Lou’s ‘Track by Track’

1. La La La Not Listening
Probably comes from being strong willed and cheeky at the same time. I guess it is directed mainly at the music industry standards. I don’t really fit into those…and La La is a survival song.

2. I Will Remember
Inspired by my very colorful life and family. As amazing and beautiful as it is…it is sometimes hard to remember that sometimes.

3. It’s Raining, It’s Pouring
I live way up in the hills of Mullumbimby in Northern NSW. Most of us in the community live an ‘alternate’ lifestyle, as you can imagine, a lot of strange things happen up here in these hills. Particularly when it floods!

4. Uluru
A few years back, I was given a grant from John Butler to tour the Northern territory. Being a hippy from Mullumbimby, it wasn’t good enough to just go with my band; I insisted that my friends and their families came too. So we ended up with a whole bus load and headed for Uluru. We stayed at Mutijulu (the local aboriginal community, and custodians of Uluru) for a couple of days and played for them and hung out and cooked for them too. One of the elders talked with us about a spirit that they traditionally learn from called ‘tjugubar’. Although it isn’t something he was able to go into detail about, as it is all bound up with generations of learning, one thing did stick with me. It was when he was talking about Uluru being a place that you just don’t climb up on, and if we could all hear the stories and learning from ‘tjugubar’ in the earth, water, all around us, then we wouldn’t want to climb Uluru either.
I guess the whole idea behind that song for me is that a lot of crazy social and environmental destruction happens perhaps because we don’t listen closely enough to nature, or the universe or the gods or whatever it is that reminds us that we are part of the universe just like all things.

5. Now or Never
Last year I met Jack Johnson. I was at and ‘indigenous day’ in the park on the beach at Byron Bay. I dropped the kids off surfing and wandered up to the park to catch the event. There were probably about 100 people at the park for the event. There were speakers, elders and dancers. Then they announced that they had a friend that wanted to get up and sing a song. Up hopped Jack Johnson. That blew me away. I thought that I had had too many puffs on the pipe or something, it was so surreal. Anyway he strummed and played a little song like a busker. I went up to talk to him after, as I wanted to thank him for being so humble. I guess I am a bit of a fan. We had been listening to his music a fair bit around that time…being summer and all. When I went up to talk to him, I started crying my eyes out! I don’t even know why! I just started howling! It was very awkward for him and me! He just gave me a hug and patted me saying “you are pretty happy right now aren’t you” and I just sobbed and nodded and walked off!
Anyway, so I picked up the kids, told them about my crazy experience…they laughed a lot (I was still crying), I went home and wrote ‘Now or Never’ that afternoon. Not really sure if the Jack Johnson saga plays a part in that song…don’t see how it couldn’t.

6. Bad Manners
I remember that was written around a time of uncertainty. But one of those times when at the same time I was feeling very determined to get over a stumbling block, probably particularly in my career. My favorite song on the album.

7. Curl Up and Die
A very plain but dramatic song from the hills. I guess it is pretty traditional in that way. Always good to be reminded that life is a roller coaster ride.

8. No Numbers
Well I have always had trouble with numbers. They just don’t stick. Particularly when it comes to music! I can’t read music very well at all…and I never count! When my brainy music nerd band members try and explain what they are doing musically in number language, I just laugh. It goes straight over my head. So this is a number protest song! Ha.ha..

9. In Love With Love
I wanted to write a duet. I hadn’t ever written one before. But I wanted to write one that was melodically romantic, but lyrically not so much. Platonic love, which is the subject of this song, seems to come up a lot in my life. We actually ended up not even having it as a duet after all....seems I'm singing to my self on this one!

10. Cowboy
This was the first ‘country’ song I ever wrote. I was told one day after performing my songs at a local café, that I sounded like a country singer and my songs sounded ‘country’ ( I still don’t know what that really means). That had never occurred to me before. I just thought my songs were just – songs- . So anyway, I went home and thought about what a country song might be, and wrote ‘Cowboy’ in half n hour…laughing the whole time. It was really fun to do that.

11. You and Me
I suppose one can look at being a mum and a wife as something you are stuck with. Or not! I know that I feel both ways nearly every day! Maybe this song caught me at the time of day when it was all bad..?

12. One Way In One Way out
I asked Bill Chambers if he wanted to write a song with me. I don’t really ever co-write, mostly because I can’t seem to do it. It’s very personal, and I know that usually when I write at home, I am always in a bit of a state…not really for outsider’s eyes. But anyway, someone suggested that I ask Bill, and I thought it might be kinda cool…that is if he wanted to. And he did. I went to Bill’s house, and we had dinner and went into the studio and sat there going ‘hmmm what should we write about’? Bill asked me who I had been listening to and I said ‘the carter family’. He was surprised and happy about that. I then started to tell him about where we lived way up in the hills with a road that winds one way in and one way out. Then I told him about the two old ladies that I had recently met at the local valley school's centenary. These two girls, Mary and Betty lived and grew up on what is now our place. And so the song unfolded. Both Bill and I were/are very proud of this song.

Love Someone - From Lou's 1st album by the same name

One Shoe - From the same album