Merriel Hume
Short Musical Biography
Merriel Hume began her musical career on the Brisbane jazz scene, in 1966 competing in Channel 9’s Bandstand against Helen Reddy, who famously won a ticket to New York City and a record audition. As the runner-up Merriel sang in top venues such as the Cloudland Ballroom. By the 1980s Merriel had moved to the Northern Rivers area of NSW and became involved in the Lismore Women’s Music Collective, where her professional experience and ability to improvise added a new dimension to the burgeoning women’s music scene.
“My darling mother, Annie Lisha Hume (Kayrooz) had a magnificent voice and talent and sang to her children till the day she died. We three were all encouraged to sing and perform in school concerts and eisteddfods from a very early age. My sister Loretta and I became professional vocalists.
Music is so much a part of my psyche I cannot imagine ever being without it – yet I never thought to compose or write it until I enrolled in an arts course in Lismore in the early 1980s following a life-changing trauma that introduced me to the Women’s Movement and a group of magnificent activist women. Kerith Power was one of them and I congratulate her on the publication of this anthology.”
Listen to Songs By Merriel Hume
One Husband Away from Welfare
Musician credits: Lismore Women’s Music Collective : lead singer Merriel Hume, verse singers Margrette Young, Deb Edwards. Piano: Maureen Dorahy, Flute: Jude Magee, Bass: David Croft.
One Husband Away from Welfare is of course a comment contravening the societal view of the nuclear family and the notion of the male as ‘breadwinner’. This may appear to be out of date because I wrote the song during my days as a TAFE teacher on programs to help women into employment in the 1980s. However, despite the extraordinary gains and publicity made by magnificent young women today, 2022 the status of women is still being hard fought and the incidence of violence against women and children in this century prove that women and children are still vulnerable and desperately in need of the social change that is so slow in coming.
Song Lyrics
1. One husband away from Welfare, now who would think of that;
One husband away from Welfare, now that one leaves me flat;
One husband away from Welfare; the thought of a century;
And I thought that up all by myself with a brain the size of a pea.
(It’s a well known fact our brains are smaller, proved by the fact that men are taller.)
He’s dying, they can’t save him, no matter how hard they try
Our children, what about our children No-one to care for them but me
2. One husband away from Welfare, it’s a sad and little known fact
That men are the marriage objects who pay for the marriage pact
And the money side of the bargain is the biggest trap, you see
And I worked that out all by myself with a brain the size of a pea.
(It’s a well known fact our brains are inferior, or else we’d be the bosses of Departments of Interior)
He’s leaving, I can’t stop him, he’s found a prettier prize;
Our children, what about our children? No-one to care for them but me.
3. One husband away from Welfare makes me part of his property,
One husband away from Welfare, that’s my reality
One husband away from Welfare, political economy
And I worked that out all by myself with a brain the size of a pea.
(It’s a well known fact that men are taller, except in the cases that they’re found to be smaller).
I’m leaving, he can’t stop me, I know I’m hurting too hard
Our children, what about our children, their lives stamped on a Welfare card.
1. One husband away from Welfare, it’s a sad and little known fact
One husband away from Welfare, that men are the marriage pact
One husband away from Welfare, political economy
And I worked that out all by myself with a brain the size of a pea.
(It’s a well known fact that men are taller, except in the cases that they’re found to be smaller).
Railway Pie
In the early 1980s in the Northern Rivers of NSW a process of “conscientization” was set in train for women by the establishment of of the Lismore Women’s Group at the Lismore Neighbourhood Centre. Offshoots of this consciousness raising group led to local reforms in women’s health, early childhood education, community-building and cultural development throughout the Northern Rivers region. This song was written with much hilarity and was premiered to the whole carriage on the train journey back from the 1983. International Women’s Day rally in Hyde Park, Sydney.
Railway Pie is a joint composition Kerith Power and I contrived to pass the time on the long trin journey from Sydney to Lismore NSW in a public carriage. We’d been asked to perform in Sydney’s Hyde Park to celebrate International Women’s Day, along with many other women’s music groups and individuals. The day was a great success, exciting and exhausting and we had a train to catch.
We barely made it. The whistle was blowing and Kerith’s huge backpack was obstructing her progress through the turnstile to the platform. I was struggling through my gate too, due to toting a ridiculous piece of wrought iron pretending to be a plant stand – a gift from a friend. Thankfully the guard waited long enough for us to board the train and we parked the offending baggage and settled into our seats. We were hungry and looking forward to the meal we thought would await us in the dining car. Alas! The song tells the story.
Following the failed search for the dining car, we settled for a snack from the snack bar and returned to our carriage and began to rubbish the experience by writing what became ‘Railway Pie’. The interaction between us and the other occupants in the carriage was such fun we knew we had a hit. We entertained everyone and received much encouragement along the way, so I’d like to acknowledge their contribution here.
Song Lyrics
1. Railway pie, you’re breaking my gut; thought there would be a dining car, but
All they had was a small snack bar; What I’d give for some olives in a jar!
Delicious food is the apple of my eye, but all I got was a railway pie;
Gravy and gristle, old Scotch thistle, tomato sauce, mouldy old dough.
2. Railway pie you’re truly abysmal, make me feel nauseated and dismal;
Sauce or not, cold or hot, revolting is the only adjective I’ve got!
What about a salad or a vegemite sanger? mashed potatoes or a big fat anything but Gravy and gristle, old Scotch thistle, tomato sauce, mouldy old dough.
When I’m sitting swaying in the railway train,
Stomach’s getting queasy, wish I’d taken a plane;
Now I’m thinking of the kilograms I’ve gained from gristle and mouldy old dough.
32 bar instrumental and spoken dialogue:
Scuse me, my friend and I nearly missed the train and we’re really hungry, what have you got to eat?
Sandwiches? ___ What’s on ‘em? Corned beef ___ and pickle? No thanks.
What else?
How ‘bout some egg and salad? No? Hmmm- well, ah __
What’s that over there in that thing? Oh, pies!
Well, um – give us a couple of hot pies. …
No, they’re not very hot, are they?
Ah ___ I dunno, whaddya think we oughta do, love?
Oh, come on, give us half a dozen tinnies!
3. Railway pie, you collapse with a squish, surely they could find a tastier dish; Hummus, tahini, tabouleh, falafeI ? maybe I would settle for a fresh crisp apple! Sitting here, getting sloshed, it’s all your fault my pie got squashed;
Sticking to my t-shirt, slopping down my best skirt,
Slipping through my sandals, now they’ll call us vandals;
Eating it was easy, now I’m feeling queasy from gristle and mouldy old dough.
Vinegar
Words by Roger McGough, Music by Merriel Hume
‘My very first composition was an assignment for the arts course. I set a poem I loved, by Roger McGough, to music. ‘Vinegar’ is the result. My early choir work and experience in performing Roman Catholic church music, including Gregorian chant, influenced the composition. I hope listeners enjoy the change from minor to major as the priest thinks about having someone to share a meal with.’
Song Lyrics
Sometimes I feel like a priest in a fish and chip queue, Quietly thinking as the vinegar runs through how nice it would be to have supper for two.
(Roger McGough)