The Voice Inside by John Farnham & Poppy Stockell

Author:John Farnham & Poppy Stockell [Farnham, John & Stockell, Poppy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Published: 2024-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

THE FARNHAMS AND THE WHEATLEYS

The Royal Charity Concert at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday, 27 May 1980 was a big historical moment. It was Australia’s first Royal Charity Concert and it was an extremely big deal to perform in front of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. Some huge stars and incredible Australian performers were part of the line-up, including Olivia Newton-John, Paul Hogan, Peter Allen and Helen Reddy, and the whole show was going to be aired simultaneously on Channel 9. Bert Newton was hosting. At the time, I was an unsigned has-been. I hadn’t released a record in years, I hadn’t been doing much at all, so when the call came asking me to sing at the concert, it was completely out of the blue. I was gobsmacked. To be considered a peer to those performers was an honour for me and I delightedly accepted. Until, that is, I found out what they wanted me to sing.

The concert was going to be broadcast live around the nation and the producer and director, Peter Faiman, was the golden boy of television. He would go on to direct Crocodile Dundee, which became the highest-grossing Australian film of all time. Peter was also the producer and director of The Don Lane Show, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it was this connection that got me the gig. On Don’s show I would pretty much sing whatever they wanted me to sing so they probably weren’t expecting that to change, but when Peter asked me to sing ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree’ for the Royal Charity Concert, I wasn’t happy. I didn’t want to sing that song. I was grateful for the opportunity, but in my mind ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon’ wasn’t going to help me reclaim my credibility and I told Peter that. I said, ‘I’ve got a version of the Beatles’ “Help” that I’d like to sing instead.’ Peter and the other producers weren’t convinced. I knew in my heart that my version of ‘Help’ was as good as I could do at that time. I knew I could sing it in tune, I knew I could sing it strongly. It’s a great song, a great lyric and for once I was presenting my idea firmly and I believed in it. Peter doubled down and said, ‘No, we want you to do “Tie a Yellow Ribbon”.’ So I said, ‘Fair enough, I won’t do the show.’ I held my ground. To Peter’s credit, he was terrific – he compromised and said, ‘Okay, do both songs.’ And I agreed.

At the first rehearsal I went out there and sang his song first, but I kept forgetting the lyrics. I didn’t do it on purpose, I promise, the words just wouldn’t come to me. I sang, ‘Oh tie your yellow ribbon … yell-ow ribbon, oh yellow ribbon, yellow ribbon, ribbon …’ for the entire song, with Tommy Tycho and a sixty-piece orchestra backing me.

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