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Song:
The Biggest Disappointment
- Slim Dusty
- Joy McKean
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Video:
Slim and Joy:
Also:
Troy Cassar Daly:
Also:
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Lyrics:
They had my future wrapped up in a parcel
And no one even thought of asking me
The day I turned 15, I caught the mail train
To find what else might be in life for me
I rode on trucks and trains and lived on nothin'
Served me right for wanting to be free
Ah well, that's the way society looked at it
But it didn't seem to be that way to me
And the biggest disappointment in the family was me
The only twisted branch upon our good old family tree
I just couldn't be the person they expected me to be
And the biggest disappointment in the world was me
A lot more dinner times than there were dinners
I learned a lot that hurt me at the time
Then this quiet country boy went home a different man
With a memory of distance on my mind
But I always spoke too loud and laughed too often
Maybe drank too many glasses down
And perhaps my clothes were older than I realised
A relief to all concerned when I left town
And the biggest disappointment in the family was me
The only twisted branch upon our good old family tree
I just couldn't be the person they expected me to be
And the biggest disappointment in the world was me
And the biggest disappointment in the family was me
The only twisted branch upon our good old family tree
I just couldn't be the person they expected me to be
And the biggest disappointment in the world was me
__________
Joy and Slim:
The song was written by Joy McKean and made famous by her husband, Slim Dusty.
Joy McKean:
Joy McKean OAM, (born 14 January 1930), is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife and manager of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading songwriters and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular songs. In 1973, she was awarded the first ever Golden Guitar, for writing "Lights on the Hill". She was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown in 1983. The 2020 documentary film Slim and I told the story of her life and musical partnership with Dusty. The McKean-Dusty musical partnership produced over 100 albums, sold eight million records in Australia alone, and earned 45 Golden Guitars.
McKean was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1991 for "service to the entertainment industry".
McKean is one of the founders of the Tamworth Country Music Festival and the Country Music Association of Australia, and is also a biographer ("Slim Dusty: Another Day, Another Town"). McKean is Chair of the Slim Dusty Foundation Ltd, the organisation established to build and operate the Slim Dusty Centre in Slim's home town of Kempsey, NSW. The centre opened in October 2015.
Film critic Paul Byrnes wrote:
"Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) gives us a loving portrait of one of the most important songwriters this country has produced – and it’s not Slim Dusty. Aficionados already knew Joy McKean wrote many of her husband’s best songs – in particular, Lights on the Hill and The Biggest Disappointment. Slim and I makes clear that she also kept the Slim Dusty Show on the road, managed the band, raised the kids and kept her husband from straying too far from the path of righteousness... ".
Slim Dusty:
Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 1927 – 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars, with a career spanning nearly seven decades and producing numerous recordings. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australia, particularly of bush life and renowned Australian bush poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson that represented the lifestyle. The music genre was coined the "bush ballad", a style first made popular by Buddy Williams, the first artist to perform the genre in Australia, and also for his many trucking songs.
Slim Dusty "released more than a hundred albums, selling more than seven million records and earning over 70 gold and platinum album certifications". He was the first Australian to have a No. 1 international hit song, with a version of Gordon Parsons' "A Pub with No Beer". He received 38 Golden Guitar and an Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) award. He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and Australian Roll of Renown. At the time of his death, at the age of 76, Dusty had been working on his 106th album for EMI Records. In 2007, his domestic record sales in Australia surpassed seven million. During his lifetime, Dusty was considered an Australian National Treasure. He performed "Waltzing Matilda", a very famous song in Australia, at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
What I especially respect is that Slim, Joy and accompanying performers delighted in their country tiring, taking shows to areas and people that often had no facilities or large entry fees, playing in tents and from the back of flatbed trucks.
The song:
The lyrics of The Biggest Disappointment begin
"They had my future wrapped up in a parcel And no one even thought of asking me" and the song progresses to tell the story of a "quiet country boy" who leaves home to follow his dreams, only to face "a lot more dinner times than there were dinners" as he tries to live on nothing, becoming "the biggest disappointment" to his family.
Joy McKean has revealed that she wrote it about Dusty's own experiences in early life, and that he believed it was the best song she ever wrote.
It has been covered by artists including Missy Higgins, Troy Cassar-Daley, Beccy Cole, and Gina Jeffreys.
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