Man Who Sued God Music Credits

Composer David Bridie

Music Supervisor Christine Woodruff

Layered up, recorded, programmed and mixed by Christian Scallan at The Enormodome

Mixed at Metropolis Audio by Simon Polinski Orchestra recorded at Alan Eatons by Robin Gray Arrangements by David Bridie and Helen Mountfort Conducted by Andrea Keeble

Featured Vocalists Miriam Allan Barbara Stanwell Jason Yeates Mary Doumany David Bridie Voix Celeste Choir organised by Geoffrey Cox

Featured Musicians

Accordion David Abiuso Guitar Jim Moginie Phil Wales Michael Den Elzen Bass Dean Addison Mandolin Andrew Carswell Drums Michael Barker Oboe Vicki Phillipson Clarinet Rianne Wilschutt Hammond Bruce Haymes Piano, Loops, Keys David Bridie Bass, Loops Christian Scallan

Les Nuages translations by Ross Bridie

Three Arias composed by David Abiuso and David Bridie

Cello Song for Charlie Written by Helen Mountfort Mushroom Music Publishing Pty Ltd Come Around Written by David Bridie/John Phillips Mushroom Music Publishing Pty Ltd

All We Like Sheep from The Messiah Written by George Frideric Handel Performed by the Bratislava Choir and Capella Istropolitana Conducted by Jareslav Kr(e)check, Under licence from Naxos

Venite Populi Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I'll Take You There Written by Alvertis Isbell East Memphis Music Corp/Irving Music Inc Administered by Universal Music Publishing Pty Ltd. Performed by Tina Harrod Arranged, produced and recorded by Daniel Denholm. Mixed by David Hemming

Lyrics:

The film begins with what is one of three arias composed by David Abiuso and David Bridie for the film. However the film’s DVD subtitles don’t attempt to translate the words, instead just referring to it has a ‘haunting operatic melody.’

It’s beyond this site’s pay grade to try to work out the lyrics.

In the DVD commentary track, Bridie explains that Abiuso was a double bass player, later in London, who played with My Friend the Chocolate Cake alongside Bridie for a few years. They were trying to get a sad Mozartian feel to the piece, and singer Miriam Clarke from Newcastle sang the aria (there is only one Miriam credited as a singer in the music credits, Miriam Allan. Perhaps she got married).

Bridie wrote the lyrics about a lost boat in the sea, and his father translated them into French. After the main title, the music segues into their “third attempt at the opening music cue”, a piano oboe guitar driven piece.

Tail song lyrics and closing dialogue:

The DVD subtitles do conﬁrm the lyrics for the song that runs over the tail credits.

Steve Myers (Billy Connolly) and Anna Redmond (Judy Davis) are out in the harbour on a sunny day in a small boat. After Steve tells Anna that he could pay Les back, she tells him that $200,000 would buy a beautiful boat. Steve: “You know, I always fancied sailing to Shanghai.” Anna: “It’s too late. It’s ruined. But I’ve heard Hanoi is … um … wondrous. There’s pirates though on the way …” Steve: “Ah, bugger them …” (he takes a sip of his wine)” Anna: “Typhoons … malaria.” Steve (scofﬁng, Anna laughing): “Huh! (then talking to his dog resting on the bow) Hey Arthur, how do you like the sound of that? Hanoi?”

Arthur barks …

Anna (turning to look at Arthur): “They eat dogs in Hanoi.”

Arthur turns and whimpers.

The song, which has been running as an instrumental, turns to lyrics. It’s I’ll Take You There, performed by Tina Harrod.

Lyrics as heard in the ﬁlm:

I know a place Ain’t nobody cryin’ Ain’t nobody worried …

(Wide shot of the boat, now with doubles, heading out between the breakwaters)

Ain’t no smiling faces

(Aerial shot of the boat and surrounds)

(with chorus) Lying to the races.. No … help me … Come on, help me … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Somebody help me, yeah … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Oh, oh, help me, oh … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Mmm, mmm, help me now (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Oh, oh, help me, yeah … (with chorus) I’ll take you there …

(Tail credits begin rolling up over the aerial wide shot of the bay, and the beach, the boat now in the far distance as it heads out to sea) Mmmm mmmm (chorus Oooh oooh) Take me by the hand (Chorus Oooh) Let me take you there (Chorus Oh ooooh ooooh) Take me by the hand, yeah

(The image fades to black, as the credits roller continues. There’s a short guitar and brass driven musical interlude)

Aaaah oooh oooh I know a place (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Ain’t nobody cryin’ (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Ain’t nobody worried (with chorus) I’ll take you there … (short electric piano driven interlude) (with chorus) I’ll take you there … (with chorus) Lyin’ to the races (with chorus) Yeah ... I’ll take you there … Uh huh, ooh yeah (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Take me by the hand, yeah … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Well, ain’t nobody cryin’ (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Let me, let me take you there… (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Take you by the hand, yeah …

(Harmonica driven instrumental interlude, including a vocal) mmm oh no …oh no) (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Take me by the hand, yeah (with chorus) I’ll take you there …

(There’s some more repeats of these lines, with humming, mixed down a little lower, then more clearly ...)

Mercy yeah, mercy yeah, mercy yeah Oh oooh I know a place Oh mercy yeah (with chorus) I’ll take you there … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Mercy (with chorus) I’ll take you there … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Oh oh oh oh yeah … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Ooooh, take me there (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Take me there (with chorus) I’ll take you there … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Oooh oooh help me, yeah (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Oooh oooh help me, yeah (with chorus) I’ll take you there … (with chorus) I’ll take you there … Oooh oooh help me, yeah (with chorus) I’ll take you there …

(A few more cries, and then a harmonica instrumental ﬁnishes the song over the last few credits)

Composer David Bridie:

David Bridie was a founding member of the band Not Drowning, Waving, and there is an interview with Bridie here, saved to WM here, which includes this introduction to ﬁlm music composing aspect of Bridie’s career:

By 1991, Bridie and co. had nailed the score for Jocelyn Moorhouse’s award- winning drama Proof starring Hugo Weaving, Geneviève Picot and Russell Crowe. The following year Bridie and Phillips scored David Caesar’s Greenkeeping. Then came What I Have Written, as well as the Judy Davis and Billy Connolly comedy The Man Who Sued God and… well the list goes on. All the while, the clips they were having made for their album tracks were being produced by filmmakers rather than those known for music videos, and all of them “were approached more as short films than band promotion film clips,” says Bridie.

Bridie had this to say about composing for the screen:

“They are both very different process wise and it would depend on which day of the week I was asked as to what preference I would give. I like the team aspects of working on ﬁlm. There is often a hundred people employed on a feature or in a series and everyone is working towards making it the best it can be. This special relationship only works obviously if everybody buys in, but when it does, it’s a great feeling. The primary relationship for the composer is with the director, the editor and the creative producers and fortunately they have mostly been positive ones in the projects I have worked on, though, like all composers, I’ve got stories. Creatively you are clearly in the director’s house and it’s at its worst when it feels like jingle writing with some Reality-TV-loving exec paying the bills. But at its best there are those projects with a heart or an edge that you believe in and a creative director and artistic DOP allowing for creative hours in the studio creating. I see myself as a songwriter/recording and performing artist before I see myself as a screen composer. It makes me feel in control of my destiny. But I need score work constantly to fund the Wantok Musik Foundation, (WM ‘about’ page here) which I have a big responsibility towards and [which] I don’t draw a wage from.

There’s also an interview with Brodie, and with John Phillips, who did the Greenkeeping score with him, here, WM here.

Not Drowning, Waving have a reasonably detailed wiki here, which provides references to other content on the internet, and there’s a link to Bridie’s wiki here.

Another incarnation is the band My Friend the Chocolate Cake, with a wiki listing here, and at time of writing a website here. (The band had done a ﬁnal tour before an indeﬁnite hiatus at time of writing).

(Below: John Phillips and David Brodie, and below that David Brodie in single still) A few press clippings about the composer:

The Age, 30th June, 2000:

The Age, 1st December 1998: The Sydney Morning Herald, 2nd February 2001:

Bridie was interviewed for The Weekend Australian, 6-7th October, 2000: Wake EPK:

When Bridie put out an album in 2013, he also put out an EPK, with these as the ﬁrst two pages (screen caps, no hot links, but a search of YouTube will turn up the clips that are still on that site - one account was deleted by time of writing):