The Sadness

Coming Up For Air
Grant McLennan

I know that I can get sentimental my friend
But I just listened to those songs you sent
Really loved the one about those LA freaks
Did it take a day to write or was it weeks

Will you pull me up
Drop a rope down the hole
Coming up for air
Playing that jazz called rock and roll

I have just found out - a week after the fact - that one of my favourite singer/songwriter/musicians has died. Grant McLennan was a founding member of Australia's magnificant Go-Betweens, and he was only 48.

There is a certain shock to finding out that a 'friend' has died, especially when it is completely unexpected. The feelings I am now having are similar to those I felt when I heard Paul Hester had died. And again when I heard about Elliott Smith's death. I'm kind of speechless, but wanting to share this news.

Grant McLennan was a man I only knew, and loved, through songs - some of the most beautiful songs in pop music - and yet I still feel and immense sense of loss. There's a sadness here. A sadness for his family and friends. And a sadness in knowing that we will never hear new music from this man.

The tributes flow in. From The Times. From the New York Times. From the NME. From The Go-Betweens website. The Sydney Morning Herald. And again. Billboard. The Australian. And again. The San Jose Mercury News. And a SMH report on yesterday's funeral service.

This is my tribute. The closest I got to him was when I saw The Go-Betweens play at the Forum in London in 1997. It was during one of their brief reunions, before they reunited fully. It was a fantastic show, a greatest hits affair, with the odd solo song thrown in. Their's was one of the few CDs I bought in the 3 years I was away.

Thanks Grant.
You will be missed.
But while you were around there truly was magic in here.

PS: the above image is borrowed from here (with permission) - thanks.

All Her Songs
Grant McLennan

I see you walking
You make me catch my breath
Cos you won't deal with all the stuff that's left
A golden river
And unending stream
The sad procession burns off like steam

How's a girl going to sing all her songs
When the world's gone wild?

File under: Music