Midnight Oil have released a new song; their first new song in 18 years. It's called Gadigal Land.
I've been thinking a lot about Gadigal Land.
To be clear, I loved it from the moment it began. The crunching guitar and the soaring brass. I felt the pulse quicken. This was Oil! Rob Hirst, playing with a combination of lock and swing. And that drum break! Faster than downhill lighting. The deep throb of the bass, and Pete snapping out the lyric with conviction, defiance and spirit. The guests all excel themselves, but Dan Sultan's scream of rage is just that; a deeply-summoned howl of all that was, and all that is. For this song, recorded last year to emerge smack bang in the heart of the #BlackLivesMatter movement only adds more power to a song already brimming with it.
To these well-Oiled ears, a few things - both in the first listen and subsequent ones - began to stand out. The allusions to other songs. Best of Both Worlds, The Dead Heart, Kosciuszko and Tell Me the Truth. It's interesting to me how apt these are; how telling, when the overall message of the is taken into account. The lyrical structure - that of the adopted persona - rings as true to today as it did in 1987. And this land IS older than Kosciuszko, the Great South Land CAN be as great as the one it could have been, 40,000 years DOES make a difference, and this IS the truth.
To me, it's poignant that the focus is now the land on which the Oils themselves (sorry, Bones!) were born and raised. They are welcoming all people on behalf of the First Nations people, onto to the land that they share and the land that was always theirs.
The lyric carves its way through the Indigenous experiences in the age of invasion, but it empowers it. In a sense, it's what could have been said when the tall ships first arrived. In fact, it likely WAS said, but not understood, and if it was understood, was ignored. And yet, the song extends a hand of welcome; a hand that is both black and white. You are welcome, if you come with humility and respect.
I can't help but see the lyric as highly adaptable, in that the chorus could easily be changed if, for example the band were performing in the mid-West of Western Australia, to a 'Welcome to Yamitji Land'. How wonderful that would be the First Nations people all over this country!
To me, this is pure Oil. Relevant, yearning, passionate and simply, a bloody good song. I have great hope that this really is a new dawn for the band, and for those for those who feel the Uluru Statement's truth with every fibre of their being. For those who truly feel those words written in their hearts.