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Minds Went Walking: Paul Kelly’s Songs Reimagined
Jock Serong, Mark Smith and Neil A. White posed the question: what would happen if a group of Australia’s finest storytellers were invited to let their minds go walking through the Paul Kelly songbook?
Twenty-one writers responded with tales of forbidden love, with the ghosts that inhabit St Kilda and the ‘special treatment’ of the Noongar people; with the dumb things they did when they crossed the Nullarbor, and how a simple song could bind a father and daughter forever.
Like Paul Kelly’s songs, the stories in this anthology will take you anywhere, and everywhere, and they will keep coming back to you like a cork on the tide.
Twenty-one writers responded with tales of forbidden love, with the ghosts that inhabit St Kilda and the ‘special treatment’ of the Noongar people; with the dumb things they did when they crossed the Nullarbor, and how a simple song could bind a father and daughter forever.
Like Paul Kelly’s songs, the stories in this anthology will take you anywhere, and everywhere, and they will keep coming back to you like a cork on the tide.
288 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2022
5 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Wright
8 books99 followersMichelle Wright is an award-winning writer who brings to life a remarkable range of characters, winning many awards, including The Age short story competition. Her collection of short stories, Fine, was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and published in 2016.
Michelle's debut novel, Small Acts of Defiance, is the fruit of her deep love for Paris - her home for 11 years - as well as her decades of passion for French language, culture and history.
In 2017, Michelle was awarded a six-month Australia Council for the Arts residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris to carry out the extensive research needed to create her vivid portrayal of life in occupied France.
Michelle's debut novel, Small Acts of Defiance, is the fruit of her deep love for Paris - her home for 11 years - as well as her decades of passion for French language, culture and history.
In 2017, Michelle was awarded a six-month Australia Council for the Arts residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris to carry out the extensive research needed to create her vivid portrayal of life in occupied France.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 26, 2022
4.5★s
Minds Went Walking is a collection of twenty-one short works of fiction and non-fiction, inspired by the songs of Paul Kelly, from twenty-one Australian authors, singer/songwriters, and others with a special connection to him or his work, curated by Jock Serong, Mark Smith and Neil A. White. Sometimes the connection to the song is barely apparent or quite tenuous, but this in no way detracts from these works.
Tim Rogers muses on understanding (or at least believing he understood) the lyrics of When I First Met Your Ma, and sharing that revelation with the songwriter.
In The Fastest Ford in Western Australia, Jock Serong weaves into his tale of travelling coastal WA his recall of the misheard lyrics of To Her Door, something that will have most readers laughing out loud. They might suggest he needed his hearing checked, but let’s be glad he did not, for the story would be the poorer for it, and who of us can claim to never have been puzzled by lyrics that later reveal our own error?
In With Walt, Michelle Wright channels With Animals to give us a woman travelling to her in-laws for Christmas dinner but preferring company of a dying pig.
In I’ll Be Your Lover, Mirandi Riwoe‘s thirty-five-year-old protagonist imagines her younger lodger might become a lover.
In Five-Eight, Zoe Bradley’s inspiration from Down To My Soul sees a woman succumbing to the pull of attraction with the drummer in a pub band, her one-time lover.
In It Started With A Kiss, Neil A. White’s twist on the denouement of the song of those young lovers is particularly chilling.
In The Seed, Claire G. Coleman offers a monologue that might be an Artificial Intelligence protest action in a futuristic version of From Little Things Big Things Grow
In Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air, Lorin Clarke recalls a song first heard at a birthday-gift concert and various further encounters with Paul Kelly.
For Julia Lawrinson, Dumb Things strikes a chord with an eighteen-year-old doing her own dumb things (as most of us do).
In Count The Little Things, Laura Elvery’s take-away from Sleep Australia Sleep is an email in the twenty-first century about the possible reappearance of a certain extinct Tasmanian animal, exciting the staff of the Australian Natural History Museum, and a late nineteenth century botanical illustrator drawing that animal when she sees encounters it.
In Every Fucking City, Robbie Arnott starts by telling us how his interpretation of this song changed with his own travel experience, but ends in a lament for his late grandfather.
In Before Too Long. Jake Cashion’s story might be about a man visited mid-life by his older and younger selves.
In Soft Bite, Alice Bishop takes inspiration from Gathering Storm when tears and stitches cause Minna to tell Dean he has to deal with the beloved-as-a pup blue heeler that has now acted out of character.
In Look So Fine, Feel So Low, Kristen Krauth describes the innocuous start and eventual breakdown of a toxic relationship in this digital age.
In That Sweet Promenade, Bram Presser’s take on From St Kilda To Kings Cross results in the meeting of a wanderer with someone once very close.
In Special Treatment, Gina Williams shares her own experience of “special treatment”, and that of those she knows, or knows of, that inevitably comes to those identifying as indigenous.
In God Told Me To, Matt Neal gives an almost forensic dissection/analysis of this Paul Kelly song’s music and lyrics.
In Wake, Sam Carmody draws from Songs From The Sixteenth Floor an account of diagnosis, loss and grief laced with exquisite prose like: “They woke to a strong westerly, the surface of the sea pulled taut, like a nurse-made bed.”
In Don’t Stand So Close To The Window, Angela Savage’s protagonist, Maggie sights someone at the wrong window, bringing the recall of stolen moments with an illicit lover.
In Desdemona, Sarah Drummond gives us the love story of Desi and Otto, from the first flush to its rocky ending.
In An Archipelago Of Stars, Mark Smith takes lines from Deeper Water and give us young, broken-hearted Archie who, even after his father is missing for three hundred and eighty-four days, is not giving up hope just because everybody else has.
Each contribution in this collection is at least a four-star read; most are definitely worth five stars. Of the curators’ contributions, it can be said that Jock Serong’s is guaranteed to have the reader laughing out loud, Neil A. White’s will likely give the reader a chill, and Mark Smith’s cannot help putting a lump in the throat.
Familiarity with Paul Kelly’s lyrics certainly enhances the enjoyment of these short works, but is it by no means an absolute requisite. With such rich source material as Paul Kelly’s songs, and twenty-one talented contributors, it’s no surprise that this collection of very different pieces has something for everyone.
This unbiased review is from a copy provided by Fremantle Press
Minds Went Walking is a collection of twenty-one short works of fiction and non-fiction, inspired by the songs of Paul Kelly, from twenty-one Australian authors, singer/songwriters, and others with a special connection to him or his work, curated by Jock Serong, Mark Smith and Neil A. White. Sometimes the connection to the song is barely apparent or quite tenuous, but this in no way detracts from these works.
Tim Rogers muses on understanding (or at least believing he understood) the lyrics of When I First Met Your Ma, and sharing that revelation with the songwriter.
In The Fastest Ford in Western Australia, Jock Serong weaves into his tale of travelling coastal WA his recall of the misheard lyrics of To Her Door, something that will have most readers laughing out loud. They might suggest he needed his hearing checked, but let’s be glad he did not, for the story would be the poorer for it, and who of us can claim to never have been puzzled by lyrics that later reveal our own error?
In With Walt, Michelle Wright channels With Animals to give us a woman travelling to her in-laws for Christmas dinner but preferring company of a dying pig.
In I’ll Be Your Lover, Mirandi Riwoe‘s thirty-five-year-old protagonist imagines her younger lodger might become a lover.
In Five-Eight, Zoe Bradley’s inspiration from Down To My Soul sees a woman succumbing to the pull of attraction with the drummer in a pub band, her one-time lover.
In It Started With A Kiss, Neil A. White’s twist on the denouement of the song of those young lovers is particularly chilling.
In The Seed, Claire G. Coleman offers a monologue that might be an Artificial Intelligence protest action in a futuristic version of From Little Things Big Things Grow
In Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air, Lorin Clarke recalls a song first heard at a birthday-gift concert and various further encounters with Paul Kelly.
For Julia Lawrinson, Dumb Things strikes a chord with an eighteen-year-old doing her own dumb things (as most of us do).
In Count The Little Things, Laura Elvery’s take-away from Sleep Australia Sleep is an email in the twenty-first century about the possible reappearance of a certain extinct Tasmanian animal, exciting the staff of the Australian Natural History Museum, and a late nineteenth century botanical illustrator drawing that animal when she sees encounters it.
In Every Fucking City, Robbie Arnott starts by telling us how his interpretation of this song changed with his own travel experience, but ends in a lament for his late grandfather.
In Before Too Long. Jake Cashion’s story might be about a man visited mid-life by his older and younger selves.
In Soft Bite, Alice Bishop takes inspiration from Gathering Storm when tears and stitches cause Minna to tell Dean he has to deal with the beloved-as-a pup blue heeler that has now acted out of character.
In Look So Fine, Feel So Low, Kristen Krauth describes the innocuous start and eventual breakdown of a toxic relationship in this digital age.
In That Sweet Promenade, Bram Presser’s take on From St Kilda To Kings Cross results in the meeting of a wanderer with someone once very close.
In Special Treatment, Gina Williams shares her own experience of “special treatment”, and that of those she knows, or knows of, that inevitably comes to those identifying as indigenous.
In God Told Me To, Matt Neal gives an almost forensic dissection/analysis of this Paul Kelly song’s music and lyrics.
In Wake, Sam Carmody draws from Songs From The Sixteenth Floor an account of diagnosis, loss and grief laced with exquisite prose like: “They woke to a strong westerly, the surface of the sea pulled taut, like a nurse-made bed.”
In Don’t Stand So Close To The Window, Angela Savage’s protagonist, Maggie sights someone at the wrong window, bringing the recall of stolen moments with an illicit lover.
In Desdemona, Sarah Drummond gives us the love story of Desi and Otto, from the first flush to its rocky ending.
In An Archipelago Of Stars, Mark Smith takes lines from Deeper Water and give us young, broken-hearted Archie who, even after his father is missing for three hundred and eighty-four days, is not giving up hope just because everybody else has.
Each contribution in this collection is at least a four-star read; most are definitely worth five stars. Of the curators’ contributions, it can be said that Jock Serong’s is guaranteed to have the reader laughing out loud, Neil A. White’s will likely give the reader a chill, and Mark Smith’s cannot help putting a lump in the throat.
Familiarity with Paul Kelly’s lyrics certainly enhances the enjoyment of these short works, but is it by no means an absolute requisite. With such rich source material as Paul Kelly’s songs, and twenty-one talented contributors, it’s no surprise that this collection of very different pieces has something for everyone.
This unbiased review is from a copy provided by Fremantle Press
November 20, 2022
Minds Went Walking is sheer gold. Filled with some of our favourite writers including Mark Smith and Jock Serong, in total these twenty-one contributors have created a super special book.
Each short story is inspired by the masterful songs of the legendary singer Paul Kelly, this pure musical inspiration coupled with some of Australia’s most brilliant storytelling makes for a wild adventure.
This book would make the perfect gift not just for the Paul Kelly lover in your life, the stories are bound to bring bucket loads of nostalgia and pure joy.
Perfect for those who may struggle to read, it is easily devoured due to the short stories or who have been unable to pick up a book lately.
True magic!
Review by Lydia @ Great Escape Books
Signed copy by Mark Smith available now!
Each short story is inspired by the masterful songs of the legendary singer Paul Kelly, this pure musical inspiration coupled with some of Australia’s most brilliant storytelling makes for a wild adventure.
This book would make the perfect gift not just for the Paul Kelly lover in your life, the stories are bound to bring bucket loads of nostalgia and pure joy.
Perfect for those who may struggle to read, it is easily devoured due to the short stories or who have been unable to pick up a book lately.
True magic!
Review by Lydia @ Great Escape Books
Signed copy by Mark Smith available now!
January 4, 2025
Writers, musicians and artists responding to the songs of Paul Kelly, a mix of short narratives and essays
I loved it - I adore listening to people discuss music and hearing about the connections they have with particular songs, what the soundtrack to their lives are. Standout was Lorin Clarke’s essay but they were all great (and because they were short stories the one or two I didn’t gel with I could just skip!)
I loved it - I adore listening to people discuss music and hearing about the connections they have with particular songs, what the soundtrack to their lives are. Standout was Lorin Clarke’s essay but they were all great (and because they were short stories the one or two I didn’t gel with I could just skip!)
January 29, 2024
This collection came out at the perfect time. I teach students creative writing, and one of the things we often do is take other pieces of writing - poetry, short stories, plays - for ideas to reimagine their characters, concepts or settings. As a whole, this collection shows my students how to approach this in so many unique, engaging ways. Claire Coleman's "The Seed" - a reimagining of the students' perennially-favourite song, "From Little Things Big Things Grow" - has been a perfect entry point. It has a beautiful voice that not only reimagines, but expands the world of Vincent Lingiari.
Fortunately, it's all just a ripper collection to read - and yes, because of the variety of approaches. Some are more personal in nature - not just memoirs in general, but memories of the man Paul Kelly himself, or a performance of his. There is a genuinely good balance of memoir to fiction in this collection; I love to imagine the invited contributors squabbling over the possible songs to write about, or having theirs drawn out of a hat or something similar.
I thought I would like the fiction the most, but the ones I'm mulling over after ending are the others. Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air encapsulates all that is Good about Paul Kelly and the author's father, comedian John Clarke, and somehow evokes all the beautiful emotions the a capella song is named after. God Told Me To surprised me the most. It's a deconstruction of the skills of the song itself; to a music nerd like me, I loved it already for that reason, but the phrasing, and the way to write about music is something I'm going to file away later to study for my own skills.
The other standout fiction pieces all all both based on characters and their desperation in relationships, and their pasts: Five-Eight, Soft Bite (such an exhausting, ominous tone to it around a mystery of violence) and Don't Stand So Close To The Window.
Also: Count Down The Little Things (Tassie Tiger, could be no other animal appropriate for this song); Before Too Long (a spec fic philosophical piece).
"Now, he watched a cow [whale] winched up the deck, her beautiful body buckled by gravity, her teats the size of a child's fist, disgorging milk onto the concrete. Parts of her tail were ribboned with shark bites. The guts, bone and ambergris were all pushed into the digester." [From Desdemona.]
Paul Kelly's songs are the perfect fodder for a collection such as this - his ballad-y storytelling is legendary for creating evocative, memorable characters already. A new collection is based on Nick Cave's songs - and I can't wait to dive into that for the same reasons.
Fortunately, it's all just a ripper collection to read - and yes, because of the variety of approaches. Some are more personal in nature - not just memoirs in general, but memories of the man Paul Kelly himself, or a performance of his. There is a genuinely good balance of memoir to fiction in this collection; I love to imagine the invited contributors squabbling over the possible songs to write about, or having theirs drawn out of a hat or something similar.
I thought I would like the fiction the most, but the ones I'm mulling over after ending are the others. Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air encapsulates all that is Good about Paul Kelly and the author's father, comedian John Clarke, and somehow evokes all the beautiful emotions the a capella song is named after. God Told Me To surprised me the most. It's a deconstruction of the skills of the song itself; to a music nerd like me, I loved it already for that reason, but the phrasing, and the way to write about music is something I'm going to file away later to study for my own skills.
The other standout fiction pieces all all both based on characters and their desperation in relationships, and their pasts: Five-Eight, Soft Bite (such an exhausting, ominous tone to it around a mystery of violence) and Don't Stand So Close To The Window.
Also: Count Down The Little Things (Tassie Tiger, could be no other animal appropriate for this song); Before Too Long (a spec fic philosophical piece).
"Now, he watched a cow [whale] winched up the deck, her beautiful body buckled by gravity, her teats the size of a child's fist, disgorging milk onto the concrete. Parts of her tail were ribboned with shark bites. The guts, bone and ambergris were all pushed into the digester." [From Desdemona.]
Paul Kelly's songs are the perfect fodder for a collection such as this - his ballad-y storytelling is legendary for creating evocative, memorable characters already. A new collection is based on Nick Cave's songs - and I can't wait to dive into that for the same reasons.
January 13, 2023
When it comes to Paul Kelly, I'm probably like a lot of Australians - familiar with To Her Door, Dumb Things, How To Make Gravy - and vaguely aware that there is a whole catalog of other PK songs worth listening to. This book attracted my attention because A: being kind of aware that PK is an an renown lyricist and it featured a couple of authors who I admire.
The premise of the book is a series of short stories each based on a Paul Kelly song. Some authors chose to write about either their experience with a particular song, or what the song meant to them. Others chose to completely fictionalise the characters or circumstance of a song they are focusing on. I will admit that it was the former which appealed to me more than the fictional stories - but I resolved to not try to guess where it came from but rather immerse myself into the narrative itself and I suspect I have now have found a few more previously unknown authors worth following up.
One of my favourites was written by Lorin Clarke, daughter of the irrepressible John Clarke - he of the Clarke and Dawe fame. The story gave me all the feels. She opens with PKs first song of a concert she attended with her father in Melbourne - Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air. This is not a song I was particularly aware of but you can tell it was pretty special to her. As the story progresses, she revisits all the times she 'listened' to Paul recounting tales of albums purchased and listened to, concerts, meetings with the man himself. She reflects on the skill of the song writer to make us feel and closes with the memorial service to her dad and the joy he had for music as well as his own friendship with Paul Kelly. She says that even her dad is no longer with them she will always have the memory of that concert in the Athenaeum in Melbourne and the song Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air.
Paul Kelly, he's a really good lyricist. I think I ought to read his memoir.
The premise of the book is a series of short stories each based on a Paul Kelly song. Some authors chose to write about either their experience with a particular song, or what the song meant to them. Others chose to completely fictionalise the characters or circumstance of a song they are focusing on. I will admit that it was the former which appealed to me more than the fictional stories - but I resolved to not try to guess where it came from but rather immerse myself into the narrative itself and I suspect I have now have found a few more previously unknown authors worth following up.
One of my favourites was written by Lorin Clarke, daughter of the irrepressible John Clarke - he of the Clarke and Dawe fame. The story gave me all the feels. She opens with PKs first song of a concert she attended with her father in Melbourne - Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air. This is not a song I was particularly aware of but you can tell it was pretty special to her. As the story progresses, she revisits all the times she 'listened' to Paul recounting tales of albums purchased and listened to, concerts, meetings with the man himself. She reflects on the skill of the song writer to make us feel and closes with the memorial service to her dad and the joy he had for music as well as his own friendship with Paul Kelly. She says that even her dad is no longer with them she will always have the memory of that concert in the Athenaeum in Melbourne and the song Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air.
Paul Kelly, he's a really good lyricist. I think I ought to read his memoir.
Read
February 21, 2023In the past when I came to a collection of short-stories I would find myself searching for a through-line to connect them. This book sets a connection before even opening it, yet there are vast differences between each story. Each tale is written by a different author and there seems to of been no collaboration in writing. What is present is that each one is based on a song by Paul Kelly.
This Paul Kelly connection would lead a reader to think there would be similarities between each story; there really wasn't any. Each author brought their own unique vision to their section of the book. There are quite a lot of stories in this collection, twenty-one to be precise. Due to this it is quite hard to reflect on anything specific that these stories or authors brought to the songs of Paul Kelly. That is where my interest really landed on during my reading.
Music is a form of storytelling in the same vain as poetry. It is a for that I haven't really given much time or energy too. There is an overstimulation when you listen to a song. Attention switches between music, rhyme schemes, flow, and then the actual story comes in. To a listener like me this can get lost. Paul Kelly is a singer that puts a lot of energy into the storytelling of his songs. Reading twenty-one Australian authors spin these lyrics into their own interpretation allowed me to explore my own ability to listen to songs.
When reading I fell into a rhythm of reading and then listening to the song it was based on. While this slowed down my reading I found myself finding the authors story in the songs yet there was still other tales there. Paul Kelly songs don't just tell a single story. In about three minutes a listener can be taken to whenever their mind wanders. A listener, and reader, take on an ACTIVE part in the story TELLING process.
This Paul Kelly connection would lead a reader to think there would be similarities between each story; there really wasn't any. Each author brought their own unique vision to their section of the book. There are quite a lot of stories in this collection, twenty-one to be precise. Due to this it is quite hard to reflect on anything specific that these stories or authors brought to the songs of Paul Kelly. That is where my interest really landed on during my reading.
Music is a form of storytelling in the same vain as poetry. It is a for that I haven't really given much time or energy too. There is an overstimulation when you listen to a song. Attention switches between music, rhyme schemes, flow, and then the actual story comes in. To a listener like me this can get lost. Paul Kelly is a singer that puts a lot of energy into the storytelling of his songs. Reading twenty-one Australian authors spin these lyrics into their own interpretation allowed me to explore my own ability to listen to songs.
When reading I fell into a rhythm of reading and then listening to the song it was based on. While this slowed down my reading I found myself finding the authors story in the songs yet there was still other tales there. Paul Kelly songs don't just tell a single story. In about three minutes a listener can be taken to whenever their mind wanders. A listener, and reader, take on an ACTIVE part in the story TELLING process.
February 20, 2023
This is an interesting mixture of the numerous Aussie authors penning a short story based on the sublime lyrics of songwriter Paul Kelly’s music. The twenty-two tales include a variety of authors such as Jock Serong, Michelle Wright, and Mark Smith, to name just a few. Whilst the length of the contribution may differ, each of the short stories captures the essence of Paul Kelly’s music with its down-to-earth gritty realism of Aussie culture. A novel idea and well worth reading, particularly on an ad hoc basis, in order to savour them -so, enjoy these unusually inspired Aussie short stories with a three and a half stars read rating. A disappointment was finding that not all stories clearly referenced which song was their inspiration premise, so perhaps a listing of such would have been helpful. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.
March 19, 2023
This is a collection of short stories and essays that each focus on a song from Paul Kelly's long career. And while most of the collection were nice, what most stood out to me where the essays that related to real life events, in that vein I'm going to pick the Paul Kelly song I would write about if I contributed to such a collection.
It would probably be A Bastard Like Me from the album Nature (2018).
A Bastard Like Me is tribute to the Indigenous activist Charles Perkins. I would have less in common with him than any other person, I certainly wasn't born in Alice Springs nor have I made any sort of notable firsts in history (Perkins was the first Aboriginal man to graduate with a tertiary education). But when Paul Kelly snarls "but mongrels are strong, so if you take me on, watch out for a bastard like me." I feel that shit in my soul.
It would probably be A Bastard Like Me from the album Nature (2018).
A Bastard Like Me is tribute to the Indigenous activist Charles Perkins. I would have less in common with him than any other person, I certainly wasn't born in Alice Springs nor have I made any sort of notable firsts in history (Perkins was the first Aboriginal man to graduate with a tertiary education). But when Paul Kelly snarls "but mongrels are strong, so if you take me on, watch out for a bastard like me." I feel that shit in my soul.
January 28, 2023
Though I thought I was reasonably familiar with Paul Kelly’s songs, I listened to each song before reading the related story & loved finding songs I don’t remember hearing before. Great variety of writing styles & stories! Book in hand, AirPods in, connected to music streaming service was a perfect way to spend some summer afternoons.
October 6, 2023
So good - some fun, some serious, some thought-provoking, some delightful. Much like Mr. Kelly's music. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I am unsure how people who do not know his sublimely beautiful music would react to it. I love short stories because they are perfect to read before bed - a whole story in a few pages. If you do too, then this could be for you.
April 1, 2023
I loved the concept of writers responding to Paul Kelly songs by writing a short story.
Some stories were excellent but a few I skim read because they did not interest me. Overall, I enjoyed the collection.
Some stories were excellent but a few I skim read because they did not interest me. Overall, I enjoyed the collection.
January 10, 2023
Having read Paul’s book on the stories surrounding his songs it was interesting to read others interpretations
January 27, 2023
A nice little holiday find. Lorin Clarke’s tale of connection to Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air was a clear highlight, along with Gina Williams’ Special Treatment.
May 14, 2023
Favourite story: "The Seed" by Claire G. Coleman.
(What I want is a really good quality anthology based on the songs of Pete Murray!)
(What I want is a really good quality anthology based on the songs of Pete Murray!)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews