Top 5- Midnight Oil

Another week, another Top 5, another attempt by this fish brain to review music and add a bunch of obscure references along the way. We’ve been to Las Vegas, NYC, Provo (Utah), and Columbus (Ohio). And today, we’re going to… Sydney???

Welcome back!

As you’ll remember, last week Twenty One Pilots won by a landslide, so Midnight Oil was relegated to this week. Y’all still have to put up with me, so…

Also, I have an announcement: I created a Spotify playlist for this, so you can go listen to that if you want. I don’t know. I was bored. It’s public, and it’s the one literally called Top 5 Playlist. I’m still Wolfcat, so you should be able to find it.

Hopefully, after I’ve published this, I’ll start the public Instagram. Or maybe not. Depends.

Anyway, today’s post is focusing on Midnight Oil, who are one of my favourite bands, so this is gonna be fun.

Our song list today is as follows: Beds Are Burning, Blue Sky Mine, The Dead Heart, Power And The Passion, and Dreamworld.

All of these are the remastered versions.

So without further ado, may I present: Midnight Oil!

Beds are burning

Da da da!

The intro certainly gets your attention.

This song’s an interesting one: it starts by talking about the landscape, then goes into a chorus talking about it being time to ‘pay the rent’. I’m taking guesses about what it’s about. (I already know).

Hint: it’s saying ‘it belongs to them, let’s give it back’

Anyone? No?

I’ll put you out of your misery. This song is protesting in support of giving Australian land back to the native population. Which makes sense, given that they were there first.

I should probably warn you: this one might get a little political, just because of the meanings of a bunch of these songs.

So, the music. It’s making you listen. The intro is pretty hey-listen-to-me-I’m-important, but the rest of the music during the verses and choruses is pretty low-key, keeping your attention focused on the words, which are the important part. The intro phrase is repeated before the first chorus, once again getting your attention. It doesn’t do this in the second chorus, but what it does do is cut out the music, meaning you have to focus on Peter Garrett’s voice when he says ‘let’s give it back’.

In terms of meaning for the chorus, it’s written from the perspective of the people, asking how they’re supposed to go on when everything is being taken away from them, when they have nowhere to go. By switching perspectives, it makes the song a lot more powerful. It’s well-written, well-composed, and makes you think.

Isn’t that what all songs are for?

Blue sky mine

This one is less attention-grabbing. However, there is harmonica, but it’s Good Harmonica, not Bad Harmonica.

This one also cuts straight to the chase. The first verse paints a picture of complete hopelessness, and not knowing why this is happening. Then, the bridge? Chorus? Pre-chorus? Whichever one it is, it’s talking about having to work, despite the hopelessness, because if they work, they’ll be able to provide for their family. They have to.

The next verse moves away from the workers’ experiences, and addresses the split between workers and shareholders. It almost accuses people of lying, when it says ‘they pay the truth-makers’. This implies pretty heavily that they’re covering up the truth. We then have it saying that there are people ‘still waiting for medicine’, and hoping ‘that the crumbs in my pocket can keep me for another night’.

Then there’s the thingy again, and then we have a fun bridge that goes a little like this:

“If the Blue Sky Mining Company won’t come to my rescue? If the sugar refining company won’t save me? Who’s gonna save me?”

Point A: They’ve lost all hope. Who’s going to save them, if the people they work for won’t help?

Point B: Nobody’s going to save them. They’ve realised that there’s nobody who’s coming for them, and so they’ve decided to save themselves.

Then it says ‘the company takes what the company wants and nothing’s as precious as a hole in the ground’. It’s illustrating the pointlessness of what these people are dying for: it’s nothing but a hole in the ground, but the company doesn’t care, because it matters more than the workers.

‘We’ve got nothing to fear’- they fight back. They make the company see them as people, but ultimately ‘in the end the rain comes down and washes clean the streets of a blue sky town’. People have forgotten what happened.

This song is forcing you to remember. And that’s one of the reasons I love it.

The other reason is that it sounds awesome. 🙂

The dead heart

Disclaimer: Nobody was harmed in the writing of this song. There are no actual dead hearts. Sorry to disappoint.

Now that that joke’s out of the way, we can begin.

This song’s a lot less in-your-face than the others. More of a slow building intro.

The story’s told by a native, and it begins by saying ‘We don’t serve your country, don’t serve your king.’

Throughout the song, it talks about ‘white man’ taking from them, but instead of being angry, it’s hopeful. It’s resilient. It’s saying that no matter what anyone does, they won’t be broken.

‘We carry in our hearts the true country, and that cannot be stolen. We follow in the steps of our ancestry, and that cannot be broken.’

It highlights the bad things that were done to the natives, but it also tells a story of incredible resilience, of refusing to break even when they’d seemingly lost everything. It’s a powerful song, maybe even more so than Beds Are Burning or Blue Sky Mine.

And that’s why I love Midnight Oil; they don’t shy away from sharing their opinion. They’ll talk about things they care about, and stand up on issues they don’t agree with.

It’s awesome.

Power and the passion

All these start pretty fast.

This song has an insane drum solo. Like, this is a drum solo of legend.

Apparently part of it is on a water thingy/oil drum/whatever.

Supposedly (I needed Genius’s help with this one), this song is about people allowing themselves to be influenced. Allowing people to control them.

And now that I listen to it, it makes sense. It’s talking about people just accepting what’s given to them, and sitting back and letting things happen. It’s talking about apathy.

At the end, it says ‘it’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees’, which is one of my favourite lines from anything ever.

And it’s telling people to stand up, to not let themselves be controlled.

Sorry about the shortness of this, but I honestly don’t know what to say about this song. Still a fish brain.

Listen to it yourself, and decide what you think. And also, the drum solo. I’m not kidding, guys. Le-gen-da-ry.

dreamworld

Once again, a really fast start. Do these people ever slow down?

The answer is no.

This one’s the shortest on the list, but my third favourite. Meh.

As for the meaning, it’s talking about change, and the impermanence of everything around them. It makes numerous references to things being sold. It conveys the feeling of coming home after years of being away and all of a sudden your favourite cafe isn’t there anymore, the park you loved has been sold for housing, and everything’s changing around you. It’s that exact feeling of discomfort that Midnight Oil manages to get across with this song, and it’s the reason it deserves to be on the list.

Conclusion

Really sorry about how short this is, but with some of these songs it’s hard to explain the meaning, and some of their meanings are hard to see.

Also, this is a day late, and I apologise for that too.

Honourable Mention (not on the list): Forgotten Years

Forgotten Years will always be relevant. It’s a peace song, plain and simple, and it wants us to remember the hardships that people faced to form our society. It’s here, and the Killers cover is here.

I’m trying to come up with names for my Instagram, so if any of you have any ideas, drop them below. Please?

And since we’ve done Twenty One Pilots and Midnight Oil now, it’s time for another vote. This week’s options are Alec Benjamin or Elbow. Drop your vote as well as anything else you feel like saying.

Finally, in the wise words of Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer, and Ronnie Vanucci:

We hope you enjoyed your stay. It’s good to have you with us, even if it’s just for the day.

See ya next week!