Colin Hay - roving troubadour

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I've recently rediscovered the songs/albums of the wonderful Scottish/Australian singer-songwriter, Colin Hay, former lead of Men At Work (yes, the guys who sang "Down Under", but more importantly "Overkill" - IMHO one of the greatest, most underrated 1980s songs). Once Men At Work split up in the mid-80s he became a roving troubadour, playing in pokey bars and clubs in middle America, basically starting from the bottom once again. In the early 2000s the production team and lead actor (Zach Braff) of the US comedy show Scrubs saw him playing live in LA, just him and his guitar and were spellbound. They invited him to appear in the show on a few occasions, introducing him to a whole new audience. Braff also used one of his songs at a key moment in his directorial debut film, "Garden State".

 Our former students, Simon Barber and Brian O'Connor, interviewed him for their "Sodajerker On Songwriting" podcast a couple of years ago: and an excellent interview it is!!



In their own way, Hay's lyrics for "Come Tumblin' Down", the first single from his most recent (2017) album, Fierce Mercury, echo the concerns expressed by Pope Francis. Other songs of his to check out: Waiting For My New Life To Begin, Where the Sky Is Blue, Overkill (solo acoustic version), A Simple Song, I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You and the whole album Gathering Mercury.

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