Do we all know what highway the town Nutbush is on and its speed limit? After Saturday night I’m convinced we do. It was interval in the bull riding events at the Great Western Hotel and the kids were invited to come into the ring and dance. There was song I’m not familiar with that had a lot of them following a lyric dance routine, hop twice, step right, reverse; then it was followed by Tina Turner’s Nutbush City Limits. More kids were climbing through the fence and joined onto lines, adults in the crowd found space, and they all did the Nutbush dance. A song released in 1973 about a small town in Tennessee on Highway number 19 where 25 was the speed limit had 10 to 60 year old’s dancing in Rockhampton (and no doubt many other places across the globe). Not sure if the pre-teens knew who Tina Turner is, but they know the song and the dance. What a fantastic promotional tool for the one-horse town of Nutbush. I suspect they get a lot of tourists stopping along Highway 19 and some even doing the dance on the main street.
How do we get ‘Rockhampton’ in the chorus of a hit song? Busby and Marou would be the likely guys to approach to write the song, having both once called Rockhampton home and already including regional locations in their lyrics. Then there is a country singer that use to do a few gigs around Rocky before heading to USA; Keith Urban, would it be ‘wasted time’ approaching him? Of course, there is the guy that grew up in Tungamull who wrote the iconic song, Rock and Roll I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life, Kevin Johnson, he might have another hit yet to write about his early years. If either one could do for Rockhampton what Tina Turner has done for the town of Nutbush over the past 44 years it could prove to be invaluable.
I see St. Ursula’s College, Yeppoon gained funding to create an official song for their centenary celebrations next year. What a great idea, using song as an emotional touchpoint to not only unite past, present and future members of the college community but in promoting the school. Not a 30 second repetitive lyric jingle you hear in advertising breaks, but a full-blown song that captures the college’s unique spirit and culture.
Music is such a powerful marketing tool, it can connect generations, as demonstrated on Saturday night. Lyrics can trigger emotions and attachments.
As Rockhampton starts its reinvigoration into the Cultural Capital of the North, have a song writing competition or commission a song (and video) that lyrically paints this desired image.
Now who can remember the lyrics to the Rockhampton Permanent Building Society jingle from the late 1970’s or was it 80’s?