Before vocal gymnast Kate Miller-Heidke returns to Newcastle, Reverb asked her to tell us her six favourite songs and why they mean so much to her.
JONI MITCHELL – A CASE OF YOU
This is my favourite song from my favourite album of hers, Blue. It’s such a cliche for musicians to like Joni Mitchell, but it’s the truth. ‘A Case of You’ is so deeply woven into the fabric of my life that I can’t say why I like it anymore. I don’t have any objectivity about it. The song is part of who I am.
DIVINYLS – SCIENCE FICTION
I did a show with Chrissy Amphlett a while back, and she told me she wrote this song while working as a cleaner. When I listen to it, I always imagine her with a mop, humming to herself while mopping back and forth. I love the spiky melody and unpredictability of it. I love the way she uses her voice.
COLIN HAY – WAITING FOR MY REAL LIFE TO BEGIN
I first heard this while watching Colin Hay’s set at Woodford Festival a few years back. Halfway through the song I got a massive lump in my throat and I started bawling behind my sunglasses. I couldn’t stop crying for the rest of his set, which was embarrassing, especially during ‘Land Down Under.’ God he is good. This song is about the frustration of being a struggling musician. The way he describes constantly checking the answering machine for messages, waiting for that elusive ‘big break’…it’s masterful. I have a musician friend in Brisbane who loves Colin Hay but he refuses to listen to this song because it is too true, too real, too heart-breaking.
PUBLIC ENEMY – HE GOT GAME
Feel-good, empowering, intelligent piece of musical brilliance. It just grooves. I love all the internal rhymes. Most of all, I love the mixture of joy and poignancy.
CYNDI LAUPER – TRUE COLOURS
I never knew how much I loved this song until I saw CL performing it a few weeks ago in Perth. It’s possibly the most perfect pop ballad ever written, and she’s possibly my favourite singer in the world.
‘ANNIE’ THE MUSICAL – IT’S A HARD-KNOCK LIFE
I’m a sucker for good musicals. I still get chills when it gets to this point in the movie. I just wanna gather up all those feisty orphans and give them a big hug. What a song!
Kate Miller-Heidke plays The Bar On The Hill on Thursday May 8, 2008.
Tickets available from Big Tix
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