From Little Things Big Things Grow
Encyclopedia
"From Little Things Big Things Grow" is a rock
protest song
recorded by Australia
n artists Paul Kelly & The Messengers
on their 1991 album Comedy, and by Kev Carmody
(with Kelly) on his 1993 album Bloodlines. It was released as a CD
single by Carmody and Kelly in 1993 but failed to chart. The song was co-written by Kelly and Carmody, and is based on the story of the Gurindji strike and Vincent Lingiari
as part of the Indigenous Australian struggle for land rights and reconciliation.
On 2008-05-04, a cover version by The GetUp Mob, part of the GetUp! advocacy group, peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) singles charts. This version included samples from speeches by Prime Ministers
Paul Keating
in 1992, and Kevin Rudd
in 2008; it featured vocals by both Carmody and Kelly, as well as other Australian artists.
and Kev Carmody
, and is based on the story of The Gurindji Strike
and Vincent Lingiari
. It describes how the Gurindji people
's claim sparked the Indigenous land rights movement. The protest led to the Commonwealth Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The Act gave Indigenous people freehold title to traditional lands in the Northern Territory
and the power of veto over mining and development on those lands. In 1975, 3,236 km² of land was handed back to the Gurindji people. Carmody described writing the song:
It was recorded by Paul Kelly and the Messengers for their 1991 album Comedy released by Mushroom Records
. Kelly included the song on his solo albums, Live, May 1992
and Songs from the South: Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits in 1997. Carmody recorded it on his 1993 album Bloodlines supplying vocals, guitar
and didgeridoo
, Kelly supplied vocals, guitar and harmonica
, with numerous other musicians. This Carmody and Kelly version was released as a single in 1993 but did not chart. Also in 1993, an SBS television documentary
, Bloodbrothers, examined Carmody and his music including this song.
of Live Earth
by Paul Kelly
, Kev Carmody
, John Butler
, and Missy Higgins
. The song could have been considered "the event's anthem." Rolling Stone
cited the performance as a highlight, stating the "whole crowd sung along – all eleven verses."
The GetUp Mob, organised by advocacy group GetUp!, released a version of the song on 21 April 2008. This featured elements of the apology to the Stolen Generations, made by Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd
on 13 February 2008, as well as former Prime Minister Paul Keating
's Redfern Speech on 10 December 1992. The track features Carmody and Kelly, as well as other prominent Australian artists (including Urthboy, Missy Higgins, Mia Dyson
, Radical Son, Jane Tyrrell
, Dan Sultan, Joel Wenitong and Ozi Batla). This version peaked at #4 on the ARIA singles chart after its 28 April 2008 release, and #2 on both the Australian Chart and Digital Track Chart. The video for the song was produced by ARIA winner Hackett Films, and features John Butler, Leah Purcell
, Pat Dodson and Anthony Mundine
. Kev Carmody described the 2008 version:
A version of the song performed by The Waifs
also appears on the 2007 Kev Carmody tribute album
, Cannot Buy My Soul. The song is also featured on their 2009 Live from the Union of Soul album where it is co-performed with John Butler.
In November 2009 Triple J
held a tribute concert for Paul Kelly in Melbourne, with John Butler, Missy Higgins and Dan Sultan
performing this song. A recording from the concert, Before Too Long, was released in 2010.
Additional musicians
Recording details
Additional musicians
Recording details
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
protest song
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
recorded by Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n artists Paul Kelly & The Messengers
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
on their 1991 album Comedy, and by Kev Carmody
Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
(with Kelly) on his 1993 album Bloodlines. It was released as a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
single by Carmody and Kelly in 1993 but failed to chart. The song was co-written by Kelly and Carmody, and is based on the story of the Gurindji strike and Vincent Lingiari
Vincent Lingiari
Vincent Lingiarri, AM , was an Aboriginal rights activist who was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the Aboriginal people. Lingiarri was a member of the Gurindji people. In Vincent's earlier life he worked as a stockman at Wave Hill Cattle Station. He also played...
as part of the Indigenous Australian struggle for land rights and reconciliation.
On 2008-05-04, a cover version by The GetUp Mob, part of the GetUp! advocacy group, peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) singles charts. This version included samples from speeches by Prime Ministers
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
in 1992, and Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
in 2008; it featured vocals by both Carmody and Kelly, as well as other Australian artists.
Background
The song was co-written by Paul KellyPaul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
and Kev Carmody
Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
, and is based on the story of The Gurindji Strike
The Gurindji Strike
The Gurindji Strike refers to the walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families in August 1966 at Wave Hill cattle station in Australia's Northern Territory....
and Vincent Lingiari
Vincent Lingiari
Vincent Lingiarri, AM , was an Aboriginal rights activist who was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the Aboriginal people. Lingiarri was a member of the Gurindji people. In Vincent's earlier life he worked as a stockman at Wave Hill Cattle Station. He also played...
. It describes how the Gurindji people
Gurindji people
Gurindji are a group of Indigenous Australians living in northern Australia, 460 km southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory's Victoria River region....
's claim sparked the Indigenous land rights movement. The protest led to the Commonwealth Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The Act gave Indigenous people freehold title to traditional lands in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
and the power of veto over mining and development on those lands. In 1975, 3,236 km² of land was handed back to the Gurindji people. Carmody described writing the song:
It was recorded by Paul Kelly and the Messengers for their 1991 album Comedy released by Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...
. Kelly included the song on his solo albums, Live, May 1992
Live, May 1992
Live, May 1992 is a solo live double album by Paul Kelly and was originally released in 1992.It was released on Mushroom Records in Australia and marked Kelly's solo departure from his band The Messengers. It was recorded at performances in Melbourne and Perth in May 1992...
and Songs from the South: Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits in 1997. Carmody recorded it on his 1993 album Bloodlines supplying vocals, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and didgeridoo
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
, Kelly supplied vocals, guitar and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, with numerous other musicians. This Carmody and Kelly version was released as a single in 1993 but did not chart. Also in 1993, an SBS television documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Bloodbrothers, examined Carmody and his music including this song.
Other versions
The song was performed on 7 July 2007 on the Australian legLive Earth concert, Sydney
The Live Earth concert in Australia was held at Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney on 7 July 2007, in front of around 45,000 people. It was the first of the Live Earth concerts to kick-off the day-long event & promoted by Michael Chugg, Amanda Pelman of Chugg Entertainment, Joe Segreto of IMC /...
of Live Earth
Live Earth
-Background:Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Live Earth was built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world community to action...
by Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
, Kev Carmody
Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
, John Butler
John Butler (musician)
John Charles Wiltshire-Butler or John Charles Butler is an Australian musician, songwriter, record label owner and producer...
, and Missy Higgins
Missy Higgins
Melissa "Missy" Morrison Higgins is an Australian pop singer-songwriter, musician and actor. Her No. 1 albums in Australia are The Sound of White and On a Clear Night , and her Top Ten singles are "Scar", "The Special Two", "Steer" and "Where I Stood". From a musical family in...
. The song could have been considered "the event's anthem." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
cited the performance as a highlight, stating the "whole crowd sung along – all eleven verses."
The GetUp Mob, organised by advocacy group GetUp!, released a version of the song on 21 April 2008. This featured elements of the apology to the Stolen Generations, made by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
on 13 February 2008, as well as former Prime Minister Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
's Redfern Speech on 10 December 1992. The track features Carmody and Kelly, as well as other prominent Australian artists (including Urthboy, Missy Higgins, Mia Dyson
Mia Dyson
Mia Dyson is an Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She shot to fame with her 2003 album Cold Water and her subsequent follow-up album, Parking Lots, which won "Best Blues & Roots album" at the 2005 ARIA Awards....
, Radical Son, Jane Tyrrell
The Herd
The Herd may be:* The Herd , the 1960s UK band that launched Peter Frampton's career* The Herd , a hip-hop outfit from the suburbs of Sydney, Australia* The Herd , a 1978 Turkish film...
, Dan Sultan, Joel Wenitong and Ozi Batla). This version peaked at #4 on the ARIA singles chart after its 28 April 2008 release, and #2 on both the Australian Chart and Digital Track Chart. The video for the song was produced by ARIA winner Hackett Films, and features John Butler, Leah Purcell
Leah Purcell
Leah Purcell is an Australian actor, director and writer.-Biography:She is a film, television and theatre actor, singer, director and playwright. She is the youngest of seven children of Aboriginal and white Australian descent. Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer...
, Pat Dodson and Anthony Mundine
Anthony Mundine
Anthony Mundine is an Australian professional boxer and former rugby league footballer.He is the current interim WBA Light Middleweight Champion boxer, former two-time WBA Super Middleweight Champion, former IBO Middleweight Champion and New South Wales State of Origin representative footballer....
. Kev Carmody described the 2008 version:
A version of the song performed by The Waifs
The Waifs
The Waifs are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by Josh Cunningham , and sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson...
also appears on the 2007 Kev Carmody tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
, Cannot Buy My Soul. The song is also featured on their 2009 Live from the Union of Soul album where it is co-performed with John Butler.
In November 2009 Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
held a tribute concert for Paul Kelly in Melbourne, with John Butler, Missy Higgins and Dan Sultan
Dan Sultan
Dan Sultan is an Australian singer and songwriter. Sultan plays what he calls country soul rock ‘n’ roll.-Biography:Daniel Leo Sultan was born in 1983 and grew up in Williamstown, Melbourne. His father was Irish and his mother, Roslyn Sultan, was Aboriginal from the Arrernte and Gurindji people...
performing this song. A recording from the concert, Before Too Long, was released in 2010.
Track listing
- "From Little Things Big Things Grow" (Paul KellyPaul Kelly (musician)Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
, Kev CarmodyKev CarmodyKevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
) - 6:51 - "Freedom" (Bart Willoughby, Carmody) - 6:49
Paul Kelly and the Messengers 1991 version
Paul Kelly and the Messengers- Paul KellyPaul Kelly (musician)Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
— guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, vocals, - Michael Barclay — percussion, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, vocals - Peter Bull — accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Steve Connolly — guitar, vocals
- John Schofield — bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals
Additional musicians
- Paul Burton — bass guitar
- Shelagh, Mairead and Deirdre Hannan — vocals
- Ray Pereira — percussion, cardboard box
- Ian Simpson — guitar, banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, pedal steelPedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"... - Ernie DingoErnie DingoErnie Dingo AM is an Indigenous Australian actor and television presenter originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia.-Background:...
- Didgeridoo
Recording details
- Producer — Alan Thorne, Paul Kelly
- Engineer — Alan Thorne
- Assistant engineer — David Mackie, Tristin Norwell
- Recorded & mixed — at Trafalgar Studio, Sydney
Kev Carmody 1993 version
- Kev CarmodyKev CarmodyKevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
— vocals, guitar, didgeridooDidgeridooThe didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"... - Paul KellyPaul Kelly (musician)Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
— vocals, guitar, harmonica
Additional musicians
- Steve Berry — guitar
- Murray Cook — pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboards - Leroy Cummins — lead guitar
- Salley Dastey, Lou Bennet, Amy Saunders, Will Hogg, Kirsten Mackenzie, Melanie Shanahan — vocals
- Brenda Gifford, Marlene Cummins — saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- John Gillies — drums, computer sequencing
- John Lacey — didgeridoo, sound effects
- Vanessa Lucas — bass guitar
- Shan Moynihan — violoncello
- Andrew O'Phee — guitars, mandolin, vocals
- Claes Pearce — violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, vocals - John Tebbitt, Martin Cilea — computer sequencing
Recording details
- Recorded — at Megaphon Studios, Electric Avenue and Music Farm.
External links
- Paul Kelly Official website lyrics
- Kev Carmody Official website lyrics
- Live Earth performance
- Listen to a clip from 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' and read more about it on australianscreen online
- 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2010