"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 Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

''. The single did not chart on the Australian Kent Music Report 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 "Before Too Long" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as the first single from their debut double album, ''Gossip''. It was released in June 1986 on the original White Label Records, a subsidiary of Mushr ...

'' (November 2009) – a Paul Kelly

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

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 Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards. They were soon joined by Jimmy Barnes (at the ...

keyboardist and songwriter) through his ex-wife's sister. Kelly started composing the song as a blues variation on "From Memphis to Norfolk Is a 36-hour Ride" by

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

. By using Walker's piano the composition shifted to include the influence of "Never Going Back" by

The Lovin' Spoonful The Lovin' Spoonful is an American rock band popular during the mid- to late-1960s. Founded in New York City in 1965 by lead singer/songwriter John Sebastian and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, the band is widely known for a number of hits, including ...

. The song was released as a single in April 1985 but did not appear on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing ...

(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 tab ...

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. 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 ''

'' was released, Kelly advised that in 1984 he packed all his worldly goods in a trailer, borrowed his father-in-law's Holden 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''. It later appeared on Kelly's first compilation album, '' Songs from the South'' in June 1997.

Later appreciation

ABC Radio's

Richard Fidler Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

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 ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''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 ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'', 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 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" segment of

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

's ''Breakfast Show''. In November that year, Bob Evans (aka Kevin Mitchell of

Jebediah Jebediah are an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Perth, Western Australia. They were formed by Chris Daymond on lead guitar, Kevin Mitchell (aka Bob Evans) on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and Vanessa Thornton on bass guita ...

) 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"

{{authority control 1985 singles Paul Kelly (Australian musician) songs 1985 songs Songs written by Paul Kelly (Australian musician) Songs about Australia Songs about cities