Keating! The Musical
All lyrics written and copyrighted by Casey Bennetto, 2004.
Annotations written by Loki Carbis, 2009. The assistance and advice of Casey Bennetto in the creation of these annotations is gratefully acknowledged.
This page is intended for informational purposes only.
Gareth Evans: Now you’ve made it to the top
The ‘Bodgies’ were an Australian youth subculture in the Fifties and Sixties, very similar to the English ‘Teddy Boy’ subculture. Bob Hawke was widely known as ‘the Silver Bodgie.’ In addition, “dislodged” is a pun on the Prime Ministerial residence in Canberra, The Lodge.And the Bodgie is dislodged
Say a prayer for him and look
at the punches that you took
and the bullets that you dodged
As you walk up to the door
As you slowly turn the key
You will walk out on a limb
Where the bell that tolls for him
A paraphrase of the famous line written in 1624 by John Donne in his Meditation XVII: “Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee“.Is the one that tolls for thee
My friend, the beginning is the end
From the entrance to the bow
Your time starts now
My friend, the beginning is the end
Even now it lurks beyond that door…
Keating: Gareth Evans served Keating both as Minister for Foreign Affairs and also as leader of the ALP in the Senate. Famously, on December 6, 1990, Evans became the first Australian senator to say “fuck” on the Senate floor. Although not intended that way originally, the repetition of Gareth mirrors Evans being mocked as ‘Gareth-Gareth Evans’, in reference to Boutros-Boutros Ghali and Evans’ own UN ambitions.Gareth, Gareth, tell me more.
Gareth Evans: There’s a spirit in the Lodge
Chills the marrow in your bones
And the ghostly voice you hear
It’ll fill you full of fear
Alan Jones was a radio shock jock based in Sydney. He was an outspoken critic of the Keating government, and of every other government to the left of Attila the Hun.Even more than Alan Jones
You can hear it every night
Hear it echo down the halls
It’s the company you keep
Annita van Iersel was a former air stewardess and wife of Paul Keating during his time as Prime Minister. She and Keating’s four children lived at The Lodge during these years.When Annita’s fast asleep
And from deep inside the walls it calls…
Gough Whitlam was the Prime Minister from 1972 to 1975. A member of the ALP and something of a mentor to Keating, he holds the distinction of being the only Australian Prime Minister to have been dismissed from office by the Crown, in the 1975 constitutional crisis.Gough Whitlam: My friend, the beginning is the end
A paraphrase of Whitlam’s infamous response to the proclomation dismissing him as Prime Minister, which ended with the traditional words, “God Save the Queen”: “Ladies and gentlemen, well may we say “God Save the Queen,” because nothing will save the Governor-General…“So you think you know the way – well may you say
My friend, the beginning is the end
A paraphrase of the title of Dylan Thomas’ poem “Do not go gentle into that good night.” The following words paraphrase another line from the same poem: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” in the form of Whitlam’s famous exhortation to ALP supporters in the 1977 election, following the Dismissal.So do not go gentle from that stage: Maintain your rage!
Whitlam / Evans: Maintain your rage!
All: Maintain your rage!
Maintain your rage!
Maintain your rage!
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