Paul Kelly’s a respected songwriter in Australia, with a solo career that began in 1981. He’s the type of figure who receives songwriting awards and inclusions on great song lists, without necessarily breaking through to public consciousness. He’s little known outside of Australia and New Zealand. Fellow Antipodean songwriter Neil Finn writes “There is something unique and powerful about the way Kelly mixes up everyday detail with the big issues of life, death, love and struggle – not a trace of pretence or fakery in there.”
‘How To Make Gravy’ is a great example of Kelly’s elegant, accomplished writing. It’s about a man in prison who writes a letter to his brother, lamenting that he’ll miss Christmas. It includes a gravy recipe (“Just add flour, salt, a little red wine and don’t forget a dollop of tomato sauce”), which Kelly learned from his former father-in-law. It’s a song that could have easily drowned in its own bathos, but it works because it’s so understated and real.
It’s the lyrics that are the most memorable, but the arrangement is also effective. The driving rhythm guitar is just asking for drums to join it, but they’re held back until the second verse.
In a celebrated career, ‘How To Make Gravy’ might be Kelly’s most celebrated song. 21st of December has unofficially been christened as “Gravy Day”. There was even an unofficial Twitter account dedicated to the song, most active around December 21, using the handle @itsthegravyman.
How To Make Gravy: Lyrics
Hello Dan, it’s Joe here
I hope you’re keeping well
It’s the 21st of December
And now they’re ringing the last bellsIf I get good behaviour
I’ll be out of here by July
Won’t you kiss my kids on Christmas Day
Please don’t let ’em cry for meI guess the brothers are driving down from Queensland
And Stella’s flying in from the coast
They say it’s gonna be a hundred degrees, even more maybe
But that won’t stop the roastWho’s gonna make the gravy now?
I bet it won’t taste the same
Just add flour, salt, a little red wine and don’t forget a dollop of tomato sauce for sweetness and that extra tangAnd give my love to Angus
And to Frank and Dolly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry
I screwed up this timeAnd look after Rita
I’ll be thinking of her
Early Christmas morning
When I’m standing in lineI hear Mary’s got a new boyfriend
I hope he can hold his own
Do you remember the last one? (What was his name again?)
Just a little too much cologneAnd Roger, you know I’m even gonna miss Roger
Cause there’s sure as hell no one in here I want to fightOh praise the Baby Jesus
Have a Merry Christmas
I’m really gonna miss it
All the treasure and the trashAnd later in the evening
I can just imagine
You’ll put on Junior Murvin
And push the tables backAnd you’ll dance with Rita
I know you really like her
Just don’t hold her too close, oh, brother please don’t stab me in the backI didn’t mean to say that
It’s just my mind it plays up
Multiplies each matter
Turns imagination into factYou know I love her badly
She’s the one to save me
I’m gonna make some gravy
I’m gonna taste the fatTell her that I’m sorry
Yeah I love her badly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry
And kiss the sleepy children for meYou know one of these days
I’ll be making gravy
I’ll be making plenty
I’m gonna pay ’em all back
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I really should invest more time with Paul Kelly. I used to listen to a lot of radio shows introducing new artists in the mid 80s and remember a BBC DJ introducing Kelly as the new Elvis Costello. Intrigued, I went and bought “Gossip” on import. It is, for the most part, great (if a little drawn out). Any tips on where to head next?
I only have the two Songs From The South compilations. First one covers 1985 until this song, and the second covers the late 1990s until around 2007. So I’m not that qualified to answer, but a compilation might not be a bad option to figure out which era you like best.
Paul Kelly is quite well served by a thoughtful comp, isn’t he?
Great lyric to feature, btw.
I just commented on your 1977 post but I think it went into spam.
I haven’t heard his albums in full, and I’m still digesting the compilation, that’s the song that jumped out at me so far. Do you have a favourite era from Kelly!
I think he was a light in the dracky 80s, but I can’t say that I’m a knowledgable fan.
Australia had a lot of good music in the 1980s, most of which wasn’t too synthetic, right. I don’t really like INXS, but you had AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Nick Cave, Triffids, GoBetweens, and The Church.
Reading that list, it wasn’t too bad, was it?
He’s new to me – I like these artists that are revered by their fellow artists, if not (yet) the mass audiences.
He just had his first number one album in Australia, I guess he’s retained a dedicated following that buy his albums.
Can’t say I’ve ever heard of this chap before, but I quite like this track (lyrically more than musically, right enough).
I don’t know if he’s ever got very big outside of Australia. National treasure there, obscure everywhere else.
Came over to continue my romp through your reviews and seen this one. PK is one of CB’s favorites and I’m a long ways from his homeland. Seen him a few times (fantastic!). Great piece and the song is beautiful and Paul Kelly to the core. His music moves CB big time. Love this tune. Does he have a bad one. God’s Hotel, To Her Door …… It’s a beautiful day over here and time for a walk . Will be taking this collection with me.
He just had his first number one album in Australia, and one of his recent live albums has a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘To Live Is To Fly’.
I ‘m just heading out the door with Paul and my Disc-man. I want to hear more about that TVZ connection and that record. It doesn’t surprise me. Here’s one for you. Two more of my favorite guys cut an album in Australia. Joe Ely and Butch Hancock. They had PK come on stage and do a beautiful song called ‘Special Treatment’. I love it when people I admire get together and make great music. Out the door to catch some sun. Back in an hour.
Here’s the Van Zandt cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_usShhFkRc
That song is made for Kelly. Thanks for that. When I was featuring all the blogs that I tune into, I used Butch Hancock to go with Greenpete58’s take. It was a toss up between Butch’s ‘Already Gone’ or Paul’s ‘Special Treatment’
I haven’t heard ‘Special Treatment’ – it’s not on Songs From The South. Do you have recommendations for Paul Kelly albums? All I have is the two compilations and his three most recent releases.
I started with Under The Sun (wore it out), Gossip, So Much Water Close to Home and Comedy. All solid very good records. I have been slack with his out put over the years but I would guess it his high quality. Another guy who is proficiently good. My walk was great and therec isn’t a weak cut on that compolation
Here’s something I found on Special Treatment. I first heard it on the Hancock/Gilmore record ‘Two Roads’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4ovZecmk-Q
Yeah, that’s good. Have you seen the film Rabbit Proof Fence? It’s about the treatment of aboriginal Australians, and has a Peter Gabriel soundtrack.
Glad you liked it. Yes i have seen that film. Enjoyed it. Our friend PG gets around. I watch a lot of films from your part of the world. Australia and New Zealand. I watched a film called The Tracker. Archie Roach did the music. I like him also but should listen to him more.
Also, I’ll probably be done with Elvis Costello tomorrow. Just need to finish off Blood & Chocolate, then I will have covered all of his studio albums from his first ten years.
That’s a big chunk. I’ll check it out later.
My mistake it was Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Hancock.
I need to get a bit more familiar with that old outlaw country – sure I’ll get to it eventually.
I went back and read your take on ‘To Her Door’: I’ll put a link to it:
https://cincinnatibabyhead.wordpress.com/2017/07/27/music-single-to-her-door-paul-kelly-and-the-messengers/
Ely, Gilmore and Hancock (The Flatlanders) make some of my favorite music. Kindred spirits with Kelly, Springsteen etc. The real outlaw guys in my opinion are Haggard, Nelson, Jennings, Cash… Cool that you put the link up. Thanks for that,