Peter Dasent, Fane Flaws, Tony Backhouse Photo: supplied
Photo: Fane Flaws
It’s a roll call of the turn-of-the-century Kiwi greats: John Clarke, Neil and Tim Finn, Bic and Boh Runga, Jenny Morris, Chris Knox, The Topp Twins, Che-Fu, Don McGlashan, King Kapisi and Dave Dobbyn. The only performer to turn down appearing on The Underwatermelon Man and other Unreasonable Rhymes was John Rowles.
Back in the 1990s musicians and artists Peter Dasent, Fane Flaws and Arthur Baysting- long time collaborators and bandmates in acts like The Crocodiles - began writing children's songs.
Flaws and Baysting wrote the rhymes, while Dasent put them to music. It grew into the 1999 children's book and CD which that roll call of artists contributed to and went on to become a festival stage show.
Illustration from The Underwatermelon Man Photo: Fane Flaws
The songs are all unreasonably short and only now twenty five years have they been given a digital re-release, now available on your streaming platforms.
Peter Dasent Photo: Alex Craig
Sadly, Fane Flaws and Arthur Baysting are no longer with us to share in the glory, but Peter Dasent spoke with Bryan Crump about the digital revival of the much loved children's album.
Dasent told Crump that other than John Rowles it was easy to persuade some of New Zealand's best singers and actors to perform all the unreasonable rhymes.
The main problem 25 years ago was finding a record company or publisher prepared to combine a CD and book into one package, which was why Dasent and Flaws did it themselves through their company, Monkey Biz. In this digital era, this is not an issue.
Peter Dasent says there's still a large number - maybe two more albums' worth - of Fane Flaw's rhymes that he's finally set to music. Now he just has to find another group of singers.
Which means, John Rowles - this is your chance to put things right.
