that pedestrian crossing in Abbey Road in North London, made famous by the Beatles on that iconic Album cover. It's spooky, isn't it.
I have a top five of all songs I have ever heard. THIS rates in that five as I connect to it so easily AND it is just good to sing to! Goanna are a GREAT band :)
