Music Paul Kelly & Gerry Hale Original Music Composed by Paul Kelly & Gerry Hale Vocals Paul Kelly Additional Vocals Gerry Hale & Adam Gare Music Mixer Simon Polinski Assistants Adam Rhodes Chris Scallon Music Mixing Facility Adelphia "Be Careful What You Pray For" Written by Paul Kelly (Mushroom Music Publishing) Performed by Paul Kelly/Gerry Hale Licensed courtesy of EMI Music Australia "Down Among the Dead Men" (Vanda/Young) © J. Albert & Son Pty Ltd (Flash and the Pan) © Master courtesy of Albert Productions "Teach Me Tonight" Written by Paul Kelly (Mushroom Music Publishing) Performed by Paul Kelly/Uncle Bill Licensed courtesy of EMI Music Australia "Little Boy Don't Lose Your Balls" Written by Paul Kelly (Mushroom Music Publishing) Performed by Paul Kelly/Gerry Hale Licensed courtesy of EMI Music Australia "Would You Be My Friend" Written by Paul Kelly (Mushroom Music Publishing) Performed by Paul Kelly/Gerry Hale Licensed courtesy of EMI Music Australia CD: A CD of the soundtrack was released: CD (ST) EMI 7243 5 35569 2 1 2003 01: Be Careful What You Pray For 02: Silver's Theme 03: Is it a He or a She? 04: You Can't Take it With You (Instrumental) 05: Silent Partner 06: Teach Me Tonight 07: Now's Not the Time for a Hot Sea Bath 08: Silver's on the Line 09: Ain't Got the Constitution 10: Better Prospects 11: The Gatekeeper 12: Forest Funeral/Silver Turns to Lead 13: Little Boy Don't Lose Your Balls 14: Silent Partner (Reprise) 15: Royal Road 16: Ain't Got the Constitution (Reprise) 17: Would You Be My Friend? Review: Urban Cinefile published a review of the CD, available here, saved to WM here: Just what every music critic needs; a form guide on the back of the booklet. I don’t think Robbie Waterhouse framed the market though; they’ve got the favourite at seven-to-four and one of my favourite tracks, The Gatekeeper, at eight-to-one. Juicy odds for a delightful fiddle adventure that I’ll wager will charm all who make the wise decision to gamble on this CD. Admittedly it comes in at a mere 57 seconds, but that sounds like a winning time to me. It’s far from the only winner here, however. Paul Kelly is such a suitable choice for this soundtrack. I can easily imagine Paul and his musical (and not at all silent) partner, Gerry Hale, busking these pleasant tunes down at the dog track. Let’s face it, greyhound racing isn’t all that glamorous; not quite the Sport of Kings. And Kelly isn’t all that glamorous either; not quite the archetypal pop star. Yet he writes some royal melodies. Similar to his personality, they’re down to earth, unpretentious and immensely likeable. It’s true that he occasionally flirts with an overly folksy banality, but when in form, there’s the length of the straight between the musicality of his work and mere bush poetry-in–song. Here Kelly manages to dig deep into musical roots and top dress it with a pop sensibility. The gentle ironies, the caveats and contemplation of Be Careful What Your Pray For and Would You Be My Friend, are closer to Bob Dylan than John Williamson. Hale’s contribution should not be underestimated either. And not just because this soundtrack was recorded in his “shed”. The majority of the tracks credit him as co-writer and he’s responsible for nearly all the instrumentation. He has a ball with strings on this album, contributing guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and double bass. All recorded wonderfully raw and honest, providing tangy twang of the most endearing kind. Much of the record is in fact instrumental, with Kelly’s laid-back vocal sharing the melodic spotlight with Hale’s plucks and frets and bows. Kelly hasn’t got the greatest vocal technique on the planet, with neither great range nor mellifluous timbre to recommend it. There’s plenty of character though, and his voice is perfect for his likeable refrains, the mark of the quintessential singer-songwriter. The jangling instrumentation from Hale, and the tuneful compositions give the album a neat conformity, whilst the sheer strength of the writing never allows for tedium. Some tracks come out of the barriers running; grabbing our attention like a lure to a greyhound; whilst others methodically, and metaphorically, find their feet before gathering momentum with fantastic fiddling or jaunty guitars and banjos. Although there is an ironic edge to the soundtrack, at its core it is tremendously amiable and charming. Anyone who emerges the other side of a listen without a fillip of exuberance should check they haven’t been doped. Brad Green, published September 20, 2001 Lyrics: As well as doing the underscore, Paul Kelly songs run over the head and tail credits. Head credits song: Paul Kelly’s Be Careful What You Pray For runs over the head credits. Lyrics as heard in the film: Be careful what you pray for, you just might get it Be careful what you pray for, you might regret it You get your hands on that glittering prize Now everybody’s coming at you from every side Be careful what you pray for, you just might get it Be careful what you want now, you might be sorry … (After the red head titles over black finish, the first image is of the two men at the dogs track) Be careful what you want now, you might be so sorry You finally make it to your place in the sun You stop and look around you ... you’re friends with no-one Be careful what you want now, you might be sorry Go ahead, like a moth to a flame, go ahead now … (Unlike the recorded song, the film song turns instrumental and fades out under dialogue as David Field’s John mourns that his fucking dog fucking lost. After the dialogue, the song gradually swells back up under the dialogue and the sounds of the dog track) … Be careful what you dream on, dreams come true Be careful what you dream on, they can turn on you Revenge is a dish they say best tasted cold But revenge digs two graves, makes a young person old Be careful what you dream of, dreams come true ... Go ahead … (Chorus Go ahead) …like a moth to a flame ... go ahead now … (Again the song fades down under the dialogue) … Be careful what you pray for … Be careful what you pray for .. (The line repeats about five times, and fades completely out with chorus voices helping the line) Tail Song: After all that’s gone down between them, John and Bill sit down for an egg, baked beans and steak. As they crack cans of VB, Paul Kelly’s introduction to Would You Be My Friend begins. Lyrics as heard in the film: If I fell into confusion (the pair eating, seen from outside the window) Got scared, but couldn't say If I lost my rhyme and reason Threw away the gift of grace Would you be my friend? If they said I don't deserve you That my credit was no good (David Field’s John lights a cigarette) If they told you I'm not worthy of your love (the image through the window begins to go soft focus) You should cut me, like you cut dead wood Would you be my friend? Would you be my friend? (the soft image begins a slow fade to black) (Short instrumental) If you heard that I was on the town Pissing loudly on your name (end credits begin to pop up) Would you find me, would you face me down? Though your ears burned with shame Would you be my friend? Would you be my friend? My only friend .. (Short instrumental) And if I said I wished I'd never been born And my mouth could only curse And if I'd passed the point of no return Like a poor, puking child in church Would you be my friend? Would you be my friend? Would you be my friend? My only friend … (Instrumental) (with other voices) My only friend … My only friend … My only friend … My only friend … Co-composers Paul Kelly and Gerry Hale: Paul Kelly: Paul Kelly is too well known to describe at length here. He has a detailed wiki listing here, and at time of writing, had an eponymous website here. His website had this bio: Paul Kelly is not just Australia’s greatest and most enduring songwriter. There is something that goes even deeper than that. His songs have a way of digging into the country in a way that few artists can do, how it looks, feels, tastes, sounds. The joys and sorrows, achievements and follies. If you want to know something about Australia, how it feels to be Australian, you can find it in his songs. He is one of those rare artists to spin a long career out of a hunger to explore new directions, from the tender songcraft of Post to the hard-edged rock’n’roll of Gossip, to country and folk, bluegrass (see Smoke, Foggy Highway), a soul revue album with guest singers including his long-time backing singers Vika and Linda Bull (Paul Kelly presents the Merri Soul Sessions). In 2014 Seven Sonnets & a Song set Shakespeare sonnets to music, released on the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. It was followed by an album with Charlie Owen of songs they had performed at funerals, Death’s Dateless Night.