Today I listen to John Farnham perform his hit You’re The Voice live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. You’re the Voice was originally released as a single ahead of his 1986 album Whispering Jack.
Chapters
Links
Original live video: https://youtu.be/6m2m_9Uijso?si=VRgEvhYI3yfB0gA7
John Peter Farnham AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed until then as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist, although he replaced Glenn Shorrock as lead singer of Little River Band from 1982 to 1985.
Farnham has become one of his country’s best-known and most popular performers, and he is the only Australian artist to have a number-one record (album or single) in five consecutive decades.
“You’re the Voice” is a song recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham released in 1986, which became an immediate hit in Australia as well as several European countries, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It was released as a single in September 1986 ahead of his album Whispering Jack, and was written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder, and Chris Thompson.
“You’re The Voice” was composed by British songwriters Chris Thompson, Andy Qunta and Maggie Ryder in response to an anti-nuclear demonstration in London’s Hyde Park in 1985. More than 100,000 people attended the rally, but Thompson overslept. As an act of penance, he decided to express his remorse by composing a song that emphasised the importance of invoking personal agency when it comes to effecting political change.
Reid also described it as an anti-war song, since it was released in the mid-80s, during the height of the Cold War.
It was a top 10 hit around the world and won the 1987 ARIA Award for Single of The Year.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
We have the chance to turn the pages over
We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet before we get much older
[Pre-Chorus]
We’re all someone’s daughter
We’re all someone’s son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?
[Chorus]
You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear, oh, woah
[Verse 2]
This time, we know we all can stand together
With the power to be powerful
Believing we can make it better
[Pre-Chorus]
Ooh, we’re all someone’s daughter
We’re all someone’s son, oh
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?
[Chorus]
You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear, oh, woah
[Pre-Chorus]
Ooh, we’re all someone’s daughter
We’re all someone’s son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?
[Chorus]
You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear, oh, woah
You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear, oh, woah
You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear, oh, woah
You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear, oh, woah
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