John Farnham’s 20 best sangs

In the lead-up tae a selt-oot tribute concert in celebration o the Breetish-born Australian sangster’s music, which is bein broadcast at Hoyts cinemas around Australia, we rank the sangs that sing tae Farnsey’s fans in Australia and around the warld.

20. Two Strong Hearts

Bouncy and bricht, this 1988 luve sang reached No 6 on the Aria charts, fuelled by an effortless lead vocal that taks aff in the built-for-singalongs chorus. In the 2010s, John Farnham and his langtime pal Olivia Newton-John named their hit tour and subsequent live album after the sang – their version reimagines the track as a playful duet atween guid freends.

19. Man of the Hour

This standout sang frae Farnham’s underratit 2000 album, 33 ⅓, sees the sangster hit his soulful sweet spot. Whan performin it live, Farnham made a point o sharin the spotlight wi his backin sangster, Lindsay Field. Farnham’s generous relationships wi langstandin members o the Farnham band aye made his live shows feel like a faimily affair.

18. Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)

Farnham has a luve-hate relationship wi his 1967 debut. The biggest-sellin single by ony Australian airtist in Australia in the 1960s, Sadie tells the tale o a blue-collar worker strugglin wi a life o mundane labour. Lyrically? Deeply depressin (“her red detergent hands have for years not held a man’s!”). Musically? A bop.

17. Reasons

The first, but by nae means last, sang on this list frae Whispering Jack (still the highest-sellin album by an Australian airtist) pairs a sincere pledge tae tak life intae ane’s ain hands wi a synth beat that points like an airrow towards action. The best pairt is the vocal performance: whan Farnham sings that he’ll “climb more than a mountain” and “swim more than an ocean”, ye believe him hale-hertedly.

16. Looking Through a Tear

This sentimental ballant originally recordit by Aretha Franklin is the title track o Farnham’s third studio album, released in 1970. Not ilka sangster cud sell “it’s funny how nothing seems clear when you’re looking through a tear”, but Farnham’s sincerity and gowden high tenor mak this an irresistible early gem.

15. Have a Little Faith (In Us)

Pop music tends tae be the domain o young luve and hertbreak but this surprisingly upliftin 1996 hit about a mid-relationship slump was perfectly suitit tae a 46-year-auld Farnham. The chorus ends optimistically: “For all we know, the best is yet to come.”

14. Pressure Down

In his memoir, The Voice Inside, Farnham affectionately caws 1986’s Pressure Down a “quirky little song”, especially for its iconic bassline and radio-friendly production. This effervescent track wi delightfully aff-kilter lyrics about someone turnin the pressure up (!) is still ane o his maist-played sangs on Australian radio, ready-made for lang drives and simmer efternuins.

13. Love to Shine

Ye cud mak a case for maist o the non-single tracks frae Whispering Jack tae mak it on this list but Love to Shine is particularly special. Written by the Breetish musician Harry Bogdanovs and the English pop sangster Kiki Dee, Love to Shine has an effortless synth-led groove – and a great, unexpected bridge that turns the chorus’s melody on its heid.

12. When Something is Wrong With My Baby

Barnesy and Farnesy, thegither at last. Whan Jimmy Barnes released his fifth album, Soul Deep, it was a smash hit – and John Farnham was a key ingredient. The grit-and-gravel rock legend and the pure, clean-cut pop starn baith fell in luve wi soul, rock and blues growin up, and they gie the 1967 Sam & Dave ballant everything they’ve got: hert, soul and guts, tae.

11. Age of Reason

A tickin clock. An urgent beat. That gorgeous piano. In his memoir, Farnham reflectit that he played it owre safe on the track, regrettin his strained falsetto. But that audible effort, that messy realness in a sang beggin us tae dae the wark tae build a kinder future, feels like exactly the point.

10. Comic Conversation

A minor hit single released in 1970 but a firm fan favourite, Comic Conversation sees Farnham in storytellin mode, croonin about an unrequited luve. It has a fantastic openin line: “I’m going to ask your friends your number, and I’ll call you when your man is out of town.” Colour us intrigued.

9. Please Don’t Ask Me

Written and produced by Farnham’s future Little River Band bandmate Graeham Goble, 1980’s Please Don’t Ask Me is the maist finely craftit sap. Sure, it’s a tad cloyin, but it’s also raw and vulnerable, wi a luscious string arrangement that points tae the successful live collaborations Farnham wad have in future years wi Australian orchestras.

8. A Touch of Paradise

A Touch of Paradise was the third single frae Whispering Jack, and the only true ballant on the album. Originally recordit by the Australian rock band Mondo Rock several years earlier, the sang’s pared-back synths and drum machines plant it firmly and satisfyinly in the 1980s. As wi mony o Farnham’s best, it builds tae a thrillin vocal climax.

7. Don’t You Know it’s Magic

Farnham struggled tae find chart success for muckle o the 1970s but this mid-tempo rock sang frae the curiously named Hits Magic & Rock ’N Roll album performit pretty well, peakin at No 12 on the Australian national charts and stayin there for 15 weeks. Written by the Australian rock statesman Brian Cadd, it really stands up.

6. Every Time You Cry

A retro pastiche fillit wi wacky aphorisms (“the light at the end of the tunnel doesn’t shine at the end of the day”) and the obligatory new single on a greatest-hits album? Every Time You Cry has nae richt bein sae guid. Farnham’s rich and confident vocals were resurrectit frae sessions for Romeo’s Heart and paired wi Human Nature’s lovely four-part harmonies and thegither they soar. An instant, timeless classic.

5. That’s Freedom

A sang that belangs on ilka road-trip playlist, That’s Freedom is the sort o tune that propels the listener forrit – a the way “from the mountain, to the valley, from the ocean, to the alley, from the highway, to the river”. It just maks ye feel guid.

4. Burn for You

Co-writer and frequent Farnham collaborator Phil Buckle’s delicate and beautiful guitar line on Burn for You helped define Farnham’s evolvin sound as he moved away frae the Fairlight synths o Whispering Jack and Age of Reason tae mair stripped-back and roots-inspired sounds. It also features ane o Farnham’s maist affectinly intimate vocals. It feels as though we’re eavesdroppin frae the next room while he’s on the phone, beggin a luver tae not hang up on him again. Like mony o the best luve sangs (and this is ane o them) the lyric is strauchtforrit and honest, leavin a sangster nowhere tae hide. Farnham mair than rises tae the occasion: he burns.

3. Playing to Win

Farnham may not have particularly enjoyed his four years frontin Little River Band – he clashed wi ither members o the band, claimin they had his microphone cable duct-taped tae the stage sae he cudna muve around and steal the spotlight – but it inspired him tae write ane o his best sangs, this fiery declaration o tenacity, and the only ane frae his time in LRB that stayed on his setlist. In mony ways, Playing to Win statit Farnham’s intent, settin the stage for ane o the maist audacious comebacks Australian music has ever seen.

2. Help!

There arena mony covers that seem tae erase all memory o the original, but for the four and a half minutes it taks Farnham tae sing Help!, the Beatles feel somehow irrelevant. This slowed-down, beefed-up version was originally performit for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the royal charity concert at Sydney Opera House in 1980. Farnham’s live performances in the decades since are operatic in scale, showcasin everything that made him Australia’s finest pop sangster. The final verse is properly staggerin. It micht be a cover but his is the only voice in the warld that cud dae this.

1. You’re the Voice

On paper, it’s bonkers that a sang by four Brits wi a bagpipe solo and slammin car-door drums wad ever be a hit, let alone an Australian national treasure. Forty years on, it’s easy tae tak its genius for granted. Sae close yer een. Listen again. It’s alchemical, ilka element contributin tae its unstoppable force, but nane mair sae than Farnham himsel. The sang made him and is made better by him; his pouer and conviction transforms admittedly vague lyrics about unity and change intae something undeniable. It’s a spiritual national anthem, ane that imagines us intae the Australia we wish we were: equitable and kind, wi a fair go for all. Where nae ane sits in silence, sae nae ane lives wi fear.