"Reckless" (aka "Reckless (Don't Be So)", "Reckless (Don't You Be So)", "She Don't Like That") is a 1983 song from the EP ''

Semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy Philosophy (f ...

'' by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n band

Australian Crawl Australian Crawl (often called Aussie Crawl or The Crawl by fans) were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano/harmonica), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David R ...

. The song showed a change in the line up of the band as drummer Bill McDonough was temporarily replaced by Graham Bidstrup (also on keyboards). After the EP was released, Bidstrup was replaced by John Watson (drums). The EP ''Semantics'' charted on the Australian Singles Charts to reach #1 and consequently some sources list "Reckless" as a #1 single. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

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. It was written by lead singer and guitarist

James Reyne James Michael Nugent Reyne OAM (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter both in solo work and, until 1986, with the band Australian Crawl. Biography Early years Reyne was born in Lagos, Nigeria. His father, Ro ...

. Listeners of

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

voted "Reckless" the 39th best song of all time in 2007; it was the highest placed Australian Crawl song. The song's lyrics refer to locations in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

such as Manly and

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

. In Europe (including the United Kingdom) "Reckless" was released by

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

as a single backed with "White Limbo"; it was also a track on the 1984 expanded LP version of ''Semantics''. Australian Crawl performed "Reckless" as one of their three songs for the ''

Oz for Africa Oz for Africa was an Australian concert held on 13 July 1985 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. It was organised by Bill Gordon who also organised the EAT Concert held at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne at the end of January 1985. That event was ...

'' concert (1985). This was the Australian leg of the global ''

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

'' show organised by

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...

and

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

. The "Oz for Africa" concert was broadcast on MTV, but only performances by Australian band

INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...

were placed on the 20th Anniversary DVD collection.

Cover versions

Fellow Australian artists Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls performed "Reckless" for their 1988 double single EP release of ''

Dumb Things "Dumb Things" or "I've Done all the Dumb Things" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as the fourth single from their second album, '' Under the Sun''. It was released by Mushroom Records imprint White L ...

'', it was later credited to Paul Kelly and the Messengers for the 1992 CD '' Hidden Things''. During his solo career, Reyne recorded a different version of "Reckless" for ''Electric Digger Dandy'' (aka ''Any Day Above Ground'') in 1991. He still performs the song during live concerts.

John Farnham John Peter Farnham Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a Teen idol, teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an Adu ...

covered the song for his 2005 covers album ''

I Remember When I Was Young ''I Remember When I Was Young'' (subtitled Songs from The Great Australian Songbook) is an album by Australian vocalist John Farnham, released on 6 November 2005. It consists of cover versions of songs written or recorded by prominent Australi ...

'', he also covered the Crawl's song "

Downhearted "Downhearted" is the third single released by Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl from their debut album ''The Boys Light Up''. The song was written by Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough and Bill McDonough. All three songwriters had been band ...

". Melbourne-based DJs / producers, Smash N Grab, released "She Don't Like That" in 2005 with re-recorded vocals by James Reyne. The CD single had three versions: a radio edit, an extended edit and a club mix.

Misheard lyric

Readers of lyrics websites have suggested the line in the song about "A Russian sub beneath the Arctic" is a

mondegreen A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes w ...

in which "sub" has often been transcribed wrongly as "sun".

Track listing

European Single # "Reckless (Don't You Be So)" (James Reyne) - 5:23 # "White Limbo" (

Simon Binks Simon John Binks (born 27 November 1956,) is an Australian rock musician who was a guitarist and singer-songwriter for Australian Crawl from founding in 1978 to disbanding in 1986. Biography Early career Binks was raised in the Mornington Pen ...

) - 4:03

Personnel

Australian Crawl

— lead vocals, keyboards, guitar *

— lead guitar * Paul "Tubbs" Williams — bass guitar *

Guy McDonough Guy Gillis McDonough (17 October 1955 – 26 June 1984) was an Australian rock musician best known for rhythm guitar and singer-songwriter with the iconic band Australian Crawl. He provided rhythm guitar and lead vocals on two of their well-know ...

— backing vocals, rhythm guitar * Brad Robinson — rhythm guitar * Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup — drums, keyboards

Additional credits

* Andrew Thompson — saxophone * Rosemary Westbrook — double bass on "Reckless" * Engineer — David Nicholas * Producer —

Mark Opitz Mark Opitz (born 1952) is an Australian record producer and audio engineer. He started his career with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1971. He has produced AC/DC, the Angels, Australian Crawl, Cold Chisel, Divinyls and INXS. H ...

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Australian Crawl Australian Crawl songs 1983 songs APRA Award winners Number-one singles in Australia Songs about Australia Songs written by James Reyne Song recordings produced by Mark Opitz