Show 145
It's the Paul Kelly show!
Paul Kelly turned 70 this year - 70 is the new 40, don't you know. His birthday is January 13, he was born in 1955 in Adelaide in South Australia.
According to online sources, he has produced 28 albums, 4 EPs, 6 concert albums, and 68 singles. And that doesn't count all the songs he's written for other artists. We have an hour to cover all that - wish us luck.
Houndstooth Dress - from the album Fever Longing Still, which came out in November 2024. When we started this program it was his most recent album but, as you'll hear, things change. FYI, we are reliably informed that the title "Fever Longing Still" is taken from Bill Shakespeare's Sonnet 147, "My love is as a fever, longing still."
Rising Moon - from the album Life Is Fine, a 2017 release. Featuring Vika and Linda Bull on harmony vocals.
Careless - from his 1989 album So Much Water So Close To Home, with his band the Messengers, formerly known as the Coloured Girls. Another literary nod, the album title and its title song come from a short story of the same name by American writer Raymond Carver.
Ball And Chain - from the album Wanted Man, a 1994 release.
Seeing Is Believing - a 1980 single from Paul Kelly and the Dots. That band's first album, Talk, came out in 1981. This version from the 2016 compilation The Glory Days of Aussie Pub Rock, vol. 1.
From St Kilda To Kings Cross - from the album Post, released in 1985, his first as Paul Kelly with no band name attached. the song name-checks some important stops along his musical journey.
Before Too Long - from the 1986 album Gossip, the one that got him going, the first with his greatest band, the Coloured Girls, featuring guitarist Steve Connolly.
Dumb Things - from the band's 1987 album Under The Sun.
Pouring Petrol On A Burning Man - a 1990 single as the Messengers. This version from a 1992 compilation, Hidden Things.
Paul Kelly, songwriter
One Blood - Yothu Yindi, the title track of their 1999 album, written by Kelly and the members of the hugely influential First Nations band.
Difficult Woman - Renee Geyer, the title track to her 1994 album. Kelly did his own version on the 1995 album Deeper Water.
We've Started A Fire - Vika and Linda, from their self-titled debut album, a 1994 release. Kelly put out his own version in 1994 on the Wanted Man album.
Special Treatment - Uncle Bill, the title track to their 1998 album. Kelly put it on the B-side of a 1989 single. The A-side was the song Careless.
It's Paul Kelly
Taught By Experts - another song from his 2024 album Fever Longing Still
Rita Wrote A Letter - an early single from his latest album, titled Seventy - remember the birthday? - released November 7, 2025. It's a sequel to his extremely popular 1998 song How To Make Gravy, which has become an Australian Christmas-time classic.
Dom Mariani and the Majestic Kelp provide our hello and goodbye and in between musical bits.
