This is probably the best rendition of this song, which has sadly been scrubbed from recent reissues of Songs from the South, and now can’t be streamed anywhere but here!
This is such a beautifully heartbreaking song...and now there's a movie called Jindabyne but I dunno which came first...it reminds me of my young and dumb partygirl days, I always used to carry this newspaper clipping of this girl who went running down a neighbourhood street, screaming for help and NOBODY helped, nobody called the police, nobody opened their doors, they found her raped and dead the next day. And this was in AUSTRALIA ffs...I've always believed and relied on the kindness of strangers but I guess I carried that clipping around to remind me you can't always depend on that...lol and oh yes, Paul Kelly is the quintessential Aussie voice
"They stood there above her all thinking the same thoughts at the same time" always kills me. Starts the tears every time. And later "I went to the service a stranger" finishes the job.
Paul Kelly is the greatest. No doubt Kasey Chambers and Vika Bull are both great singers but he really sings it like a story teller. Funny how a female narrative can be sung by a man and it still works beautifully.
