My Island Home

"My Island Home" is a rock song written by Neil Murray for George Burarrwanga. It was originally performed by the Warumpi Band. The song references lead singer's (George Burarrwanga) home up at Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.[2][3] It was recorded in 1986 and released as a single from their second album, Go Bush!, in January 1987.[1]

Not to be confused with My Island Home (Kaira Gong song).

"My Island Home"
1987 single cover
Single by Warumpi Band
from the album Go Bush!
B-side"Didjeridoo Blue"
Released12 January 1987[1]
Recorded1986
GenreRock
Length4:58
LabelParole
Songwriter(s)Neil Murray
Warumpi Band singles chronology
"Sit Down Money"
(1986)		 "My Island Home"
(1987)		 "No Fear" / "Tjiluru Tijiluru"
(1987)

It was covered by Christine Anu in 1995; she had been a backing vocalist in Neil Murray and The Rainmakers during 1992–1993.

"My Island Home" won 'Song of the Year' at the 1995 Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Awards for Anu's reworked version of the song.[3][4] It was also listed in the APRA Top 30 Australian songs of all time in 2001.[5]

Warumpi Band version

Neil Murray, vocalist and guitarist for Warumpi Band, recalls writing the song:

My Island Home came to me on a bus one night in June 1985 [...] I had been living in the deserts of Central Australia for some six years [...] I had spent a week with our singer, George, at his home at Galiwinku in Arnhem Land. We camped on a remote part of the island with his family and had been living like kings on bush tucker and seafood caught by ourselves [...] I had to leave and make trips to Melbourne and Sydney in mid-winter to promote the band [...] I suffered an exceptional longing to be back in a boat on a tropical sea. The words came to me [...] I had no notebook with me. I held on to the tune till I got to Sydney and pulled my guitar out of the luggage to find the chords.[6][7]

— Neil Murray

It was first recorded in 1986 and released on the Warumpi Band's second album Go Bush! by Parole Records in 1987.[6] Rrurrumbu would later record a version of it in the Gumatj language for his debut solo album Nerbu Message.[7]

Christine Anu version
"Island Home"
Single by Christine Anu
from the album Stylin' Up
B-side"Kulba Yaday"
Released23 January 1995[8]
Recorded1994
GenreWorld
Length3:51
LabelParole
Songwriter(s)Neil Murray
Producer(s)David Bridie
Christine Anu singles chronology
"Monkey and the Turtle"
(1994)		 "Island Home"
(1995)		 "Party"
(1995)

In January 1995, Christine Anu released a version of the song as the second single from her debut studio album, Stylin' Up. Anu, a Torres Strait Islander, changed some lyrics to reflect her circumstances.[9] e.g.: Rather than moving to the desert, she compares island life to the city life, and from the point of view of a woman. In the music video, it intercedes between her singing, and an Aboriginal man deciding to drop his job as a cleaner, and start running through the city, the desert, and finally to the ocean. When he gets there, he swims to his home island and waves at his kid and wife.

At the 1995 APRA Awards, "My Island Home" won Song of the Year.[4] At the ARIA Music Awards of 1995, "Island Home" was nominated for ARIA Award for Song of the Year, but lost to "Chains" by Tina Arena.

Despite peaking at number 67 on the Australian singles chart, it spent 20 weeks on the national top 100 chart.[10] The song was voted at number 47 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 1995.

Anu performed the song at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics and at opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. The song was also listed in APRA Top 30 Australian songs of all time in 2001.[5]

Anu re-recorded the song for her second album Come My Way in 2000, subtitled "Earth Beat" version, which removed the echoed effects during the choruses, but added subtle synth effects and more prominent guitar during the song, making it sound more rhythmic and polished, whereas the original was driven more with a drum beat.

In 2016, Anu's rendition was inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia.[11]

In 2018, Anu performed the song at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.[12]

Charts
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[10] 67

Tiddas

Aboriginal band Tiddas has also recorded a version of the song for the Radiance soundtrack.[7]

References
  1. "Platterlog : Singles – New Releases > 12 January 1987". Platterlog, via Imgur.com. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  2. Neil Murray's Site
  3. Schwartz, Larry (6 March 2005). "Wondering and wandering far yet deeply rooted". The Age. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  4. "APRA/AMCOS: Previous Winners 'APRA Song of the Year'". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). 2 May 2001. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  5. Kruger, Debbie (2 May 2001). "The songs that resonate through the years" (PDF). Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  6. Jenkins, Jeff; Ian Meldrum (2007). "40 Great Australian songs". Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Melbourne: Wilkinson Publishing. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-921332-11-1. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  7. "Neil Murray song list". Neil Murray official website. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  8. The ARIA Report. Vol. 258. ARIA. 22 January 2019. p. 19.
  9. Undercover "Christine Anu interview" Archived 2004-03-29 at pandora.nla.gov.au (Error: unknown archive URL)
  10. "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 23 July 1995". ARIA, via Imgur.com). Retrieved 1 June 2017. N.B. The HP column displays the highest peak reached.
  11. "Sounds of Australia 2016". 12 June 2017.
  12. "Christine Anu's lip sync battle?". Gold Coast Bulletin. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
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