Songs That Grabbed Me – Yothu Yindi, Treaty

Yunupingu died earlier today.

The lead singer of Australian band Yothu Yindi was 56 and was suffering from kidney failure. Far too young.

He is best known for the song Treaty which was written by Yothu Yindi and Paul Kelly and Midnight Oil front man Peter Garret, around the time the then prime minister Bob Hawke promised to form a treaty between the Indigenous Australians and the Australian government by 1990. And then failed to do so. Treaty was originally intended to raise public awareness of the promise made and then became a protest song when the promise was broken.

Songs That Grabbed Me – Goanna, Solid Rock

This is a protest song about the treatment of the Australian indigenous people during the time of the first European settlement and the whole invading-the-country thing. It’s suggesting the accepted history is inaccurate and that it wasn’t the relatively peaceful encounter many are led to believe.

Sorry to Hear That

It often accompanies news of a death. People say, or increasingly these days, post on Facebook, “I’m sorry to hear that”. Do they realise how self-centred they sound?