Gordon Parsons (song-writer)
Encyclopedia
Gordon Parsons was an Australia
n country music
singer-songwriter
, best-known as the composer of Slim Dusty
's 1957 hit song "A Pub With No Beer".
, a suburb of Sydney
in 1926, and moved with his parents to Cooks Creek near Bellingen, New South Wales
in 1929.
At age 14 he left his parents' farm and subsequently worked as a sleeper-cutter. Around this time he entered a well-known radio talent quest, “Terry Dear’s Amateur Hour”, and was awarded second prize. Regal Zonophone Records
, as a result of hearing him on "Amateur Hour", recorded six songs with him in 1947.
As a performer, he then toured widely in rural Australia with a number of travelling shows, including Goldwyn Brothers Circus. While touring he met and married his first wife, Zelda, of the Great Ashton’s Circus family. They had a daughter (Gail) in 1949, but the marriage soon ended.
He continued to tour regularly with major country acts such as Slim Dusty
, Chad Morgan
, and Tex Morton
, and between tours “went bush” to write more songs, fish, and do menial farm work. He continued to record for Regal Zonophone, and later for various other labels, including Mystery (1950s), Hadley (1960s), CM Records (1970s), and Columbia and Selection (1980s).
, had been drunk dry by US servicemen stationed in the area), and suggested that it might be a basis for a song. Parsons wrote "A Pub With No Beer", fleshing the poem out with word-portraits of patrons of his own local pub, the Cosmopolitan Hotel at the tiny settlement of Taylors Arm, about 25 km inland from Macksville, New South Wales
. Slim Dusty heard the song while touring with Parsons, and he asked if he could record it as a novelty filler for his upcoming 1957 recording date, as he was one song short of the required four. Dusty's recording was released as the B-side of his 78 rpm release, "Saddle Boy", and much to Slim's surprise, the B-side was soon getting huge air-play, particularly on Sydney radio station 2UE. In 1958 it became a massive hit all over Australia, and remains the first and only 78 to be certified an Australian gold record. In 1959, it reached #3 in the UK and #1 in Ireland, as well as becoming popular in Canada and the USA.
In 1978, he married his third wife Jeanette and they settled in Sydney. He was inducted in 1979 into "Hands of Fame" in Australia's "capital of country music", Tamworth, New South Wales
, and in 1982 he was added to Tamworth's "Hall of Renown". There is also a bust of Parsons in Tamworth.
Parsons died on 17 August, 1990, at age 63, and is buried in Pinegrove Cemetery.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, best-known as the composer of Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
's 1957 hit song "A Pub With No Beer".
Early Life and Career
He was born in PaddingtonPaddington, New South Wales
Paddington is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Paddington is located 3 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and lies across the local government areas of the City of Sydney and the Municipality of Woollahra...
, a suburb of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1926, and moved with his parents to Cooks Creek near Bellingen, New South Wales
Bellingen, New South Wales
Bellingen is a small town on Waterfall Way on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately halfway between the major Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane...
in 1929.
At age 14 he left his parents' farm and subsequently worked as a sleeper-cutter. Around this time he entered a well-known radio talent quest, “Terry Dear’s Amateur Hour”, and was awarded second prize. Regal Zonophone Records
Regal Zonophone Records
Regal Zonophone Records was a British record label formed in 1932, through a merger of the Regal Records and Zonophone Records labels. This followed the merger of those labels' respective parent companies - the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company - to form EMI.Originally Regal...
, as a result of hearing him on "Amateur Hour", recorded six songs with him in 1947.
As a performer, he then toured widely in rural Australia with a number of travelling shows, including Goldwyn Brothers Circus. While touring he met and married his first wife, Zelda, of the Great Ashton’s Circus family. They had a daughter (Gail) in 1949, but the marriage soon ended.
He continued to tour regularly with major country acts such as Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
, Chad Morgan
Chad Morgan
Chadwick William "Chad" Morgan is an Australian singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording he is known as The Sheik of Scrubby Creek.- Biography :Morgan was born in...
, and Tex Morton
Tex Morton
Tex Morton was a pioneer of Australian country music.-Early life:At age 14 he left home to launch himself into show business...
, and between tours “went bush” to write more songs, fish, and do menial farm work. He continued to record for Regal Zonophone, and later for various other labels, including Mystery (1950s), Hadley (1960s), CM Records (1970s), and Columbia and Selection (1980s).
"The Pub With No Beer"
In 1956, someone handed Parsons a scrap of paper with the words of a poem, "A Pub Without Beer" (written in 1943 by Queensland farmer Dan Sheahan, on finding that his local pub, the Day Dawn Hotel in Ingham, QueenslandIngham, Queensland
Ingham is a town in the Great Green Way region of North Queensland, Australia. The town was founded in 1864, gazetted a shire in 1879, and is the service centre for many sugarcane plantations, pioneered in the 1870s by William Ingham, for whom the town is named...
, had been drunk dry by US servicemen stationed in the area), and suggested that it might be a basis for a song. Parsons wrote "A Pub With No Beer", fleshing the poem out with word-portraits of patrons of his own local pub, the Cosmopolitan Hotel at the tiny settlement of Taylors Arm, about 25 km inland from Macksville, New South Wales
Macksville, New South Wales
Macksville is a small town on the Nambucca River in Nambucca Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It is halfway between Sydney and Brisbane.-Town information:...
. Slim Dusty heard the song while touring with Parsons, and he asked if he could record it as a novelty filler for his upcoming 1957 recording date, as he was one song short of the required four. Dusty's recording was released as the B-side of his 78 rpm release, "Saddle Boy", and much to Slim's surprise, the B-side was soon getting huge air-play, particularly on Sydney radio station 2UE. In 1958 it became a massive hit all over Australia, and remains the first and only 78 to be certified an Australian gold record. In 1959, it reached #3 in the UK and #1 in Ireland, as well as becoming popular in Canada and the USA.
Later Career and Honours
Parsons wrote numerous other songs, and also contributed the hook and chorus for Chad Morgan’s classic “The Fatal Wedding”, but made only a few records in the 20 years after his 78rpm discs of the 1950s.In 1978, he married his third wife Jeanette and they settled in Sydney. He was inducted in 1979 into "Hands of Fame" in Australia's "capital of country music", Tamworth, New South Wales
Tamworth, New South Wales
Tamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...
, and in 1982 he was added to Tamworth's "Hall of Renown". There is also a bust of Parsons in Tamworth.
Parsons died on 17 August, 1990, at age 63, and is buried in Pinegrove Cemetery.