Solid Rock
2 March 2008
Oztralya in the 1980s - just before greed became a full-time recreation - was a remarkably upbeat and creative place.
Computers were a novelty, unknown to the great unwashed (just like today!), and politics still had a fervent edge before bean-counting suits engendered apathy awash.
And, well, music!
AC/DC, Sherbet, Split Enz, Air Supply, LRB, Helen Reddy, Olivia Neutron Bomb, Peter Allen, Cold Chisel, Skyhooks roared from the 70s to join Divinyls, Men at Work, etc., storming the world. Kylie was just clearing her delicate young throat, as were Yothu Yindi.
In from the fringe came folk and protest bands like Redgum and Midnight Oil.
And of course - Goanna.
In 1982 Shane Howard and the band, including Sis Marcia, let loose one of Australia’s greatest musical experiences, Solid Rock, aka "Sacred Ground," lead single of their album Spirit of Place.
Commonly overlooked in favourites lists for an uncomfortable socio-political flavour, Solid Rock lives near the top of my shortlist of favs as perhaps the most evocative, emotional, and exciting roller-coaster of rock protest. Only several giants of dissent-music from the 1960s best it, and despite being passionately imprinted in a teenager’s heart, they’re no longer breast-stirring, more like fading antiquity (though not Verdelle’s Tar and Cement!)
But Goanna’s classic still - though it caught me in my thirties - rocks!
I heard it again today; first time in maybe a decade. Apart from its fabulous modern music, what grabbed my attention these decades hence are the words and what they stand for.
Sacred Ground’s naked-truth logic sets my hair crawling.
To what depths did Shane delve producing not only stunning timeless music but those chilling chiding words that paint us - we of the complacent shrugging variety - morally derelict.
I need to know more; how this incisive piece of pop art was forged.
A quick dash around the www seeking the tale of its composition found some Wikipedia trite and Shane’s lean website (but hey, that’s ok), a notable extract from which is his observation:
.. from a lyrical point of view you can see your moral universe that you’ve built and .. hope there’s some sort of consistency there.
And so to those lyrics.
Rather than reproduce them as colloquially sung, I’m after a reading experience. So, with apologies to both copyright and lyricist, here’s how I enjoy retelling Sacred Ground’s compelling parable.
Detaching words from music means extrapolating from vocals ideas that might have seeded them; rather a leap. The composer knows better, but we shan’t bother him right now, just amuse ourselves over here a bit.
Some phrases are moved to enhance timeline, some chorus dropped, though so powerful an admonition is worth repeating a tad.
Out here nothing changes
Not in a hurry, anyway
You feel the endlessness
With the coming light of day
Around the dawn of time
The Dreaming all began
A crowd of people came
Looking for their promised land
Running from the heart of darkness
Searching for the heart of light
It was their paradise
They were standing on solid rock
Standing on sacred ground
Living on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Were blowing cold that night
They were standing on the shore one day
Saw white sails in the sun
Wasn’t long before they felt the sting
White man, white law, white gun
Don’t tell me that it’s justified
Somewhere, someone lied
Someone lied
Genocide
And now you’re standing on solid rock
Standing on sacred ground
Living on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Are blowing down the line
You’re talking about a chosen place
You want to sell it in a marketplace?
Just a minute now
You’re standing on Solid rock
Standing on sacred ground
Living on borrowed time
And the winds of change
Are blowing down the line
What makes this 26 year old song still fabulous? It’s not just great music - it really means something.
It did then, does now.
So why not go to Shane’s Goanna website and buy the digitally-remastered real thing? [Oztralya is NOT an affiliate ~ just spreading the blogosphere love]. On the landing page, scroll down to find this, probably the best buy for earlier songs:
Retrospect 2004
"This stunning and long awaited double album collection spans
over 20 years of songs. Highlights include Solid Rock and Razor’s Edge from the GOANNA days as well as Flesh and Blood and other great songs from the RIVER & TIME WILL TELL albums that have been unavailable for years."
And I might be out of line here, but psst, here’s the link to the fabulous 1982 video on YouTube. How the hell else are you going to experience the earnest vitality of this decades-old phenomena?
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