Silent Recordings
Unpredictable Music for
Unreliable Times

Artists:

CODA
Prop
Telemetry Orchestra
Tracky Dax

Compilations:

Around The Block
Nocturnal Emissions
Silent Soundtracks
Sounds of Silent
This Show Is About People

Rouseabout Records
Keeping it Real

Artists:

Bondi Cigars
Cathie O'Sullivan
Colin Dryden
Creedence Clearwater Revisited
The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band
Donna Fisk and Michael Cristian
Eric Bogle
Fiddlers Feast
Gary Shearston
Gordon Lightfoot
Herb Superb
Johnny Wade
Jim Low
John Munro
Julie Wilson
Koori Classic
Kym Pitman
Marcus Holden
Mic Conway's National Junk Band
Ngarukuruwala
Nyalgodi Scotty Martin
Robyn Archer
Roger Knox
Russell Morris
The Newtown Rugby League Football Club Song
Warren Fahey & Luke Webb
Warren Fahey & Max Cullen (DEAD MEN TALKING)

Compilations:

Before the Boomerang Came Back
Down By The Billabong
The World Turned Upside-Down
Forte – Golden Fiddlers
Stand Up & Shout

Yesterday's Australia:

Barbara James
Bob Dyer
Bobby Limb
Buddy Williams
Dame Nellie Melba
Florence Austral
Frank Coughlan
John Brownlee
Johnny Ashcroft
Keith Branch & His South Sea Islanders

Percy Grainger
Reg Lindsay
Shirley Thoms
Smoky Dawson
Strella Wilson
Tex Morton
Tex Morton and Sister Dorrie
Warren Fahey's Diggers

Yesterday's Australia Compilations:

Australian Radio Serials
Australian Hillbilly Radio Hits
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 1
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 2
Band in a Waistcoat Pocket
Mastertouch Pianola
Strike up the Band
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 1
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 2

Yep! Records
Music Without Compromise

Artists:

Antenna
Jenny Morris
Michal Nicholas
The Lovetones
Saints of India
Screw the Pooch
sounditout
Southend
Spaceniks

Warren Fahey
'Diggers'

Down through the years the Australian soldier became respected as a reliable fighter, a mate when a mate was the difference between life and death and, above all, the Australian soldier was considered to be a ‘larrikin’ who saluted but would not doff his hat to no man. He was an Aussie, he was Cobber, he was Pongo, he was Curley and Bluey and he was Digger.

Australians have fought in 11 wars. It seems incredible but 11 times we have marched away to the sound of the bugle and every time it was a call to join our allies and 'mates' at arms. We fought in the famed Maori Wars of Taranaki and the Waikato, a contingent of gallant lads travelled to the Sudan wars and then our Lighthorsemen galloped into the Orange Free State and the Boer War. Nextcame the so called 'Boxer Rebellion' and then the first and second World Wars. We glibly believed that the second World War was the 'war to end all wars' but we were wrong and our troops were once again called to battle in lands too close to the home front - Malaya, Malta, Korea and Indonesia and these were all followed by the horrors of Vietnam. As if to remind us that war is always 'just around the corner' our troops rallied in 1990 to confront the threat of yet another uprising in that war-torn zone known as the Middle East. 16 years later, they're there again.

This recording is a unique oral history of the songs that the Australian soldiers sang.

Sleeve ArtWarren Fahey
'Diggers'
Catalogue Number RRH42

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War is always a frustration and the songs, ditties, parodies, poetry and stories serve many well-earned roles as a morale booster to facilitate camaraderie, to educate and to assimilate 'new recruits' and to allow that necessary ongoing de-fusing of tension. As with other periods of history when all is not well, like times of economic recession and depression, the songs tend to be short and not so sweet, and, army songs being what they tend to be very much to the point - boots and all!

This collection mainly comes from the first and second World Wars however, there is no doubt that many of these same songs were sung by the 'Diggers' who marched away to Korea, Malaya and Indonesia. As our entertainment patterns changed so too have our soldier songs and the collected material from the Vietnam War tends to be songs about air fighter planes, raids and gas bombs. The later songs still use parodies however, they are chiefly American popular songs. Warfare has also changed dramatically and this might explain why there are so few songs from the Gulf War. I guess it's hard to sing when you're sitting alone in a computerised fighter plane with one finger cocked on a button.

Warren Fahey