Waltzing Australia by Tim Borthwick

Author:Tim Borthwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC Books
Published: 2017-06-26T00:00:00+00:00

Slim Dusty

SLIM DUSTY’S MUSIC HAD AS great an influence on my love of rhyme and storytelling as anyone. I could never put into words the pleasure he has given me over the years, and I’m sure that no one else will ever replace him as the King of Country Music. I never met Slim, but his familiar voice has accompanied me on so many occasions that I feel I knew him well. There have been other artists I have followed from time to time, but I invariably return to Slim, and his easy-listening style of which I have never tired.

Some of my earliest memories are associated with Slim’s music. I don’t know who introduced us, but he has been with me from a very young age. At the age of seven I had a nasty accident in Brisbane that left me unconscious in hospital for a couple of weeks, and I truly believe Slim played a big part in my eventual recovery. Those soothing lyrics were obviously just what the doctor ordered, and one of my first recollections upon waking was being surrounded by his old familiar songs.

I literally cried watching his funeral service on television back in 2003. While I couldn’t believe he had gone, I knew his music would live forever. To see Slim’s band, the Travelling Country Band, playing at the front of the church without their old boss was one of the saddest things I’d witnessed, and I don’t know how they managed to do it. There was an overwhelming outpouring of grief right around the nation, as Australians young and old mourned his passing. Many who had grown up with his music realised we had lost a national treasure, and there would never be another Slim Dusty.

There was something about Slim’s voice that I’ve always found comforting, like an old friend singing away in the background, and I still listen to him today as much as ever. I regard his music as an important link to the past, and I’ll endeavour to keep his legacy alive. He sang clearly and naturally, and while his music may have evolved over the years, that old traditional style never wavered. He was proud of his heritage, and the amazing amount of material he recorded is testament to his love of our country and its people. He loved Australia and Australia loved him, and he was a legend long before that sad day in 2003.

My poem, simply called ‘Slim Dusty’, is a tribute to Slim, although I didn’t actually write it until ten years after his death. Maybe I was feeling more sentimental than usual at the time, but I know I was home and a little bit under the weather, with Slim playing in the background, when I started to realise just how much his music meant to me. Within an hour I had a poem I was happy with. It’s not the longest poem in the world, but I think it pretty much sums up my relationship with Australia’s King of Country Music.

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