Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

To Her Door

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A-side
  
"To Her Door"

Released
  
September 1987

Genre
  
Rock

B-side
  
"Bicentennial"

Format
  
7" vinyl

Recorded
  
1987, Alberts Studios, Sydney

"To Her Door" was the first single released by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls ahead of their second album, Under the Sun (released in North America and Europe as by Paul Kelly and the Messengers). The single was released in September 1987 and reached No. 14 on the Australian singles charts.

Contents

"To Her Door" won an ARIA Music Award in 1988 for "Best Video", for its music video directed by Claudia Castle. In 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) listed "To Her Door" as one the Top 30 Australian songs of all time, as one of two songs written by Kelly (alongside "Treaty").

Music and lyrics

The song is a ballad, with country-rock underpinnings, in which Kelly tells the story of a young couple who "married early". The man is identified as "Jack" in the unedited album version, but not in the edited single mix; the woman is never named. Due to Jack's drinking, the couple's marriage "hit(s) the skids" and they end up separating. After a year, Jack writes a letter to his ex-wife, and she decides to send him the fare so he can visit both her and their two children. In the final verse, Jack is on his way to meet them, and the song ends as he arrives in town on a Sunday, wondering "Could he make a picture and get them all to fit?" The actual reunion between Jack and his family -- if it even takes place -- is never described.

It has been described as a brutal and beautiful attempt at reconciliation. The song contains references to 'The Buttery', a drug and rehabilitation clinic on the north coast of New South Wales, 'Silver Top', a taxi company and 'Olympic', which is a local bus company.

In an interview with Debbie Kruger, Kelly indicated that the song took seven years to write.

I sing little melodies into a tape recorder and every now and then I go through the tapes and have a listen. And I heard that and I thought it would be good to put words to that, it’s a good tune.

Kelly uses the same protagonist in "Love Never Runs on Time" from 1994's Wanted Man and then in 1996's "How to Make Gravy" from the extended play How to Make Gravy. All three tracks appear (in live versions) on Kelly's live 8×CD boxed set, The A – Z Recordings (2010).

The B-side, "Bicentennial", is about the plight of Australian Aborigines in the past and the present, highlighting aboriginal deaths in custody. In 1988, Australia celebrated its bicentenary, in the song Kelly writes from the point of view of those unimpressed with 200 years of white settlement.

Track listing

  1. "To Her Door" – 3:19
  2. "Bicentennial" – 3:03

Personnel

Credits:

Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls
  • Paul Kelly – acoustic guitar, vocals
  • Michael Barclay – drums, backing vocals
  • Peter Bull – keyboards
  • Steve Connolly – guitar (electric), backing vocals
  • John Schofield – bass guitar
  • Additional musicians
  • Chris Coyne – saxophone (tenor)
  • Chris Wilson – harmonica, vocals, saxophone (baritone)
  • Recording details
  • Producer – Alan Thorne, Paul Kelly
  • References

    To Her Door Wikipedia


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