Five Best Songs by The Front Lawn

The Flight of the Conchords weren’t New Zealand’s first musical/theatrical duo. Auckland’s The Front Lawn were active from 1985 to 1990. Don McGlashan had already cemented his place in New Zealand music history, singing and drumming on Blam Blam Blam’s ‘There Is No Depression In New Zealand. Harry Sinclair came from a theatrical background, studying at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HVogejKx_c

When they returned from their respective Overseas Experiences, they delayed their chosen careers and pooled their talents in The Front Lawn. They created stage shows and short films, and their two albums almost feel like a side hustle.

The pair enjoyed success after the Front Lawn. Sinclair is best known for his role in The Lord of the Rings. He plays Isildur, who refuses to throw the ring into Mount Doom in the prologue. He’s also directed films like Topless Women Talk About Their Lives. McGlashan formed The Mutton Birds, then pursued a solo career. Sinclair and McGlashan resumed working together on the animated children’s show Kiri and Lou. Here are five of McGlashan and Sinclair’s best songs together.

Five Best Songs by The Front Lawn

#5 The Beautiful Things

from More Songs from the Front Lawn, 1993
McGlashan has a bizarre fascination with electric appliances. Later on the list, a song about a washing machine appears, while The Mutton Birds recorded ‘The Heater’.

The Front Lawn only released two singles. They made a music video for ‘The Beautiful Things’ where Sinclair and McGlashan prance around like televangelists, extolling the virtues of consumerism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1wklih86s

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#4 Claude Rains

from Songs from the Front Lawn, 1989
Claude Rains was an old-time movie actor, known for roles like the cynical police chief Captain Louis Renault in 1942’s Casablanca. McGlashan meditates on Casablanca, noting a newer film where “the actors weren’t as good as Claude Rains.”

‘Claude Rains’ is also derived from folk. The gorgeous, flowing chorus contrasts with the terse verse.

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#3 Wedding Song

from More Songs from the Front Lawn, 1993
You might assume from the title that this song is romantic wedding fare. But I doubt anyone’s ever played this love song to a washing machine on their big day.

Do you, Graham, take this washing machine, to have and to hold
Do you, washing machine take this man to put his dirty things inside you? 

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#2 Tomorrow Night

from Songs from the Front Lawn, 1989
‘Tomorrow Night’ opens with a reference to my hometown – “She loves Wellington, she was born there/She grew up out in the Hutt Valley.”

Again, despite the horn-fuelled chorus, ‘Tomorrow Night’ is inspired by folk music. The third verse interpolates a couple of lines from the Scottish folk song ‘The Skye Boat Song’.

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#1 Andy

from Songs from the Front Lawn, 1989
McGlashan wrote ‘Andy’ about his older brother. He died in a boating at 20, when McGlashan was 15. Part of The Front Lawn’s set, it was too poignant to attach to a story. ‘Andy’ was instead used as an interlude with McGlashan on mandolin and Sinclair playing the concertina. It started as a meditation on Rogernomics, and the line “they’re making money out of money” remained.

I tried to create some distance from reality though. My brother wasn’t called Andy because I wanted to separate the song from my family’s story and the other families involved. When you write about pain that’s not just your own, you have to tread carefully.

Don McGlashan, North and South

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