Octopus Lovesong (Joel Hockey)
One day I heard that an octopus has 3 hearts. My first though was 'Wow, a broken-hearted octopus must be the saddest creature possible'. A bit like how a hungry cow would be really hungry.
Late Night Shopping (Joel Hockey)
This song is written about my younger brother Carl and his girlfriend at the time - who happens to be his fiance right now (and probably his wife if I don't update this soon). One day I found out that her family used to own a donut shop at the Aspley Hypermarket where she would work. That is where they idea for this song came from.
Cupid (Jono Vandenberg / Joel Hockey)
Jono wrote the words for this song during a uni lecture. It's been over 10 years since he started hi arts degree and he still hasn't finished. I wonder why?
If You Can't See My Mirrors Then I Can't See You, And That's A Shame Because You're Pretty (Joel Hockey)
Natalie is quite an agressive driver. She's very safe though. She's only been in one accident and that was the other guy's fault - he ran up the back of her. She used to have a blue Datsun Sunny called 'Blueboy' - he wasn't very big, but he was pretty zippy around town. One of the first things about Nat that I loved was the way that she drove. It was always exciting.
My Brother Is A Soundman (David Usher / Joel Hockey)
The lyrics for this song were written by David Usher. It's kind of a true story... my older brother Ben (although having completed 2 degrees in Engineering and IT) spends his time travelling around as a soundman. I think David wrote this after my first performance where I was billed as being 'amazing' - the words of Phil Usher. I was asking Ben to give me some more smoke and reverb or something like that. This was the first song that got recorded for the album (about 2 or 3 years before the others) and the only one that with 'Bucking Bronco Buckland' (Ramon) playing drums.
Thank God (Joel Hockey)
A few years ago, quite a lot of people at my church decided to start a new church a few suburbs away. It was quite a traumatic time. At the time, everyone was talking about which church everyone would go to - "Are you going? Are you staying?" sort of thing. I always like to see a funny side to things and I could imagine a guy going around asking all the pretty girls what they were going to do before making his mind up and I guess that is the angle that this song comes from. I dedicate this song to my wife Natalie - the prettiest girl who stayed. I probably never would have met Natalie if not for this event. I mean no disrespect to everyone at Metro, by the way.
It Started With A Voucher (Joel Hockey)
This is a totally true love story about Carl. I love old songs and hope that some of my songs might still be injoyed by at lesat a few people long after they are written. That is basically the reason why I bother recording them and making CDs. I definitely don't do it for the money. Thanks to the ever-increasing cost of petrol, I think this song already has a little bit of that old-time sentimentality to it. Like most of my songs though, I stole the good ideas from other people, and just added a bit of myself to it.
Lonely Lucy (Joel Hockey)
Natalie and I bought some bantam chooks about 2 years ago (as of time of writing). Lucy-Mai is the only one left out of the 3 that we ot and she often looks really lonely. The first one had to go because he was a boy (named Cornelius) and he made too much noise early in the morning. The other girl - Chickpea - disappeared one day. I made a little flyer and dropped it in our neighbours' letter boxes asking if anyone had seen her. A lady behind us rang me the next day to say that she had a big pile of feathers in her yard and had seen a cat hanging around. It's really sad to lose a pet. I don't know whether Lucy is able to remember these things or not, but she still seems pretty depressed. She has hardly laid any eggs since.
Update: Lucy now lives with Natalie's parents at Bardon since we have moved to Sydney. She is very happy and has 2 friends - I can't remember their names.
Where's My Oscar? (Joel Hockey)
In the early days when I started going out with Natalie, she said to me something like 'You act liek you don't love me'. Well, I certainly did love her and so I thought that if I was able to act in a way that is so contrary to reality, then I must be a great actor, and worthy of an Academy Award.
Murray McKenny's A Top Aussie Bloke (Joel Hockey)
I lived with Marry for about 2 years while I was at uni. He had a big brown Mazda 969 that was called 'The Brown Hornet'. When Murray changed his last name to McKenny, I think Jono would always say "Murray McKenny's a Top Aussie Bloke" and we agreed that I should write a song about it. I would like to think that Australian folklore in 100 years could include top Aussie blokes who lived in the suburbs, just as it now consists of The Jolly Swagman, and Ned Kelly and the likes. I really love Slim Dusty and Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson and the bush and all that, but when I think of Australiana, I think of shopping centres and footy teams and traffic lights and roundabouts and that sort of thing rather than bushrangers.
I'm Turning Out Just Like My Dad (Joel Hockey)
It's with a mixture of mock-horror and self-satisfaction that I can say that I am turning out like my Dad. I guess you can't help genetics. I don't mind though - I think my dad is pretty good. The prospect of looking and acting like my parents has sat easier with me as the years have passed since I first realised the inevitability as a teenager.
Internet Lovesong (Natalie Hockey / Joel Hockey)
Natalie wrote the words for this song. It's a true story of a friend who met a girl in an Internet chatroom and travelled overseas to meet her, only to find out that she had just started going out with some guy the week before he got there.
