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> Martin Carthy > Songs > My Heart’s in New South Wales

My Heart’s in New South Wales

[Dave Swarbrick]

Dave Swarbrick played his tune with Fairport Convention (Chris Leslie, Ric Sanders, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Gerry Conway) and PJ Wright live at Birmingham Symphony Hall on 6 March 1999, which was recorded for the CD Swarbaid. Another live recording from Fairfield Halls, Croydon on 5 February 2000 with Fairport Convention and Kevin Dempsey was published on the 4CD anthology Swarb!. Swarbrick also recorded it as a duet with Kevin Dempsey for the charity album Heart of England Volume 2 and for his CD English Fiddler. On the latter he nored:

I lived in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales for a number of years. A place of exotic wildlife, full of venomous spiders and snakes, blue-tongued lizards, wonderful cockatoos, parrots and the like. The Blue Mountains really do seem to be blue, a beautiful ultramarine that is created by way of the sunshine refracting through the evaporing resin of the eucalyptus tree. This was written as my personal “farewell” to all that.

Both also played it together with Martin Carthy on the album Straws in the Wind. Carthy commented in the sleeve notes:

The last tune is also written by Dave and the title says it all. He lived in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales just outside Sydney for a few years back in the 1990s and has never got over it. And why indeed would he want to? Australia is a beautiful and optimistic place full of optimistic, garrulous, funny, spunky people. Can’t wait to get back there. He should write a follow-up called “Betcha Life”. Bet your life.

Kerfuffle recorded this tune for their third album, Links.