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Reckless Kelly Music Credits

Reckless Kelly Music Credits

Music Designer Yahoo Serious

Original Music Score Anthony Marinelli and Maurie Sheldon

Music Editors David Roach, T. Ryan Music Engineer/Mixers Robin Gray, Mark Curry Orchestral Music Performed by Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor Tommy Tycho Orchestra Manager Ron Layton Didgeridoo Music Alan Dargin

SONGS

‘DJAPANA’ (M. Yurupingu) Performed by Yothu Yindi Courtesy of Mushroom Records/Hollywood Records Mushroom Music Pty Ltd

‘WILD THINGS’ (C. Taylor) Performed by Divinyls Courtesy of America, Inc. By permission of EMI Music Publishing Pty. Ltd.

‘RIDE’ (M. Plaza) Performed by Produced by T. Farris, M. Plaza Courtesy of Syray Pty Ltd Syray Music

‘I FOUGHT THE LAW’ (S. Curtis) Performed by The Dukes Courtesy of Music Acuff Rose, Inc. (USA) administered by MCA/Gilbey ‘RECKLESS’ (J. Reyne) Performed by James Reyne Courtesy of Mushroom Records

‘BORN TO BE WILD’ (Bonfire) Performed by INXS Produced by M. Opitz Courtesy of Truism Pty. Ltd. MCA Music (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

‘FROM A MILLION MILES’ (Single Gun Theory) Performed by Single Gun Theory Courtesy of Volition Music under license from Nettwerk Productions Ltd. Courtesy of Publishing

‘HANDLE THE FAME’ (Y. Serious, D. Roach, T. Tycho) Performed by Appears Courtesy of Polygram Records Produced by Y. Serious Courtesy of Serious Productions Pty. Ltd.

“HAPPY ON MY WAY’ (P. Pyle) Performed by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver Courtesy of Sugar Hill Records Courtesy of Ernest Tubb Music

‘AS YOU LIKE IT’ (S. Kilbey) Performed by Steve Kilbey Courtesy of Steve Kilbey/ Courtesy of

‘HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN’ (J. Lennon, P. McCartney) Performed by The Dukes Courtesy of Sony Music Limited (ATV) administered by MCA Music (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

‘BEDAZZLED’ (Succotash) Performed by Succotash Courtesy of ATI Mushroom Records ATI Publishing

‘FAITH’ (Stapleton, Kelly) Performed by The Dukes Courtesy of Sony Music By permission of MCA Gilbey EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty. Ltd. and MMA Music

Reckless Kelly available in Australia on Mushroom CD’s & Tapes

Music in the film:

Didges can be seen being played in the film, but perhaps the most prominent features in the Las Vegas scenes:

Lyrics:

Songs run over the tail and head credits.

Tail credits:

After a buzzing fly draws an animated “The End” and is shot for its troubles, and a title pops up to advise no flies were harmed in making the film, a song begins. This is Faith, performed by The Dukes. Lyrics as heard in the film:

You’ve got to have faith in something We can believe what we want to believe Give us the joy, we’ll give you the music We got to give when we want to receive You know all of the faithful gonna see the sun rise (Chorus: Only the faithful, only the faithful)

Only the faithful going to see it right So come on down, won’t you get on board Give yourself that funky reward Come on home, won’t you head on down Treat yourself to a funky sound Only the faithful going to see the day Only the faithful going to kiss the sky (Chorus: Faith! You’ve gotta have faith!) Only the faithful need to apply (Chorus: Faith! You’ve gotta have faith!) Faithful going to see the sun raise (Chorus: Faith! You gotta have faith!) Only the faithful gonna see it right

(short musical interlude with saxophone)

Only the faithful going to watch it rise Watch it rise Watch it rise Ooh Only the faithful going to greet the day (Chorus: Faith! You’ve got to have faith!) Only the people going to maintain the faith

The chorus begins to fade out still singing ‘faith’ while the main voice also fades out ...

As that music fades out, a didg announces the return of Yothu Yindi’s ‘DJAPANA’ (M. Yurupingu).

This song features Aboriginal language, and this section is taken from a site claiming to represent the lyrics in correct form. This site is unable to confirm that the language is correct, but presents it as a guide …

The English language lyrics are as heard in the film: Wo-o-o djäpana Wo-o-o warwu Wo-o-o rramani Wo-o-o galanggarri

Hey you children Of the land Don't be fooled By the Balanda ways It will cause Sorrow and woe For our people And our land

Wo-o-o djäpana Wo-o-o warwu Wo-o-o rramani Wo-o-o galanggarri

So live it up Living it it up Living it up Living it up Living it up With sunset dreaming

Head Credits:

The same song can be heard over the head credits, and the same warning applies in relation to the Aboriginal lyrics. The English-language lyrics are as heard in the film:

Djäpana wlutju Dhurulama ngunhawarrtji djäpana Warwu galanggarri Rripa ngunhawarrtji djäpana Warwu golungnha

Look at the sun Falling from the sky And the sunset Takes my mind Back to my homeland Far away It's a story Planted in my mind It's so clear I remember Oh my, oh my, Sunset dreaming

Wo-o-o djäpana Wo-o-o warwu Wo-o-o rramani Wo-o-o galanggarri

Hey, you people You people out there How come You ain't fair To the people Of the land Try my, try my, Sunset dreaming

Wo-o-o djäpana Wo-o-o warwu Wo-o-o rramani Wo-o-o galanggarri

CD:

The film’s soundtrack was released on a CD: CD (ST) Picture This TVD93375 1993 1. Born To Be Wild (Bonfire) (MCA Music) Vocals: INXS, produced by and INXS 2. I Fought The Law (Curtis) (MCA/Gilbey) Vocals: The Dukes, produced by Geoffrey Stapleton and Sean Kelly 3. Wild Thing (Taylor) (EMI Music) Vocals: Divinyls, produced by Charlie Drayton and Mark McEntee 4. AwabaKelly (Serious/Dargin) (Mushroom) Vocals: Alan Dargin & Yahoo Serious, produced by Yahoo Serious 5. Djapana (Yunupingu) (Mushroom) Vocals: Yothu Yindi, produced by Mark Moffatt for Under New Management 6. Ride (Plaza) (Syray) Vocals: Mental As Anything, produced by Tim Farris and Martin Plaza 7. Handle The Fame (Serious/Roach/Tycho) (Mushroom) Vocals: Anthony Warlow, produced by Yahoo Serious 8. Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Lennon/McCartney) (MCA) Vocals: The Dukes, produced by Geoffrey Stapleton and Sean Kelly 9. Reckless Angels (Serious/Tycho) (Mushroom) Vocals: Yahoo Serious, produced by Yahoo Serious 10. From A Million Miles (Single Gun Theory) (Sony Music) Vocals: Single Gun Theory, produced by Anthony Valcic and Single Gun Theory 11. Faith (Stapleton/Kelly) (EMI Music/MCA/Gilbey/MMA) Vocals: The Dukes, produced by Geoffrey Stapleton and Sean Kelly 12. As You Like It (Kilbey) (Sony Music) Vocals: Steve Kilbey, produced by Steve Kilbey 13. Bedazzled (Succotash) (ATI) Vocals: Succotash, produced by David Price 14. Reckless (Reyne) (Warner/Chappell) Vocals: James Reyne, produced by Ross Cockle 15. Happy On My Way (Pyle) (Control) Vocals: Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, production co-ordinated by Penny Parsons 16. Such Is Life (Serious/Tycho) (Mushroom) Vocals: Yahoo Serious & The Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra, produced by Yahoo Serious 17. Handle The Fame (Finale) (Serious/Roach/Tycho) (Mushroom) Vocals: Anthony Warlow, produced by Yahoo Serious

VHS Music Trailer:

The VHS copy of the film had a trailer for the CD release before the start of the movie (together with a trailer promoting the Warners Roadshow Movieworld). These are the bands that were mentioned in the promotion:

Composers:

Yahoo Serious took the main credit as “music designer”, and the three had little to do by way of underscore, with songs contributing much of the music to the soundtrack.

Co-composerAnthony Marinelli:

American Anthony Marinelli at time of writing was easy to locate on the web.

He had a wiki listing here and an eponymous website here, there’s an interview with him here, and so on.

(Below: Anthony Marinelli)

Co-composer Maurie Sheldon:

Maurie Sheldon was a music assistant on Frog Dreaming, and had done additional score on Serious’s . Other film credits are limited - he was credited as an additional orchestrator on the 1991 franchise picture Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Sheldon turned up playing bass on cult items such as the 1983 Tim and Debbie LP Brainspace Vol II. Sheldon seems to have worked as a session bass player - he also played bass on Allan Zavod’s 1980 What’s New! and Wayne Appleby’s 1990 album Shadows in the Sand.

Sheldon also played bass for The Steve Murphy Quartet, which recorded the 1977 LP “Direct” for the Melbourne based Jazznote Records.

Sheldon is listed on the rear of the What’s New! album and might well feature in some of the LP’s stills, but the copy available online is of poor quality:

Co-composer Tommy Tycho:

Co-composer Tommy Tycho had previously worked with Yahoo Serious on the Young Einstein soundtrack.

Tommy Tycho was a well-known Hungarian-born pianist, conductor, composer and arranger, who specialised in television work, acting as the 's music director for its first fifteen years, from 1956 to 1971. He has a relatively detailed wiki here. His own website became inactive after he suffered a stroke in 2008 at of 80.

Unfortunately the Wayback Machine only saved a small and relatively useless main page for the site:

At one point, a transcript of an extended interview with Tycho could be found on the ABC's Talking Heads, but the ABC, in its notoriously lax way regarding its online archives, has now lost the transcript of the interview.

Fortunately it turns out that the Wayback Machine did save it, here, and just so the transcript survives somewhere else on the internet, it is reproduced below.

A briefer obituary published 5th April 2013 could be found here:

Musician, composer and conductor Tommy Tycho has died aged 84 after suffering complications of pneumonia. Born in , Tycho started his career as a pianist for ABC radio in the 1950s. With the advent of television Tycho moved to channel ATN7, performing on the station’s opening night program in December 1956. By 1957 he was Musical Director at ATN7, composing and performing for many of the channel’s early productions including the Revue series, Studio A and . In the book Forty Years Of Television, commemorating ATN7’s 40th anniversary in 1996, Tycho recalled his time at the station: “In my long and fortunately successful career, one of the most happy times was my fifteen years at Channel Seven — an incredibly busy and creative period when I was able to learn and improve my craft and perform with a legion of international and local stars, all of them good friends to this day.” Among his many career achievements he was musical director for nine Royal Command Performances, the opening of the and Sydney Entertainment Centre, the Australia Live broadcast and composed music for the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games, 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. He also composed original music for the Number 96 feature film in 1973, and in 1982 presented his own series on ABC and was a talent judge on Network Ten‘s You’re A Star. His version of Advance Australia Fair continues to be played at sporting and special events. In 1977 he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and ten years later a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). In 2007 he was conferred the degree of Honorary Doctorate of Music from the . He had been living in a nursing home since suffering a stroke in 2008. Tommy Tycho is survived by a wife, a daughter, son-in-law and step-daughter.

(Below: Tommy Tycho)

The ABC transcript of the Talking Heads episode featuring Tycho, screened 29th August 2005: Tommy Tycho

Peter Thompson catches up with a man better known as 'The Maestro' - famous conductor Tommy Tycho.

PETER THOMPSON: At the age of three he threw tantrums wanting to play the piano. But his feet wouldn't reach the pedals. Before long he was playing with Hungary's top orchestras. But war changed the course of his life and he came as a young migrant to Australia. Here he became Maestro Tommy Tycho. And this year he celebrates his 60th anniversary as a professional . Maestro, it's great to you have you here. Thank you very much for joining us.

TOMMY TYCHO: It's nice of you to invite me.

PETER THOMPSON: Music is your passion. Your whole life.

TOMMY TYCHO: It is. I can't see a day without having some music around. Whether I play it, whether I conduct it or whether I'm just listening to it.

PETER THOMPSON: Tell us what it does for you.

TOMMY TYCHO: If I don't have music at least every day of my life I feel cheated and I feel depressed.

PETER THOMPSON: And what are you gonna listen to tonight?

TOMMY TYCHO: I don't know yet. It depends on my mood. Probably a symphonic work because there's nothing more exciting for me to listen to as a large orchestra with its myriads of colours.

PETER THOMPSON: So what makes it ? Those moments of pure glory.

TOMMY TYCHO: I don't know. I just suddenly feel, and I don't mind admitting it, that at times when I hear something that I really love I start crying.

PETER THOMPSON: Well, Tommy, let's look back at where your musical heritage began in Hungary.

TOMMY TYCHO: OK. I was born in , Hungary in 1928. And I was determined to become a musician. My dad was a top executive of the Electricity Commission in Hungary. And my mother was a well-known and famous opera singer in Europe. I was very close to my parents. Although my father passed away when I was still a young man. It came to mother to bring up myself and my elder sister. We were a close family. My passion for music virtually started from my birth. But I realised by the time I started to become quite accomplished playing the piano, which was at about seven, eight years of age, that's going to be my profession. That's going to be my life. My piano teacher's name Was Egon Petri who just returned from the with 's 'Rhapsody in Blue'. And eventually I ended up playing it for him. And he was so impressed by it that I ended up playing 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Budapest Philharmonic at the age of 10. In 1939, the world was at my feet and suddenly disaster struck. Whatever dreams I may have had was shattered by Hungary entering into WWII. Being Jewish, I have been conscripted into a labour battalion. And we were treated like subhumans. Our diet was consisting of stale bread and water. And it was a terrible, terrible situation. I was one of the lucky ones who survived the Holocaust. And when I returned to Budapest a total uncertainty surrounded me. I didn't know what was gonna happen. I had to resort in playing in a dance band to put some food on the table. In 1947, I decided that I want to see the world. I was given an opportunity by a band leader to go to Tehran, . My life in Tehran was of culture shock at first. Having been living in a Central European country to all of a sudden being confronted by different culture, different food, different everything. It was a challenge. I loved it after a while but it took a little while to get used to.

PETER THOMPSON: Tell me, one of the things you say about those days is you don't think you were ever a real child.

TOMMY TYCHO: No, no child prodigy, Peter, could be a child, really. Because it is being robbed from that time of going out and kicking a football around or doing all that. And I was constantly occupied with practising and being involved in music.

PETER THOMPSON: But you say that as an older person, don't you?

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: In those days that's all you wanted to do.

TOMMY TYCHO: That's all I wanted to do. And mum really had to drag me away from the piano...to eat.

PETER THOMPSON: Your mother, Helen...

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: ..was a soprano.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, a very well-known soprano. And alas, I only heard her a couple of times. Because the moment the two kids were born she gave up her career. That was the Central European mode. A wife was a wife - cooking a meal and bringing up children. And not being on the stage.

PETER THOMPSON: When you think back about your dad dying when you were at a very impressionable age...

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: What do you think? What impact do you think that's had on you?

TOMMY TYCHO: I really didn't realise that tragedy until I was much older. Because Mother has filled up the role of being a mother and the father. And then the Holocaust came and things just went absolutely astray.

PETER THOMPSON: Well, let's talk about the Holocaust. You were brought up not as Jewish. You had a Jewish grandfather but you were brought up as Lutheran.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: Both parents practising Lutherans.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes. I came home from school one day and my mother said, "I've got very news to tell you. "You're Jewish." And I said, "So what?" And she said, "Well, because of the Nazi regime we'll go through a terrible time." And I just threw it off by saying, "I don't care." I, of course, realised later on the prophetic words that Mother said. When I was taken away with all the same-aged kids into forced labour...

PETER THOMPSON: And what was forced labour like?

TOMMY TYCHO: Food was virtually nonexistent. And we had to work about 12 - 14 hours a day. Summer or winter. And the winter can be pretty cold in Hungary. So it was...terror.

PETER THOMPSON: What has all that done to you? Do you think that to some extent has closed over your heart?

TOMMY TYCHO: At that time, the tragedy really didn't strike. It was years afterwards that I remembered all this horror. And used to wake up in the middle of the night screaming. And... It's one of those things that a human being can eventually get over. Which I did. But it has pursued for a number of years.

PETER THOMPSON: Now, the Americans ultimately are in Budapest.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: They want entertainment.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: Tommy, you provided it.

TOMMY TYCHO: Well, I didn't provide it by myself. I was picked up by a band leader who was quite well-known in Hungary at the time...

PETER THOMPSON: I couldn't believe you knew . No, but the first time I've heard Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey...and Benny Goodman and all that - I loved it. And my professor said - "Why are you occupying yourself with this kind of music?"

PETER THOMPSON: Rubbish?

TOMMY TYCHO: Rubbish. That's right. And I said, "Well, I've got to live and I've got to support my family."

PETER THOMPSON: Well, you say "support the family". And, of course, the expectation was that you would provide support for the family. Was that involved...that obligation, that sense of responsibility in your choice to go to Tehran?

TOMMY TYCHO: No, I think I went to Tehran because I wanted to get out of Europe which to me already felt to be a cesspool. A snake's pit of political turbulence. And also a young man, single young man - I wanted to see the world.

PETER THOMPSON: Whilst you're in Iran, you meet another Hungarian.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: Eve, who became the bedrock of your love life.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, yes. His Master's Voice wanted to make a recording with Eve. And I was the natural choice. She being Hungarian-born, I'm being Hungarian-born. We met... The record never took place, the marriage did.

PETER THOMPSON: And you could have gone to the US?

TOMMY TYCHO: Yeah.

PETER THOMPSON: You wanted to move. Australia, South Africa, the US - were all options. But Australia wrote back first, did they?

TOMMY TYCHO: And it was a good omen.

PETER THOMPSON: Well, so it is to Australia. Let's have a look at that chapter in your life.

TOMMY TYCHO: In 1950, both Eve and I decided that gypsy life is enough for us. And we decided to emigrate to Australia. It was reasonably easy for us to integrate into life in Australia because both of us spoke English. And we both made a very strong effort in assimilating with the Australian people. In order to put some bread on the table I worked at David Jones as a storeman. Eventually I started to make weekly broadcasts on ABC Radio called 'Handful of Keys'. I still can thank the ABC hierarchy at the time because it has catapulted me and my name into the consciousness of the audience in general. Television began in Australia in 1956. And I was very fortunate to join the band at Channel 7. In those days we were all learning on the job, as it were. Because we never knew anything about television. It was difficult at times, of course, with all the mistakes that we all made. It was part of the fun. And eventually Channel 7 got the wonderful show called 'Review 61'. It was a unique program of its kind in Australia. And, of course, a lot of people then afterwards started to copy our style. But it was the first one of its kind with a big ensemble of people in general. And it has virtually set the trend in musical productions in Australian television. I think the secret of 'The Mavis Bramston Show' was its irreverence. Poking fun at everything and everybody. And I think a lot of people got angry when they heard some of the things that we have telecast. But the great majority of the audiences loved it. Ones that I enjoyed mostly were the big musical extravaganza with a lot of budget involved in it like 'The Saturday Show'. And that one particularly I enjoyed because I had the opportunity of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with a premier performance of my concerto which was the first time it was performed. After having left Channel 7 I had the great opportunity of starting to conduct all the symphony orchestras around Australia. There is nothing more satisfying that standing in front of a very expert bunch of . And guide them through a lot of music. Because a conductor's job is to be a guide and not a tyrant.

PETER THOMPSON: Maestro, you look like you've packed several lives into that.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, I did.

PETER THOMPSON: 20 years or so. So you had the brilliant good luck of being there at the beginning, the dawn of television.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: When television stations actually employed quite big orchestras.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, they did.

PETER THOMPSON: A 30-piece orchestra, wasn't it?

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes. PETER THOMPSON: 20 singers? tc20 singers, 16 dancers. It was mammoth but the productions showed it.

PETER THOMPSON: And the program on Seven which was then called 'Sydney Tonight'. It ran six nights a week.

TOMMY TYCHO: And on Sunday, just to make it a bit more difficult we had a classical program live on air from 12:30...

PETER THOMPSON: So how on earth did you cope with all of this?

TOMMY TYCHO: I was young, Peter. But I have got an...a huge amount of energy, even today.

PETER THOMPSON: Everyone who is anyone came on shows like this too. And you met some great people.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, I did.

PETER THOMPSON: Mel Torme? .

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes... Jerry Lewis, Ethel Merman. . The list is endless virtually.

PETER THOMPSON: What did you learn from these people? I had the opportunity and the gumption of watching them. Of how they treat television, how they treat audience connection, how they treat comedy. It was overall a huge amount of entertainment that I learnt from these people.

PETER THOMPSON: I remember you saying about Jerry Lewis that...he would end a performance in a complete sweat.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, on one occasion. And he invited me to his dressing room and saying, "Look, I'm totally wringing wet." And I said, "Well, you just did a couple of hours solo out on the stage." He said, "No, no, no. It took me a long time to get this audience to keep going. I'll show it to you on the night-time show." And he invited me again after the night-time show. He was bone-dry. And he said, "You see?" I was well prepared for the night-time show." I wasn't on the other one."

PETER THOMPSON: If you have the innate talent what is it that actually stands in the way of seeing it through, because talent alone is not enough?

TOMMY TYCHO: No, it's not.

PETER THOMPSON: What is it?

TOMMY TYCHO: I wish I knew. But I think some very clever bloke once said that it's 90% of perspiration and 10% of inspiration.

PETER THOMPSON: So, discipline?

TOMMY TYCHO: Definitely discipline. And I live by that. It's my religion. I live by the discipline daily that I have to do what I do otherwise life is not worth living.

PETER THOMPSON: Someone observed that amateurs practise till they get it right. Professionals practise till they know they won't get it wrong.

TOMMY TYCHO: How true. That's a very clever statement.

PETER THOMPSON: Has that been the hallmark of your life? Behind the...

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: Behind the maestro, behind the appearance of effortless ability.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, it has. I'm a perfectionist. And I get very depressed if I can't attain or achieve that level of perfection.

PETER THOMPSON: It was during the '60s you were a household name. Into the '70s... You leave Channel 7 in 1971. And actually things aren't all roses after that, are they? You went into a bit of decline personally.

TOMMY TYCHO: I went into a decline but it was a personal choice. I've... I was burnt out. You come to a point where enough is enough. And you can't cope with it anymore.

PETER THOMPSON: And so then you'd give away the certainty of the permanency of work. And you take on commissions. You conduct all our orchestras around Australia.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, yes. And I still do and I still enjoy it immensely. But I had to find my audience which took a number of years to build up to. And now I can proudly say that when my name is being advertised the audiences come in KNOWING what they're going to get.

PETER THOMPSON: Well, Tommy, let's have a look at your life today.

TOMMY TYCHO: It's in my psyche that I'm a musician. And it had to be. I was predestined for various reasons, my inheritance from my mother's talent. And I feel that music is the only thing that can satisfy my soul and my whole being. So basically if I don't do any music, I'm lost. Eve is an anchor in my life. A musician's or a conductor's life is topsy-turvy at the best of times. She's who holds me down and keeps me on the straight and narrow. And I can never be thankful enough. I have a very close relationship with Vicky, my daughter. Because she is one of those people who doesn't look at other aspects of me except as a performer. And I rely a great deal on what she says to me after a performance. I think we played on one of those at the Entertainment Centre.

VICKY: It's going to sound really corny but he's my best friend. We performed...played piano together for 10 years. And I'd look up and I'd see his smiling face. And it was a wonderful experience to share with your Dad.

TOMMY TYCHO: A few years ago I realised that all the experience that I have been able to enjoy throughout my long career has to be somehow given over to the new generation. And now it has become a great part of my life to try to foster and help young talent and I enjoy it immensely. Seeing their eager reception of all the things that I'm able to give them.

GREGG ARTHUR: I don't understand how he's so humble. (Laughs) I mean...the people he's worked with. You look around his room. I mean, you've got Nat Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., I mean, my God. He's an unbelievable legend.

TOMMY TYCHO: I made a promise to myself when I was a young man. That once I lose the spirit of what I'm doing I will give it up. So far I have not and I hope that that day will never come. I'm 77 years of age and I hope that I will be able to continue doing this for a long time yet.

PETER THOMPSON: Well, Tommy, as you say there, you're 77.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes.

PETER THOMPSON: 25 years ago you had the Rolls Royce of - - work on your heart.

TOMMY TYCHO: That's a nice expression.

PETER THOMPSON: (Laughs) You had a quadruple bypass. Life or death. TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, it was. And after the operation and when I recovered I suddenly realised how close I was of passing and it changed my entire thinking.

PETER THOMPSON: In what way?

TOMMY TYCHO: Up to that point I was so engrossed and so involved in music that nothing else stared me in the face. After that I realised that...mortality is very close.

PETER THOMPSON: So how did it change your life in a practical sense?

TOMMY TYCHO: Diet and the living style that I have led up to that. Like 80 cigarettes a day.

PETER THOMPSON: Yep.

TOMMY TYCHO: Which of course fortunately I have given up before the operation. And in a general sense I value virtually every minute of the day that I live.

PETER THOMPSON: Well, is one of the things you drew from that your determination to nurture people? Because you've been very important to careers.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, I realise that all the incredible experience that I have been able to get from my career, now is the time for me to be able to give it back to all those people that deserve it.

PETER THOMPSON: Anthony Warlow, for example.

TOMMY TYCHO: Anthony Warlow - brilliant. Jackie Love...

PETER THOMPSON: Diana Trask.

TOMMY TYCHO: Diana Trask, my God. That was one of the early ones.

PETER THOMPSON: Tommy, does someone who's had an outstanding musical career like you... To the outsider it puzzles me. To what extent are you still living your Central European heritage? And to what extent are you Australian?

TOMMY TYCHO: I'm a dinky-di Australian in spite of my accent. But the musical heritage that I brought with me is obvious. And it can't be denied. It's...sort of injected into me as a child. And I've been growing up with music all around me. So it's... An obvious trace of it would have to be in my music.

PETER THOMPSON: You haven't made that many trips back to Hungary. Only three?

TOMMY TYCHO: No, I was too busy and I was too happy in doing what I was doing. Because I love this country with a fervour that is really indescribable.

PETER THOMPSON: Well, that places you very nicely to actually comment on where symphony orchestras are at the moment. Because many of our state symphonies are really struggling.

TOMMY TYCHO: They are struggling which is a great pity because they are the flagships of the musical expression in any country.

PETER THOMPSON: They're going through some of the same things that happened on television. The orchestras are contracting because of economic pressures.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, the economy is the problem. But I hope that it will never...

PETER THOMPSON: Yet we're rich. We're rich as a country.

TOMMY TYCHO: But we're more occupied with sport than with art.

PETER THOMPSON: You've had many, many, many friends. Legions of admirers and friends. And yet you say you've never really had a close friend. By that I presume you mean a male close friend.

TOMMY TYCHO: Not really, because I was so busy with what I was doing that I didn't have time to really enlarge on a friendship. I've got lots of friends. And lots of acquaintances.

PETER THOMPSON: Do you regret that?

TOMMY TYCHO: No, I don't. I don't. Simply comes back again to the musical output that I've had. And you can't do that half-heartedly.

PETER THOMPSON: And at 77 you might not be doing as many as you did before but you're still actively engaged 10 hours a day.

TOMMY TYCHO: Yes, I am. Yes, I am. Because without the involvement of, and I repeat myself again, without the involvement of music in my life I find it empty. And I need it like a glass of water. Or oxygen.

PETER THOMPSON: How would you like to be remembered?

TOMMY TYCHO: I guess somebody who has been able to bring some valuable musical...presence to the Australian culture.

PETER THOMPSON: You've stirred millions of us. Tommy, thank you very much for joining us.

TOMMY TYCHO: Thank you, Peter. Thank you.

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