Eric Bogle   •   Voices of the Wilderness

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  • Voices in the Wilderness
    • 1991 - Greentrax CDTRAX 040 CD (UK)
  • Tracklist
    1. Peace Has Broken Out
    2. The Lily and the Poppy
    3. Blues for Alex
    4. What Kind Of Man
    5. Wilderness
    6. Feed the Children
    7. Silly Slang Song
    8. Fences and Walls
    9. It's Only Tuesday
    10. The Gift of Years

  • Musicians
    • Eric Bogle: Lead Vocals
    • Andy McGloin: Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Harmony Vocals
    • Brent Miller: Electric Bass, Harmony Vocals
    • Phil Cuneen: Keyboards, Harmony Vocals
    • Larry Todd: Drums
    • Warwick Nottage: Violin
    • Greg Baker: Slide Guitar, Harmonica
    • LRay Smith: Whistle
    • John Munro: Acoustic Guitar, Octave Mandolin
    • Andre Ryjoch: Saxophone
    • Tony Elliott: Choir Singing
  • Credits
    • Produced by Andy McGloin
    • Recorded at Bartels St. Studios, Adelaide
    • Engineered & Mixed by Tony Elliott
    • All songs written by Eric Bogle
    • 1st Issued 1990

Sleeve Notes

PEACE HAS BROKEN OUT
Inspired by the recent events in Eastern Europe, especially East Germany, I never thought I'd see the Berlin Wall come down in my lifetime. Mind you, I never thought automobiles would ever replace horses either.

THE LILY AND THE POPPY
After the optimism of the preceding song — a nasty dose of realism. There are old men living in Eire who are called traitors if they wear the Flanders Poppy to show that they fought against the Germans in World War I. The Easter Lily, of course, is (or was) the flower that symbolised the Easter uprising of 1916. As the I.R.A. is still an illegal organisation in Eire, its wearing is not officially encouraged. Funny how these old symbols can still stir up old divisions.

BLUES FOR ALEX
Written for the late Alex Campbell, legendary singer, carouser and one of the last troubadours — a long time hero of mine.

WHAT KIND OF MAN
"The object of terrorism" said Lenin "is to terrorise". Neatly, if somewhat obviously put. This song was written about all those who subscribe to this point of view. Funnily enough, I don't. WILDERNESS
Bogle goes green, move over Sting.

FEED THE CHILDREN
There's a soap opera that appears on the telly every two years or so. Its called "Ethiopia". I was watching it a while back and two little black kids died of starvation right there and then, in front of my averted middle-class eyes, Ah, the magic of television. This song was the result.

AMAZON
Bogle goes even greener! A very nice song written by Bruce Watson of Melbourne, The Amazon forests, often referred to as the lungs of the world, are being cleared at an alarming rate — mainly to provide pastures for cattle.

SILLY SLANG SONG
It is widely known that Scots are amongst the finest exponents of the English language, their soft mellifluous accent enhancing and embellishing the language and setting standards for others to follow. It grieves me deeply therefore when the English language is misused and abused, as I sincerely hope this song illustrates.

FENCES AND WALLS
This, of course, is an S.A.S song ( South Australian Swing!)

ITS ONLY TUESDAY
Written by Andy McGloin, my long time guitarist. We were in Belfast for 4 days in 1988 and a bomb went off every day we were there (2 small, 1 medium, 1 large). Andy just couldn't get over how, in spite of the armoured cars, soldiers, police and guns everywhere, the Belfast people just tried to get on with their lives, ignoring, as far as was possible, the war going on around them. The only way to hold on to sanity in an insane situation I suppose.

THE GIFT OF YEARS
Written to commemorate the return of the surviving diggers to Gallipoli in 1990, the 75th Anniversary of the landings there by the Anzacs in April 1915. My thanks to Bill Gammage, Historian, Author and scourge of Saville Row for the title of the song and generally being a good bloke.

Thanks to all involved, but especially to Paul Keating for allowing musicians to average their income over 5 years for taxation purposes, which enabled me to afford (just!) to make this LP. Now if we could just do something about the sales tax …