It's the final week of New Zealand Music Month, which means it’s the final instalment of our feature 'The Song I Wish I'd Written' celebrating some of Aotearoa’s most iconic tunes.
Artists featured in this weeks 'The Song I Wish I'd written' Part Four Photo: Supplied
- Head here for part one of this series
- And here for part two of this series
- And here's part three of the series.
Singer-songwriter Mel Persons wishes she had written the hit ‘Drive’ by Bic Runga.
“The first time I heard it I was at high school, my friend Sophie showed it to me. I still remember her passing me the CD and that cover is so iconic and striking.
“Bic’s music was in stark contrast to what was happening in the pop scene at the time. The Spice Girls were huge, and for me the whole Drive album was such aural relief to the glitzy, polished sounds of a lot of ‘90s music.
“Listening to ‘Drive’ now, it takes me straight back to sitting in English class reading Tearaway magazines and dreaming about what exciting adventures I was going to have as soon as I finished school.”
“One of the great things that appeals to me about this song is the intimacy of it. You feel like Bic is sitting here with you in the car singing it to you, or with you. … It’s a testament of a brilliant songwriter who can make a song stand up and reach such a huge audience with just a raw vocal and guitar. And 25 years later, it’s just as strong and timeless.”
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and vocalist Samara Alofa chose ‘Watching You’ by Ardijah from 1988.
“I believe I first heard this song on a Christmas evening at my nana’s house. We had a pool table in the garage and my aunties and uncles would play pool and listen to music and i used to always like hang around and be curious. I heard this track and … it is just, like such an iconic, nostalgic but also very much attached to family and being together and singing along. Yeah, it really brings memories of families, of having a feed and celebrating life, enjoying each other’s company.
“What I love about this song is 110 percent the chorus. And I think if you know, you know, you know? When you hear it, everyone is about to start singing. And even if you don’t know the song, something’s going to come over you.”
Dianne Swann has been a part of bands including The Bads, When The Cats Away and Everything That Flies. She selected ‘Carpenter’ by Vera Ellen as the song she wished she’s written. It’s from Ellen’s new album Ideal Home Noise.
“I love this song lyrically and musically. Right fron the start to me it’s a really successful song because it actually makes me feel something. There’s a lot of songs you love from your brain, but this one, really makes me feel.
“Obviously it was written about a really dark time, about feeling out of control and pushing through all the feelings that come with needing to ask for help or wanting to ask for help.”
“This song builds and grows musically. The wonky-sounding slide guitar is placed perfectly, perfect atmosphere for the verses. The double-tracked vocal and the chorus helps the build and the backing vocals perfectly placed, saying pick it up.
“To me this song is triumphant in its darkness, and it’s a fantastic song.”
Lyttleton singer-songwriter Delaney Davidson has worked with everyone from Troy Kingi to Marlon Williams to Aldous Harding. He chooses ‘Monkey Jar’ by the Headless Chickens as his songwriting pick.
“They wrote this for their Stunt Clown album back in the day. I remember going to orientation at the university and seeing them perform these songs live … And just this kind of terror that was coursing around the room with these weird pseudo-performative versions of chilling songs.”
“I think one of reasons I really like it is the sinewy guitar stuff, and just the way it felt like they were blending drum machines with live instruments as well as just whatever they felt like.
“They seemed like they were really unafraid to play around with ideas, and that was awesome to hear as a young teenager.”
Lukas Mayo makes music under the name Pickle Darling. He chooses ‘Juniper Tree’ by Scott Mannion.
“My first time hearing this song - I didn’t like stumble on it randomly, I’d actually been a fan of Scott Mannion for a long time and I’d been waiting for this album for years. I remember the first singles coming out such a long time before the album. It was such a long build-up.
“So my first listen to the entire album was like a really special attentive headphone listen. It’s like one of my favourite feelings in the world just listening to an album that you’ve been waiting on for years.”
“This song in particular, ‘Juniper Tree,’ I think is just amazing. It’s got 15 years of ideas and care and love put into it, but it doesn’t sound laboured over or overworked or anything, it’s just incredibly lush. It already kind of starts so perfect sounding like right at the start, so when it hits the big string crescendo it just blows my mind. I hope I can write something this good one day.”
Nikita 雅涵 Tu-Bryant, who was born in Taiwan and grew up in Auckland, plays in the band Kita, and wishes she had written the song ‘My Baby’s Like A Hurricane’ by Arahi.
“The first time I heard this song was actually a demo, not the one he released, and I remember just feeling very, very pulled by the imagery it invoked.”
“Yeah, I really love the metaphor. I guess as someone who used to play a lot of folk music it really kind of brought me back to that kind of music I used to play.
“I really love when lyrics can paint imagery for me. … There’s one part of the lyric where he sings, ‘I don’t know if you get my letters any more.’ There’s a harmony that goes at the same time and I remember feeling like I could imagine these two old lovers singing to each other on other ends of the earth. ‘I don’t know if you get my letters any more,’ and they’re just singing to each other from far away, wondering if the other person still thinks of them. I just think it’s a really powerful image.”
Australian-born “noir folk” singer Jazmine Mary decided on the song ‘My Smile Is Extinct’ by Kane Strang.
“I first heard this song on an artists’ residency in the Himalayas of India. I had been given an mp3 player with 30 songs on it, because I didn’t have a phone at the time, and this was one of the songs on there. I remember listening to it on repeat for two months and it was a very strange setting to listen to a song like that.
“I love that it is just a really good pop song and it doesn’t feel necessarily on purpose. I think the lyrics - ‘She is the best I’ve ever had’ - is very, very provocative, and there’s something very charming and almost makes being sad desirable when he sings in the chorus, ‘kill me now, I want to die,’ over such swoony indie pop music.”
