"Girls in Our Town" | ||||
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Song by Margret Roadknight | ||||
from the album Margret Roadknight | ||||
B-side | "Captain Jack" | |||
Written | 1974 | |||
Released | January 1976 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:42 | |||
Label | The Ritz | |||
Songwriter(s) | Bob Hudson | |||
Producer(s) |
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Margret Roadknight singles chronology | ||||
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"Girls in Our Town" is a song about the life of young women in Newcastle, Australia, written by Bob Hudson. [1] He released it on his live album, The Newcastle Song (see the title track, "The Newcastle Song") in 1974. [1]
In 1976, country music artist, Margret Roadknight covered the song and it reached the top 40 on the Kent Music Report singles chart. [2] It also appeared on her third album, Margret Roadknight, in October of that year. [3] [4] [5]
According to Rachel Lucas of Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Open the track, "painted a cruel trajectory for teenage girls living in country towns; teenage school drop outs, lonely cashiers and factory workers, with nothing to keep them entertained but vanity and promiscuity." [6] It was subsequently performed by Judy Small. [7]
From October 1993 RoadKnight was a member of an a cappella quartet, Girls in Your Town, with Jarnie Birmingham, Mara Kiek, and Moya Simpson. [8] [9]
The Dingoes are an Australian country rock band. They were initially active from 1973 to 1979, and reformed in 2009. Initially based in Melbourne, the band relocated to the United States from 1976. The most stable line-up comprised John Bois on bass guitar, John Lee on drums, Broderick Smith on vocals and harmonica, Chris Stockley on guitar, and Kerryn Tolhurst on guitar. Mal Logan on keyboards joined after Stockley was hospitalised when shot in the stomach by Melbourne drug-dealer, Dennis Allen, who was attempting to gate crash a party. The Dingoes' debut single, "Way Out West", was released in November 1973, and peaked in the top 40 of the Australian Kent Music Report singles chart. Subsequent singles were "Boy on the Run", "Smooth Sailing", and "Into the Night", which did not reach the top 50. They had three top 40 albums, The Dingoes in 1974, Five Times the Sun in 1977, and Orphans of the Storm in 1979.
Cheryl Lau Sang, known professionally as Samantha Sang, is an Australian singer. She had an earlier career as a teenage singer under the stage name Cheryl Gray, before adopting the stage name she is more widely known as in 1969. She first received nationwide recognition in Australia in 1967, after releasing the top ten single "You Made Me What I Am".
Martin Albert Mulry, known professionally as Ted Mulry, was an English-born Australian singer, songwriter, bass player and guitarist. As a solo artist, his second single, "Falling in Love Again", reached No. 11 on the Go-Set National Top 60. From September 1972 he led his own band, Ted Mulry Gang, which were also credited as TMG. They had a number-one hit single on the Kent Music Report with "Jump in My Car" and top ten appearances with a cover version of "Darktown Strutters' Ball", and with "Jamaica Rum" and "My Little Girl" (May). Their second album, Struttin', also reached the top ten. The group disbanded in 1986, although periodically reformed. Mulry announced in February 2001 that he had been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. In the next month numerous music artists responded with Gimme Ted, a series of benefit concerts, which were recorded for a 2×DVD video tribute album, Gimme Ted – The Ted Mulry Benefit Concerts. Mulry died of his brain tumour in September 2001.
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmonica, kazoo and vocals. They issued four studio albums, Smoke Dreams, Wangaratta Wahine, Australia and Slightly Troppo (1978), before they disbanded in September 1980. The Conway brothers reformed the group in 2010 as Captain Matchbox Reignited and disbanded again two years later.
Garth Ivan Richard Porter is a New Zealand-born Australian multi-instrumental musician, songwriter and record producer. He was a member, on keyboards and backing vocals, of the pop group, Sherbet (1970–84), and co-wrote both of their number-one singles, "Summer Love" and "Howzat". Porter is a co-writer and producer for country music singer Lee Kernaghan.
Jean Ethel "Jeannie" Lewis is an Australian musician and stage performer whose work covers many different styles such as folk, jazz, Latin, blues, opera, rock and fusion. Her music often includes a strong social consciousness and political statements. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described her as "one of the most enigmatic and expressive, yet underrated singers Australia has ever produced... Always able to adapt her emotional and dramatic voice to suit a range of moods and styles."
Axiom were an Australian country rock band formed in May 1969. Founding mainstays were Brian Cadd on lead vocals and piano, Don Mudie on bass guitar, Glenn Shorrock on lead vocals and Chris Stockley on lead guitar (ex-Cam-Pact). Don Lebler on drums replaced Doug Lavery in the following year. They released two studio albums, Fool's Gold and If Only..., but had disbanded before the latter appeared. Their top 10 singles are "Arkansas Grass" (1969), "A Little Ray of Sunshine" (1970) and "My Baby's Gone" (1971). Fool's Gold was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.
Richard Clapton is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are "Girls on the Avenue" (1975) and "I Am an Island" (1982). He reached the top 20 on the related albums chart with Goodbye Tiger (1977), Hearts on the Nightline (1979), The Great Escape (1982) and The Very Best of Richard Clapton (1982). Clapton's highest-charting album, Music Is Love (1966–1970), peaked at number 3 on the ARIA Chart.
Zoot were a pop rock band formed in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1964 as Down the Line. They changed their name to Zoot in 1967 and by 1968 had relocated to Melbourne. They had a top-five hit on the Go-Set national singles chart with a heavy rock cover of the Beatles' ballad "Eleanor Rigby" released in 1970, but they disbanded in May 1971.
Hush were an Australian glam rock pop band, which formed in 1971 and disbanded in 1977.
Mississippi were an Australian soft rock band (1972–1975), which included Graham Goble on lead vocals and guitar, Beeb Birtles on lead vocals and guitar, and Derek Pellicci on drums. The band had started as Allison Gros in Adelaide in 1970 and moved to Melbourne in 1971 where they recorded as Allison Gros, Drummond and, early in 1972, became Mississippi. As Drummond they issued a cover version of "Daddy Cool", which peaked at No. 1 on the Go-Set National Top 40 for eight weeks. As Mississippi they reached No. 10 with "Kings of the World". In early 1975, with Birtles, Goble and Pellicci aboard and the addition of Glenn Shorrock, the group were renamed Little River Band.
The 69'ers were an Australian rock, pop, jug and country band formed in 1969. They released two albums, The 69er's Album (1971) and Francis Butlers 69er's Live (1974). The group toured Australia and appeared at the Sunbury Pop Festival in 1973 and 1974. The ensemble went through numerous different members, including two competing line-ups, before finally disbanding in February 1976. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, they played a "good-time mix of vintage rock'n'roll, jugband music and country-swing" and were able to "capture the humour and downright silliness of the form in such a boisterous, zany and garrulous fashion".
Robert Hudson is an Australian singer, radio presenter and archaeologist. His satirical narrative, "The Newcastle Song", topped the Kent Music Report singles chart. He also wrote and recorded, "Girls in Our Town", which was covered by Margret RoadKnight in January 1976 and Judy Small in 1982.
Margret RoadKnight is an Australian singer-guitarist. In a career spanning more than five decades, she has sung in a wide variety of styles including blues, jazz, gospel, comedy, cabaret, and folk. In January 1976 she released a cover version of Bob Hudson's album track, "Girls in Our Town", as a single, which reached the Kent Music Report Singles Chart Top 40.
Wendy June Saddington, also known as Gandharvika Dasi, was an Australian blues, soul and jazz singer, and was in the bands Chain, Copperwine and the Wendy Saddington Band. She wrote for teen pop newspaper Go-Set from September 1969 to September 1970 as an agony aunt in her weekly "Takes Care of Business" column, and as a feature writer. Saddington had Top 30 chart success with her 1972 solo single "Looking Through a Window", which was written and produced by Billy Thorpe and Warren Morgan of the Aztecs. After adopting Krishna Consciousness in the 1970s she took the name Gandharvika Dasi. In March 2013 she was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and died in June, aged 63.
Russell James Dunlop was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer-engineer. From the late 1970s he collaborated with Bruce Brown in a production company for albums and singles by Australian performers including Mental As Anything, The Reels and Machinations. As a musician he was a member of various groups such as Aesop's Fables (1968–70), Levi Smith's Clefs (1971), Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly (SCRA) (1971–72) and Ayers Rock (1976).
Philip John Manning is an Australian blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. Manning has been a member of various groups including Chain and has had a solo career. As a member of Chain, Manning co-wrote their January 1971 single "Black and Blue" which became number one on the Melbourne charts and also Judgement, which reached number two in Sydney. The related album, Toward the Blues followed in September and peaked in the top 10 albums chart.
Kevin Gullifer Hopkins-Smith, who performed as Little Gulliver and Gulliver Smith, was an Australian singer and songwriter from the early 1960s to mid-2000s. He was the front man and founding mainstay vocalist of Company Caine. In 1976 he and Ross Wilson co-wrote "A Touch of Paradise" for Wilson's group, Mondo Rock, which appeared on their third album, Nuovo Mondo. It was covered by John Farnham on his album, Whispering Jack, and was issued as its third single in February 1987, which reached the top 30 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart.
Hot City Bump Band were an Australian soul, funk band which formed in late 1973 by Chuck McKinney (vocals), his wife, Margaret McKinney (vocals), John Adolphus (guitar), David McMaster (organ), Robert Ellis (congas), David Green (bass) and Mick Holden. They released a studio album, Come Together (1975), that peaked at No. 11 on Melbourne album charts. They broke up in 1976. According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, they were "one of the first soul/funk bands ever assembled in Australia, and local audiences took a while to warm to the band's dance-oriented sound." Chuck McKinney died in September 1994.
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