When you think of Australian music icons, the name Daryl Braithwaite sits comfortably at the top of the list.
The 75-year-old’s classic 1990s single Horses has become a song that’s treasured nationally – even by Australians who may not necessarily have been born when it was released.
Despite Daryl’s career spanning several decades, the musician hadn’t released a single in seven years.
But as he drops his latest track, Love Songs, the singer is propelling himself back into the limelight,.
Here he chats with Now To Love about the craziest thing he’s ever done for love, spills on his childhood romance with Olivia Newton-John and reveals what it really feels like to be responsible for a song so many Australians are passionate about.
This is your first single release in seven years. Why now for a new song?
I have found a song that suits me. I haven’t had the chance to release a new single over the past couple of years. So when this song came along I thought, you know this could be worth it. So I played it to Sony Music and they liked it so we went ahead and recorded it.
It really is quite exciting. I’ve been doing this for quite some time, and it’s great to have the opportunity to release a single that you get a good feel of from people, as well as myself. It’s exciting not knowing what is going to happen. I know that the song works in the live arena, so in this recorded sense it’s going to be really interesting to see how it goes.
Your newest single is called Love Songs. What’s your advice for people trying to impress someone with their own love song?
Now we’re really talking about an area that I know well … haha! No, no I don’t. I think in that situation you’ve just got to be honest. A love song tells a tale that I am sure so many people have been through, where you’ve broken up and then you try to get back and you think, how far should I push it?
It’s all the uncertainties. And then sometimes you can be delusional by thinking she or he does want me back, and then no she or he doesn’t. But it’s lovely going through that process of meeting someone and trying to make them like you or to see if they like you. The human reaction, I love it, it’s just beautiful.
Love Songs is Daryl Braithwaite’s (pictured) first song in seven years.
(Image: Supplied)What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for love?
Probably driven too far to see someone when we were fighting. And when I say too far I mean two or three hours. That’s why when you find someone and it all works out then you hang onto it, and you don’t force it, just hopefully it works because of the chemistry between the two people.
You’ve spoken before about your childhood “romance” with Olivia Newton-John and you both recently reunited for a bushfire fundraising effort. What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learnt from ONJ and what’s your secret to a long-lasting friendship?
Well, Olivia won’t mind me saying that we did start out as boyfriend and girlfriend back when we were around 12 or 13 at the most. We held hands and we were in the same class. But then it all disintegrated. I think she left and went to England.
I never actually knew that she could sing at the time. We are still friends. She is dedicated now to the wellness centre that she supports here in Australia and she’s lovely. It is one of those friendships where there was a decade, or maybe more, where we didn’t speak to each other, mainly because we were too busy or whatever.
But over the last year or so I have made more contact with her than ever before, and she is lovely, she really is. And the Fire Fight event was sensational. She got to sing with John (Farnham) and it was lovely to see her. I spoke to her about a week ago and she’s doing well which is great.
Daryl admits he had a childhood romance with Olivia Newton-John when they were “12 or 13 at most” and they are still friends.
(Image: Getty)Horses has become an iconic Australian anthem. How does it feel to have released a song that resonates so much with an older generation who were around during its original release and the younger audience who connected during its resurgence?
Thank you for calling it an iconic Australian anthem. I don’t think it’s an anthem as such, but it is definitely a popular song. The story of it is that I heard the song after Dale, my very good friend and pianist/vocalist, suggested to me have a listen to the Rickie Lee Jones album Flying Cowboys. I had a listen to it and I heard this song called The Horses and I thought it could be a really good album track. I played it to my producer, Simon Hudzy, and the record label (Sony Music) but they were unsure.
Anyway, we ended up recording it and it turned out really good. It was written by Rickie Lee Jones in America and Walter Becker from Steely Dan [and American Jazz-Rock Band] and she had it as an album track, never as a single. Anyway, we released it and it went really well when it came out in 1991. Over the decades it has continued to become a favourite to a lot of people.
It is one of those things that you can’t put your finger on as to why it’s so popular. You can try to analyse the melody and lyric content; it’s about the writer’s daughter. The imagery is really important, the uplifting associations people feel when they hear or sing the song. I know that I have moments of euphoria when singing it, and I do think it’s something about the lyrics mixed with the melody that you just can’t deny. And so here we are in 2020 and we still get a great reaction when we play it live and people still seem to like it a lot.
It was amazing at your performance at Falls Festival to see everyone running down the hill towards a sea of people all singing along together, tell us about that….
That performance at Falls Festival was such an extraordinary round of gigs for us, even as the oldest face on the artist roster, whether at Byron Bay or Lorne, Perth or Tassie. I always look back at the Falls gigs as something I would never ever have thought would appeal so much to a younger audience. But the people were just fantastic, and we all came away thinking “how good was that!”
Daryl’s song Horses has become and anthem for Aussies young and old.
(Image: Getty)Given Horses is such a karaoke classic for many people, which tune is your go-to when you do karaoke yourself?
Well, I don’t do karaoke would you believe. Oscar, my son, pointed out to me that even when we were in Japan about a year ago and everyone said lets go and do karaoke I wasn’t so interested. I really don’t have a song in mind, maybe if Horses came on I could sing that… just joking.
You’ve had such a long-lasting career in the music industry which is a feat in itself. What’s the biggest differences you’ve noticed in the music world from decades ago and what you’re seeing now?
My perception of the music industry has become more professional over the last two decades or more, and it has changed most definitely because of the internet and how people write and record songs. I think it’s a lot harder now for artists to get an album or a single away because there are so many avenues you can take.
To their credit, the bands and managers, they do keep coming up with brilliant ideas about how to market themselves for success, not only here in Australia but on a worldwide scope. Whereas back in the 1970s, that took a considerable amount more effort because you had to physically go and travel and get picked up by a music station or record company over in the States or Europe. So the internet has helped in that respect.
But the managers and bands are also very proactive. It really amazes me the ideas they come up with for songs. Musically they have really turned it around. They’ve done things to music that make you think god “how did they do that?” If you had have listened to it maybe 20 years ago you might have thought differently. I would also say there is great hope for music. Every period of music is so different, from my era to now, and also back to when The Beatles were around in the mid-60s. It’s still an exciting adventure for anyone who wants to take it up.
WATCH BELOW: Daryl Braithwaite reflects on his childhood romance with Olivia Newton-John. Story continues below…
You’ve worked with some big names in your illustrious career. Has there ever been anyone who has had you completely starstruck?
Yes. Surprisingly, going back a little way now back to 1978, I had gone to America after Sherbet called it quits and stopped playing. I went with Roger Davies, our manager, and we both went to LA and made contact with Andy Gibb, the younger brother of the Bee Gee’s brothers, and he said “come on over to Miami and you can stay on the boat for a couple of weeks.”
So Roger and I got on a plane and went over there, and I think I went on the boat and stayed for a few weeks. In that time with Andy we had a great time and then one day he said “there’s someone going to come over and visit us on the boat.”
He didn’t tell me who, but then they showed up to the boat that afternoon, and it was Agnetha from ABBA. I really did not know what to do at first. After the introduction she seemed so down to earth and we got chatting and it was really lovely. I look back and think this was one of the moments I have been taken aback by someone that I had seen on television and liked as a musical entity. She was lovely, and she told me they had a little boat in Sweden. She’s a very nice person.
Daryl Braithwaite’s new single Love Songs is out now.
