"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" is a song by New Zealand
art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...
group
Split Enz
Split Enz were a New Zealand rock band formed in Auckland in 1972 by Tim Finn and Phil Judd and had a variety of other members during its existence. Originally started as a folk-oriented group with quirky art rock stylings, the band built a ...
. It was released in May 1982 as the second single from the group's seventh studio album, ''
Time and Tide
Time and Tide (usually derived from the proverb ''Time and tide wait for no man'') may refer to:
Music
Albums
* ''Time and Tide'' (Greenslade album), 1975
* ''Time and Tide'' (Basia album), 1987
* ''Time and Tide'' (Battlefield Band album), ...
''. The title is a reference to the time it took pioneers to sail to New Zealand (hence the reference to
Aotearoa
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South ...
and ''The Tyranny of Distance'' - a
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
by
Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. He is noted for having written authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including '' The Tyranny ...
), and a metaphor that refers to lead singer
Tim Finn
Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer and musician. His musical career includes forming 1970s and 1980s New Zealand rock group Split Enz, a number of solo albums, temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowde ...
's
nervous breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
.
The song became a top-10 hit in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, going on to be voted the fifth-best New Zealand song ever in the 2001
Australasian Performing Right Association
APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...
list. Its chart performance was less successful in the United Kingdom, owing to its release during the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
. Despite being recorded prior to the outbreak of the conflict, some in Britain considered the song to be veiled criticism of the war with Argentina. The song was consequently removed from many radio play lists in the United Kingdom, including the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, since it was considered that references to ''leaky boats'' were inappropriate during the naval action in the war.
[''The Q Encyclopedia of Rock Stars'' by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton, ]Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages.
It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...
1999, page 938
At the
1982 Countdown Music Awards the song was nominated for Best Australian Single.
Music video
The video shows band members dressed in nautical gear, and
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
artists performing traditional Māori ''
poi'' dance.
Track listing
#"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" 4:21
#"Fire Drill" (Australian/NZ release. In most other countries the B-side was "Make Sense of It")
Personnel
*
Tim Finn
Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer and musician. His musical career includes forming 1970s and 1980s New Zealand rock group Split Enz, a number of solo albums, temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowde ...
–
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
*
Neil Finn
Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician who is known for being a member of Crowded House, Split Enz (which he co-fronted with brother Tim), and Fleetwood Mac. Finn rose to prominence in the late ...
– vocals,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
*
Noel Crombie
Geoffrey Noel Crombie (born 17 April 1953) is a New Zealand percussionist and former member of the band Split Enz. He fulfilled multiple roles including costume and hair designer, singer, album cover designer, and music video director. Prior to ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
*
Nigel Griggs
Nigel Griggs (born 18 August 1949) is a musician who played bass guitar in Split Enz. He is the brother of Paul Griggs from the 1970s vocal group Guys 'n' Dolls. A professional musician since 1963, Nigel Griggs played in a number of bands, nota ...
–
bass
*
Eddie Rayner
Anthony Edward Charles Rayner (born 19 November 1952) is a New Zealand musician who spent twelve years as a keyboardist in the band Split Enz. He has also played in the groups Orb, Space Waltz, Crowded House, The Makers, The Angels in 1986-198 ...
–
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, percussion
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Covers
*"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" was covered by Australian
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
band
Little Birdy
Little Birdy were an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia, in 2002 by singer and guitarist Katy Steele, drummer Matt Chequer, guitarist and keyboardist Simon Leach, and bass guitarist Scott O'Donoghue. They gaine ...
, and appears on the 2005 compilation album ''
She Will Have Her Way
''She Will Have Her Way'' is a compilation album featuring female Australian and New Zealand musicians performing songs written by Neil Finn and Tim Finn ( The Finn Brothers), members of Split Enz and Crowded House. A follow up album, '' He W ...
''. They also played the song during their set at the
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 ...
Sound Relief
Sound Relief was a multi-venue rock music concert held on 14 March 2009, which was announced by the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby on 24 February 2009. The event was organised by Michael Gudinski, Michael Chugg, Amanda Pelman, Joe Segreto & To ...
concert.
*Australian children's entertainers
The Wiggles
The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. The group are currently composed of Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce and Tsehay Hawkins, as well as supporting members Evie Ferris, John Pearce, Ca ...
covered this song on their album/video, ''It's a Wiggly, Wiggly World'', with Tim Finn singing back up and appearing in the video, but with the lyrics significantly altered to be about
Captain Feathersword
Paul Andrew Paddick (born 16 February 1967) is an Australian singer and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Captain Feathersword, "the friendly pirate", a character associated with the children's band the Wiggles, where he eventually ca ...
.
Legacy
The song was voted the
5th best New Zealand song of all time in 2001 by members of APRA.
The song was used as the funeral song for explorer, environmentalist and sailor
Sir Peter Blake, sung by Tim Finn with acoustic guitar, at Blake's service.
References
{{Authority control
Songs about explorers
Songs about boats
Songs about New Zealand
1982 singles
1982 songs
APRA Award winners
Falklands War
Song recordings produced by Hugh Padgham
Songs written by Tim Finn
Split Enz songs