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From Little Things Big Things Grow
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Wikipedia article
"'From Little Things Big Things Grow'" is a protest song recorded by Australian artists Paul Kelly & The Messengers on their 1991 album 'Comedy', and by Kev Carmody (with Kelly) on his 1993 album 'Bloodlines'. It was released as a CD single by Carmody and Kelly in 1993 but failed to chart. The song was co-written by Kelly and Carmody, and is based on the story of the Gurindji strike (Wave Hill walk-off) and Vincent Lingiari as part of the Indigenous people's struggle for land rights in Australia and reconciliation.
At the 1994 Country Music Awards of Australia, the song won Heritage Song of the Year.
On 4 May 2008 a cover version by The GetUp Mob, part of the GetUp! advocacy group, peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) singles charts. This version included samples from speeches by Prime Ministers Paul Keating in 1992, and Kevin Rudd in 2008; it featured vocals by both Carmody and Kelly, as well as other Australian artists.
Ziggy Ramo reworked, expanded and updated the lyrics in his acclaimed 2021 version. The track also features vocals by Kelly.
Background
The song was co-written by Kelly and Carmody, Note: requires user to input the song titl. Note 11 Aug 2020: Search does not return anything. and is based on the story of the Gurindji Strike (also known as the Wave Hill walk-off) and in particular the role of the Gurindji leader of the strikers, Vincent Lingiari. It describes how the Gurindjis' claim to their traditional lands back from the cattle station on which they worked (owned by UK company Vesteys and called Wave Hill Station) sparked the Indigenous land rights movement. The nine-year protest won public support and eventually led to the 'Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976', which provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on traditional occupation (native title), and the power of veto over mining and development on those lands. On 16 August 1975, a small part of their land was handed back to the Gurindji people on a 30-year-lease by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, a symbolic and powerful moment in history.
Evolution of the song
Carmody described writing the song:
It was recorded by Paul Kelly and the Messengers for their 1991 album 'Comedy' released by Mushroom Records. Kelly included the song on his solo albums, 'Live, May 1992' and 'Songs from the South: Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits' in 1997. Carmody recorded it on his 1993 album 'Bloodlines' supplying vocals, guitar and didgeridoo, Kelly supplied vocals, guitar and harmonica, with numerous other musicians. This Carmody and Kelly version was released as a single in 1993 but did not chart. Also in 1993, an SBS television documentary, 'Bloodbrothers', examined Carmody and his music including this song.
Kelly attributes the song's major influences to protest songs of the civil rights movement and traditional folk songs. The melody is borrowed from "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" by Bob Dylan, with the opening line reworked from "The Times They Are a-Changin'".
The lyrics are posted online on the National Museum of Australia website.
Other versions
The song was performed on 7 July 2007 on the Australian leg of Live Earth by Kelly, Carmody, John Butler, and Missy Higgins. The song could have been considered "the event's anthem." 'Rolling Stone' cited the performance as a highlight, stating the "whole crowd sung along all eleven verses."
The GetUp Mob, organised by advocacy group GetUp!, released a version of the song on 21 April 2008. This featured elements of the apology to the Stolen Generations, made by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, on 13 February 2008, as well as former Prime Minister Paul Keating's Redfern Speech on 10 December 1992. The track features Carmody and Kelly, as well as other prominent Australian artists (including Urthboy, Missy Higgins, Mia Dyson, Radical Son, Jane Tyrrell, Dan Sultan, Joel Wenitong and Ozi Batla). This version peaked at #4 on the ARIA singles chart after its 28 April 2008 release, and #2 on both the Australian Chart and Digital Track Chart. The video for the song was produced by ARIA winner Hackett Films, and features John Butler, Leah Purcell, Pat Dodson and Anthony Mundine. Carmody described the 2008 version:
A version of the song performed by The Waifs also appears on the 2007 Kev Carmody tribute album, 'Cannot Buy My Soul'. The song is also featured on their 2009 'Live from the Union of Soul' album where it is co-performed with John Butler.
In November 2009 Triple J held a tribute concert for Paul Kelly in Melbourne, with John Butler, Missy Higgins and Dan Sultan performing this song. A recording from the concert, 'Before Too Long', was released in 2010.
The song was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry in 2010.
In 2013 Joan Baez, on her first Australian tour for 28 years, included it in her concerts to great applause.
Kelly and Carmody performed the song together on 5 November 2014 at the public memorial service at Sydney Town Hall for former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who is the "tall stranger" referred to in the song.
Electric Fields were joined virtually by Jessica Mauboy, Missy Higgins and John Butler for a performance of the song recorded at the Adelaide Botanic Garden conservatory, and broadcast for the season finale of ABC Television's 6-part pandemic series, 'The Sound', on 23 August 2020. The cover features on 'Cannot Buy My Soul: The Songs Of Kev Carmody', released on 21 August 2020, which includes covers of other Carmody songs by artists such as Jimmy Barnes, Courtney Barnett, and Kate Miller-Heidke.
Ziggy Ramo's 2021 version 'Little Things', with expanded lyrics featuring Paul Kelly on sung vocal was originally commissioned for ABC Radio's Triple J 'Like a Version' series. The re-imagined song features a heavy guitar coda where Ramo updates the number of black deaths in custody in Australia since the original release of the song and the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991. Ramo's Hip hop version samples the original acoustic guitar and banjo chord progression from the Carmody-Kelly recording.
Recognition
The National Museum of Australia in Canberra mounted an exhibition called 'From Little Things Big Things Grow: Fighting for Indigenous Rights 19201970' from 10 September 2009 to 8 March 2010, which told the "story of Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists who fought together for justice and equal rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people". After being dismounted, it travelled Australia until 26 May 2012.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the "most Australian" songs of all time, "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was ranked number 70.
Use in advertising
Industry SuperFunds, which manages collective projects on behalf of fifteen industry superannuation funds, is responsible for a number of prominent advertising and marketing campaigns on behalf of its membership. Its "From little things" campaign, used "From Little Things, Big Things Grow" from September 2009 until the end of 2014, and it continues to use the words "From little things..." as a slogan.
Track listing
# "From Little Things Big Things Grow" (Kelly, Carmody) - 6:51
# "Freedom" (Bart Willoughby, Carmody) - 6:49
Personnel
Paul Kelly and the Messengers 1991 version
'Paul Kelly and the Messengers'* Paul Kelly guitar, harmonica, vocals,
* Michael Barclay percussion, drums, vocals
* Peter Bull accordion, keyboards
* Steve Connolly guitar, vocals
* Jon Schofield bass guitar, vocals
'Additional musicians'
* Paul Burton bass guitar
* Shelagh, Mairead and Deirdre Hannan vocals
* Ray Pereira percussion, cardboard box
* Ian Simpson guitar, banjo, mandolin, pedal steel
* Ernie Dingo - Didgeridoo
'Recording details'
* Producer Alan Thorne, Paul Kelly
* Engineer Alan Thorne
**Assistant engineer David Mackie, Tristin Norwell
* Recorded & mixed at Trafalgar Studio, Sydney
Kev Carmody 1993 version
*Kev Carmody vocals, guitar, didgeridoo*Paul Kelly vocals, guitar, harmonica
'Additional musicians'
*Steve Berry guitar
*Murray Cook piano, keyboards
*Leroy Cummins lead guitar
*Salley Dastey, Lou Bennett, Amy Saunders, Will Hogg, Kirsten Mackenzie, Melanie Shanahan vocals
*Brenda Gifford, Marlene Cummins saxophone
*John Gillies drums, computer sequencing
*John Lacey didgeridoo, sound effects
*Vanessa Lucas bass guitar
*Shan Moynihan violoncello
*Andrew O'Phee guitars, mandolin, vocals
*Claes Pearce violin, viola, vocals
*John Tebbitt, Martin Cilea computer sequencing
'Recording details'
*Recorded at Megaphon Studios, Electric Avenue and Music Farm.
References
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