Sue Edmonds
Sue and others formed the Ovarian Sisters in response to anti-abortion protestors’ attempts to stack a women’s health meeting in the late 1970s: “we managed to silence 150 antagonists with a ukulele, six voices and four bastardised folk songs” (p. 159). Buoyed by the 1982 Australia-wide Women’s Arts festivals, and the royalties from Judy Small’s recording of the Smash hit, The IPD (intra-penile device), Sue and her children moved to the Blue Mountains, then to the steel city of Wollongong, where Sue became songwriter in residence for the combined unions of the region in 1986.
In the song Giant Feels Their Sting she documented a historic industrial court win for eight women against employment discrimination by BHP, Australia’s largest multinational company. This song was published in the now out of print When the Whistle Blows Songbook. Sue writes about her stint in Wollongong in her 2022 memoir Beat Your Breasts and also in the book chapter “on the Band Wagon” included in the links below.
Listen to Songs By Sue Edmonds
The Meaning of Life
Performed by Mixed Bag: Sue Edmonds and Lioba Rist
Song Lyrics
I know I can’t take it when I go, (oh no, no no)
When I’m dead, they’ll never know (oh no, no no)
How I kept my edges low; (so low, so low)
That’ll all be forgotten.
My lawn might be the best in the street, (indeed, indeed)
I sweep up the leaves just to keep it neat (so neat, so neat)
It never changes from week to week
That’ll all be forgotten.
Sweeping the sand from the door
Stopping the rain from washing the floor
Ironing out the creases, sucking up the dirt (slurp)
Is this the meaning of life?
Keeping the wolf from the door
Making the place more secure
Saving on the roundabouts, spending on the swings
Is this the meaning of life?
When I’m dead I won’t need a lawn (oh no, no no)
The grass that keeps me as a pawn (the lawn, the lawn)
It’ll bend to another’s brawn
My labours all forgotten
Oh, the hours, the weeks and the years (the time, the time)
Fighting Nature with sweat and tears (boo-hoo, boo-hoo)
Kept alive in a state of fear (ho-ho, ho-ho!)
All that’ll be forgotten, while we’re
Sweeping the sand from the door
Stopping the rain from washing the floor
Ironing out the creases, sucking up the dirt (slurp)
Is this the meaning of life?
Keeping the wolf from the door
Making the place more secure
Saving on the roundabouts, spending on the swings
Is this the meaning of life?
Is this the meaning of life?
Beat Your Breasts
By The Ovarian Sisters (Sue Edmonds and Janet Price)
Tasmanian feminist group The Ovarian Sisters beat their breasts. Sue Edmonds (vocals, banjo, guitar, drums, mouth organ), Mary Azdajic (violin), Susie Tyson (bass, guitar, mandolin, tambourine), Tina Bain (vocals, mandolin), Lian Tanner (vocals, guitar) and Penny Sara (vocals, washboard).
Song Lyrics
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty boob
Beat your breasts!
Long tits. Short tits. Even wrinkly wart tits.
Low tits. High tits. Reach-up-to-the-sky tits.
Sweet tits, sour tits, get-’em-any-flavour tits
To semaphore your neighbour with a minimum of labour –
Stick them out! Thrust them forth!
Beat your breasts!
With a
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty boob
Beat your breasts!
Heaven tits, boulder tits, sling across your shoulder tits
Stroke tits, squeeze tits, wrap them round your knees tits
Sad tits, laugh tits, float ‘em in the bath tits
Tits of stupendous suspension, tits too sacred to mention
Stick them out! Thrust them forth!
Beat your breasts!
With a
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty boob
Beat your breasts!
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty boob
Stick them out! Thrust them forth!
Beat your breasts!
Long tits, Short tits, Low tits, High tits,
Sweet tits, sour tits, get-’em-any-flavour tits
To semaphore your neighbour with a minimum of labour –
Stick them out! Thrust them forth!
Beat your breasts!
With a
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty
Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty; Boob, titty, boob, titty, boob titty boob titty boob
Beat your breasts!
Sue’s 2021 memoir