"From St Kilda to Kings Cross" is a song performed and written by Australian musician Paul Kelly. The title refers to inner city suburbs St Kilda in Melbourne and Kings Cross in Sydney. It was released in April 1985 as the only single from Kelly's first solo album '' Post''. The single did not

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

Singles Chart. The song has found later acclaim with it appearing on lists for 'Top 20 Sydney Songs' and 'Top 25 Melbourne Songs'. The track has been recorded by other artists including Bob Evans' version on '' Before Too Long'' (November 2009) – a Paul Kelly tribute album.

Composition and background

In late 1984 Paul Kelly wrote "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" on Don Walker's piano while living at Walker's Kings Cross flat. Kelly had met Walker ( Cold Chisel keyboardist and songwriter) through his ex-wife's sister. Kelly started composing the song as a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

variation on "From Memphis to Norfolk Is a 36-hour Ride" by Robert Johnson. By using Walker's piano the composition shifted to include the influence of "Never Going Back" by The Lovin' Spoonful. The song was released as a single in April 1985 but did not appear on the Australian

Singles Chart. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. The single's cover depicts a "black and pink image of Paul's face" on the White Records imprint by

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...

. The song was written in a bleak period in Kelly's life: after the break-up of his band and his marriage, he had moved from Melbourne to Sydney in late 1984. In the biographical notes distributed to the media when '' Post'' was released, Kelly advised that in 1984 he packed all his worldly goods in a trailer, borrowed his father-in-law's

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...

and drove from St Kilda to Kings Cross. During the second week of recording ''Post'' with

Clive Shakespeare Clive Richard Shakespeare (3 June 194715 February 2012) was an English-born Australian pop guitarist, songwriter and producer. He was a co-founder of pop rock group Sherbet, which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number-one ...

(ex- Sherbet guitarist) co-producing, Kelly recorded the track and he had a heavy cold which affected his voice but "seemed to suit the track". In 2000, he recalled working on it: "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" was used as the B-side of Paul Kelly & the Messengers' 1991 single, "Don't Start Me Talking". This version was released on their 1992 album ''

Hidden Things ''Hidden Things'' is an album by Australian folk rock group Paul Kelly & the Messengers released in March 1992 on Mushroom Records, which reached No. 29 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It also reached the Top 40 on the New Zealand Albums Ch ...

''. It later appeared on Kelly's first

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, ''

Songs from the South ''Songs from the South'', subtitled ''Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits'', is a greatest hits album by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly. It was released on 13 May 1997 by Mushroom Records. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Recor ...

'' in June 1997.

Later appreciation

ABC Radio's Richard Fidler has described "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" as "embedded in our ustraliancultural psyche". In 2004 the song was listed by '' The Sydney Morning Herald''s

Bernard Zuel Bernard Zuel is an Australian music journalist. Zuel wrote for Fairfax Media newspapers ''The Age'' and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' since 1992. He became their senior music writer and reviewer. Zuel is a judge of the Australian Music Prize a ...

in his "top 20 Sydney songs", and of "immortalising" Kings Cross in particular. Conversely, it has also been described as an "iconic anthem" about St Kilda. In August 2004, according to a panel of writers for '' The Age'', it is one of "The Top 25 Melbourne Songs". The song's lyrics "I want to see the sun go down from St Kilda Esplanade / Where the beach needs reconstruction, where the palm trees have it hard", have been mentioned in relation to proposed re-developments of the foreshore of St Kilda, especially in reference to the palm trees on St Kilda Esplanade. In April 2006, the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club released a cover version on their album, ''A Long Way from Home'', which was broadcast on '' The Coodabeens'' programme on

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

with Billy Baxter compering – Kelly had written a 1980 hit about him, " Billy Baxter". In October 2009, Gomez members Tom Gray and Paul Blackburn performed the song on the "

Like a Version ''Like a Version'' is a weekly segment on Australian youth radio station Triple J. It involves Australian and international artists playing two songs live in the Triple J studio, one of their own songs (an "original") and then a cover version, h ...

" segment of Triple J's ''Breakfast Show''. In November that year, Bob Evans (aka Kevin Mitchell of Jebediah) performed "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" at two Triple J concerts, Before Too Long, in tribute of Kelly, which was released as a triple-CD of the same name.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits: ;Musicians * Paul Kelly – vocals, acoustic guitar * Steve Connolly – lead guitar, harmonies * Michael Barclay – harmonies * Chris Coyne – saxophone ;Production work *Producer –

, Paul Kelly *Engineer – Clive Shakespeare

Release history

References

External links

"From St Kilda to Kings Cross" lyrics
fro
www.paulkelly.com.au

Paul Kelly speaks about the origin of "From St Kilda to Kings Cross"
Triple J {{authority control 1985 singles Paul Kelly (Australian musician) songs 1985 songs Songs written by Paul Kelly (Australian musician) Songs about Australia Songs about cities