"True Blue" is an Australian

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

written and performed by singer-songwriter John Williamson. The lyrical content utilises

Australian slang Australian English is a major variety of the English language spoken throughout Australia. Most of the vocabulary of Australian English is shared with British English, though there are notable differences. The vocabulary of Australia is drawn ...

heavily, with the title meaning ''authentically Australian'' (from a British phrase). The song was released in March 1982 as a single from ''True Blue - The Best of John Williamson'', but failed to chart. The lyrics included a reference to Vegemite, a food paste, but that was removed in a later version because Williamson "just didn't want the song to be commercialised". The 1986 version was used for the Australian Made campaign. The song was adopted by the

Australia national cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

and the

Australia national rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

as an unofficial theme song and is often performed at sporting events or other ceremonies. Williamson performed the song twice on

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Australia Zoo Australia Zoo is a zoo located in the Australian state of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast near Beerwah/Glass House Mountains. It is a member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA), and is owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, wh ...

during

Steve Irwin Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 19624 September 2006), known as "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist. Irwin grew up around crocodiles and ot ...

's public memorial service (it was Irwin's favourite song); once shortly after the beginning ceremony, and again at the end as Irwin's truck was driven out of the Crocoseum (crocodile exhibit) for the final time. In March 2009 Williamson sang in a 30-minute musical, ''The Story of True Blue'', which relates how an Australian cattle dog loses its family in a bushfire. It was narrated by

Shannon Noll Shannon Noll (born 16 September 1975) is an Australian singer-songwriter who first came to prominence as runner-up of the first season of ''Australian Idol'' in 2003, which led to him being signed to Sony BMG. He has released five top ten albu ...

, and combined stock men, livestock, motorbikes and circus performers. In January 2018, as part 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 ...

's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "True Blue" was ranked number 27.

Track listing

1986 version

In 1986, Williamson re-recorded "True Blue" and released it in September 1986 as the lead single from his sixth studio album '' Mallee Boy''. The song was used for the Australian Made campaign. The song peaked at number 43 on the

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 (historian), David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music ...

. 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 replac ...

(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 tabu ...

in mid-1988. At the 1988

APRA Awards (Australia) The APRA Music Awards in Australia are annual awards to celebrate excellence in contemporary music, which honour the skills of member composers, songwriters, and publishers who have achieved outstanding success in sales and airplay performan ...

, the song won Most Performed Australasian Country Work.

Charts

Track listing

Release history

References

External links

Original lyrics
broken link

broken link
21st anniversary lyrics
{{John Williamson (singer) 1981 songs 1982 singles 1986 singles John Williamson (singer) songs APRA Award winners Australian folk songs Australian patriotic songs Steve Irwin