Kate Kelly
The Whitlams tell a story from Australia's outlaw past
I had a weird dream last night. I was working in an office with another woman and Tim Freedman was my boss. It was all very amicable between the three of us and in the course of the conversation I said something that greatly impressed him.
I said, “He’s not a musician, he’s a storyteller.”
This trait is most evident in this song. Kate Kelly was part of the Kelly Gang, who are infamous in Australia. (I highly recommend looking them up, the story is incredible.) The law killed everyone but her, and she went on to travel in a wild west show until her health forced her to retire. This song is an attempt at conversation with her at this stage of her life, an attempt to sooth her from the trauma of how things ended with the gang.
Close your eyes Kate
I'll sing you to sleep
The song plays like a lullabye, Freedman’s voice soft. He’s recorded it twice, first on The Whitlams album Torch the Moon in 2002.
The second was recently as part of Freedman’s Black Stump project, in which he has partnered with noted country artists Rod McCormack, Matt Fell and Ollie Thorpe along with longtime drummer Terepai Richmond.1 For this recording, it’s been transformed into a duet with Felicity Urquhart, which brings even more resonance to the song.
It wasn’t released as a single the first time but the newer version has a video that uses historical records of her and the Kelly gang to give a real sense of the history the song is ground in.
Enjoy your song of the day!
He has played with everyone and is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
Gorgeous song and fascinating story. It's incredible to learn that England and Ireland would just decide to send people to Australia and deprive them of living in their own country, in Ned Kelly's father's case for stealing two pigs!
What a compelling song and video! I’m not familiar with The Whitlams or Freedman but I like what I heard in both renditions. I’ve made a note to check out the story of the Kelly gang.