Not since February 2002 have I presented a song from my joint favourite Australian band The Go-Betweens. Today’s featured track Quiet Heart is the seventh song to appear here so far after the band’s previous entry Finding You. This song was recommended to me some years ago by my very dear New Zealand blogger friend Bruce at Weave a Web. Bruce recently ‘pulled up stumps’ (to use Australian and New Zealand cricket vernacular) after writing his 3000th short story. I will admit upon first listen I wasn’t overly fussed with Quiet Heart, but after multiple listens I have warmed so much to this subtle and introspective love song. Also keeping in line with a lot of their music output, the Go-Betweens lyrical prowess is once again on display:
Any song that starts with “The heater’s on/The windows are thin/I’m trying hard/To keep this warmth in” gets a big thumbs up from me. It’s the kind of song that you listen to quietly on a nondescript night as it slowly drizzles outside your window.
To my listening ears, no other Australian band encapsulates more instinctively the quintessential Australia ‘sound’ than The Go-Betweens. They seem to have the essence of Australia coursing through their music. Also it is so evident that Quiet Heart especially instrumentally (A mix of instruments: violin, harmonica, accoustic guitar) had a marked affect on my other favourite Australian band My Friend the Chocolate Cake whose founder David Bridie expressed gratitude for their impact on his musical career. The Go-Betweens remain one of the most influential bands in Australia despite their mediocre attention in the mainstream and modest success.
[Verse 1]
The heater’s on
The windows are thin
I’m trying hard
To keep this warmth in
I turn to her
She’s sound asleep
Someplace I don’t know
Doesn’t matter how far you come
You’ve always got further to go
[Chorus]
I tried to tell you
I can only say it when we’re apart
About this storm inside of me
And how I miss your quiet, quiet heart
[Verse 2]
Two hours on
My eyes are open
There’s bad blood between us
What did I say
That made you cry?
Our dream won’t die
Doesn’t matter how far you come
You’ve always got further to go
[Chorus]
I tried to tell you
Yeah, I can only say it when we’re apart
About this storm inside of me
And how I miss your quiet, quiet
Quiet heart
[Verse 3]
What is that light?
That small red light…
Scorpio rising
Doesn’t matter how far you come
You’ve always got further to go
Quiet Heart is the second song on The Go-Betweens‘ sixth studio album 16 Lovers Lane. Oh and isn’t that such a great album title? 16 Lovers Lane….This album was the final release from the original version of the band. They broke up in 1989 and would produce no other material until founders Grant McLennan and Robert Forster reformed the band, with a completely different line-up, in 2000.
The following information is cherry picked from the reference below:
The recording process for 16 Lovers Lane was different to previous releases. Between December 1987 and January 1988, McLennan and Forster began an intense songwriting process. They demoed all the songs in advance and then presented them to the producer and their bandmates, leaving less room for improvisation. McLennan stated: “this way was a completely different process and it was due to trying to get back to what started the band – closeness.“
McLennan said the band was also affected by moving back to Australia. “We’d spent five years in London—blackness, darkness, greyness and poverty—and suddenly for some reason we seemed to have more money in Sydney, and we all had places to live and being in a city where after five years we can go to the beach in ten minutes.” Forster agreed saying it brought on “a burst of energy, a burst of songs“
In 2010, 16 Lovers Lane was listed at No. 12 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums. The authors called the album “the band’s high-water mark“, commenting that “Forster and McLennan knew they’d nailed it” and that the songs were “their most direct, accessible and heartfelt ever“, with “Forster, particularly, having learnt a new restraint. Gone was the bravado and archness that had informed much of his earlier work and in its place was an openness and honesty.”
References:
1. 16 Lovers Lane – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I always liked this band Matt…coming up I’m going to do an Australia week theme….I, of course, will include this band…thanks for the reminder Matt!
Funny, I just mentioned to Matt a mini-series I did about music from Australia back in early 2020. Lots of great music having come from down under. Are you including The Church? 🙂
I probably will! There are some bands I like from there like The Stems and Lime Spider…a lot of bands I like from there….those garage bands I liked a lot.
AC/DC, Bee Gees, Crowded House, Easybeats, Midnight Oil, Little River Band, Go-Betweens – so many good ones and others I haven’t heard like The Stems and Lime Spider. This should be a fun series!
You know I love those hard to find ones! But yea…AC/DC and a few others…yes
This is what I was talking about…trust me Christian…you would like it.
Bee Gees were adopted by Australia in the sense they were born in Isle of Man between England and Ireland, but were a commercial success initially in Australia. We have a habit of calling cool things that pass by our way ‘Australian’ when they really aren’t lol Other examples off the top of my head are Russell Crowe and the legendary racehorse ‘Phar lap’. Also, ACDC’s band founders Malcolm and Angus Young, were born in Scotland.
I love the Church’s ‘Unguarded Moment’.
They would be more than an apt inclusion.
I’ll probably do it next week.
I look forward to it, which is putting it mildly hehe
I like the song. To date, I’ve only featured the Go-Betweens once, in February 2020, as part of a mini-series about music from Australia. That post included “Cattle and Cane”, off their second studio album “Before Hollywood”. I understand that after their reunion in 2000, sadly, the group came to final end in 2006 after the death of Grant McLennan from a heart attack.
Yes, I have written many song articles about them and some of the performances I presented were from a fantastic show they did at the The Tivoli, Brisbane (2005) not long before McLennan’s tragic passing. He did suffer from a long time battle with heroin also. The shadow of heroin addiction hangs over the book “Grant & I”, a memoir written by Robert Forster.
Like this a lot…
It’s a beautifully understated gem, but didn’t get much love here.
It has a good message….