The quintessential Australian indie pop sound is back. Streets Of Your Town is the eleventh song to be presented here from The Go-Betweens and it might well be the one that most nearly caught them stardom. Despite the lukewarm reception upon release, its recognition in Australian culture over time has been nothing short of profound.
It was written in Sydney shortly before the recording of the Go-Betweens’ sixth album, 16 Lovers Lane, in 1988. Grant McLennan (centre of top photo) was in a relationship with multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown (to the right) when he wrote it. It was unusual that the band’s co-founder, Robert Forster (back and left), had not heard the song before it was brought to the group.
Amanda recalled how when she living with Grant in Bondi Junction, Sydney that the song was written very quickly in their sunny top-floor flat. She further mentioned: ‘It was written in, I would say, 10 minutes. I was singing along and I sung that ‘shine’ line, which is like the call and response answer in the verses, and that’s pretty much it – that’s how it came about. And I don’t collect any songwriting royalties for that song, because that was a condition of my joining the band‘.
Robert Forster (singer-songwriter, guitarist, band co-founder): “The fact that I hadn’t heard the song, it did miff me … Every other song from every other album that we’d done before that, and every album that we did after, I knew all the songs that Grant had. This was the one song that I didn’t. But a week later it was fine. That was the thing with Grant and I, we didn’t yell and scream at each other. There’s things that I did to him that he must have just had to swallow, too.”
Despite the song being written in Sydney it has been identified with Brisbane, and was named in the article below as the Brisbane poll winner for top song and consider the band formed in Brisbane in 1977. Also The Go Between Bridge, spanning the Brisbane river, is named after the group.
Lindy Morrison (Drums): “I always thought it (Streets of Your Town) was about Brisbane, because of the buildings being torn down; the nostalgia expressed for a town that once was. The most important thing I want to say is that Brisbane took it on as their own, so the Brisbane community grabbed it and ran with it…”
The single reached No 68 in Australia and peaked at No 30 In New Zealand.
McLennan said of writing the song, “I was listening to ‘Under the Milky Way’ and I was just working it out–cause I’m a big fan of The Church. And that afternoon I came up with a chord progression and a chorus.”
Forster later said, “This was obviously the most commercial thing we’d ever done, and it came out around October ’88, which caught the summer here. It was re-released in summer and it sat fantastically on Australian summer radio and then it sat well on English summer radio. We were walking around Soho and we’d hear it on the radio, every jean shop and café.
For further information, I point you to this neat documentary about the making of the album 16 Lovers Lane. Another great song from that record Quiet Heart featured here this year.
[Chorus]
Round and round, up and down
Through the streets of your town
Everyday I make my way
Through the streets of your town
[Verse 1]
And don’t the sun look good today? (Shine)
But the rain is on its way (Shine)
Watch the butcher shine his knives (Shine)
And this town is full of battered wives
[Verse 2]
And I ride your river under the bridge (Shine)
And I take your boat out to the ridge (Shine)
‘Cos I love that engine roar (Shine)
But I still don’t know what I’m here for
[Bridge]
They shut it down
They closed it down
They shut it down
They pulled it down
References:
1. ‘It’s a widely misunderstood song’: how the Go-Betweens made Streets of Your Town – The Guardian
2. Streets of Your Town – 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 
Pretty decent song. I think in the picture you can see Robert Forster wasn’t the happiest of campers. That said, now knowing the background story thanks to your post, I might be a bit biased. I also never would have associated “Streets of Your Town” with “Under the Milky Way”, one of my absolute favorites by The Church. Last but not least, until now, I didn’t know the origins of the band’s name.
The song I believe has become quite iconic in Australian pop culture. Yes, I can see why Forster was perturbed about not being in on it, but according to the documentary which I forwarded about the album; other band members cited Forster as the most positive and inspiring member of the group.
I haven’t heard that ‘milky way’ song by the Church, but whatever gets the juices flowing lol. Grant is a great songwriter especially lyricist. Anyone that can write ‘Black Mule’ has the ‘goods’ in my book. I’ll forward it below, if you don’t mind.
I’m not sure if I understood you correctly about the origin of the name of the group. What I relayed is that ‘Brisbane’ – the city, named a prolific landmark ‘the go between’ bridge after the indie pop group. Cheers man.
Thanks, Matt, I mistakenly thought The Go-Betweens named themselves after the bridge., not the other way around. “Blake Mule” is great! BTW, here’s “Under the Milky Way” by The Church. I bet you’ve heard it before.
That’s a good song and sounds in texture and vibe like the Go-Betweens. I can see how Grant got his inspiration. Thanks for the link. I always loved their ‘Unguarded Moment’.