Quasimodo's Dream (song)
Encyclopedia
"Quasimodo's Dream" is a song by Australian pop
, New Wave
band The Reels
and was released as the title single off their second album, Quasimodo's Dream
in May 1981. The album peaked at No. 27 on the Australian Kent Music Report
Albums Chart but the single did not reach the Top 50 of the related Singles Chart. Rock music historian, Ian McFarlane claimed, "the album's highlight was the sparse, evocative title track". The song, written by lead singer Dave Mason, is now regarded as a classic—in 2001 it was named by Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) at No. 10 of their Top 30 Australian songs
of all time. It was covered
by fellow Australians Kate Ceberano
(1989) and Jimmy Little
(1999).
, with the line-up of Paul Abrahams
on bass guitar
, John Bliss on drums
, Craig Hooper on lead guitar
and synthesiser
, Dave Mason on vocals, and Colin Newham on keyboards, saxophone
and guitar. They released their debut single, "Love Will Find a Way" in October, which peaked into the top 40 of the Australian Kent Music Report
Singles Chart. Their self-titled debut album, The Reels, produced by Mark Opitz
(The Angels
, Cold Chisel
) had appeared in November. With the follow-up single, "Prefab Heart" also appearing in November, combined with the band's distinctive image, they gained increasing attention with their music video
s featured on the influential national ABC TV pop show Countdown from early 1980. In February, The Reels were joined by another keyboardist, Karen Ansel
(ex-Romantics), and released their third single, "After the News" in July. It marked a transition in their music—their songs took on a more serious lyrical tone—they dispensed with guitars, by using synthesisers as their main instruments.
"Shout and Deliver" was released in March 1981, ahead of their second album, Quasimodo's Dream
, in May, which peaked at No. 27 on the Australian Kent Music Report
Albums Chart. The title single, "Quasimodo's Dream", followed but did not reach the Top 50 of the related Singles Chart. Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane claimed, "the album's highlight was the sparse, evocative title track". In 1983 the band travelled to the United States and United Kingdom, and released a five track EP, Pitt Street Farmers and followed with an updated version of "Quasimodo's Dream" in December, which demonstrated the band's faith in the song, although it failed to chart on its second release. At this point Mason was forced to give up performing after contracting hepatitis
, which effectively ended the group. The song became acknowledged as a classic, and in 2001, it was named by Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) at No. 10 of their Top 30 Australian songs
of all time.
Music journalist, Toby Creswell
, described the song in his 2005 book, 1001 Songs
as being "a grim but beautiful tale of alienation and self-hatred." While the song's writer, Mason, concedes that the "whole lyric just doesn't make sense". In March 2011, while performing the song on RocKwiz
, Mason says, "... And of course you know that Quasimodo
, wanted to marry Gazelda [sic], and live in a nice little house with three children, and a picket fence; And I never want to be, in Quasimodo's dream. No Sir."
by Kate Ceberano
on her album, Brave (1989); by The Blackeyed Susans
' Robert Snarski for the Triple R-FM
compilation, RRRewind in the Chapel (February 1999); and by Jimmy Little
on Messenger (June 1999).; It was also covered by Glenn Richards from Augie March on Triple J's like a version (Oct 2010)
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band The Reels
The Reels
The Reels is an Australian rock/indie pop group which formed in Dubbo, New South Wales in 1976 and initially disbanded in 1991, they eventually reformed in 2007. Their 1981 song, "Quasimodo's Dream", was voted one of the Top 10 Australian songs of all time by a 100-member panel from Australasian...
and was released as the title single off their second album, Quasimodo's Dream
Quasimodo's Dream
Quasimodo's Dream is the second album by Australian group The Reels, released in May 1981 by Polygram Records. It is considered to be the band's best work and contains the iconic title track, which was voted as number 10 on APRA's list of Top 30 Australian songs. Other singles from the album...
in May 1981. The album peaked at No. 27 on the Australian Kent Music Report
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
Albums Chart but the single did not reach the Top 50 of the related Singles Chart. Rock music historian, Ian McFarlane claimed, "the album's highlight was the sparse, evocative title track". The song, written by lead singer Dave Mason, is now regarded as a classic—in 2001 it was named by Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) at No. 10 of their Top 30 Australian songs
APRA Top 30 Australian songs
APRA's Top 30 Australian songs between 1926 and 2001 was a list created by the Australasian Performing Right Association to celebrate its 75th anniversary...
of all time. It was covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by fellow Australians Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano is an Australian singer. She achieved success in the soul, jazz and pop genres as well as in her brief forays into musicals with Jesus Christ Superstar and film...
(1989) and Jimmy Little
Jimmy Little
Jimmy Little AO , is an Australian Aboriginal musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career has spanned six decades. For many years he was the only Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene...
(1999).
Background
The Reels were formed in 1979 in Sydney and signed with the Australian branch of Mercury RecordsMercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, with the line-up of Paul Abrahams
Paul Abrahams (musician)
Paul Abrahams is an Australian musician and bass player for The Reels-Biography:Abrahams joined The Reels in 1978 and recorded 2 Albums and 1 EP between 1979-1981...
on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, John Bliss on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, Craig Hooper on lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and synthesiser
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, Dave Mason on vocals, and Colin Newham on keyboards, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and guitar. They released their debut single, "Love Will Find a Way" in October, which peaked into the top 40 of the Australian Kent Music Report
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
Singles Chart. Their self-titled debut album, The Reels, produced by Mark Opitz
Mark Opitz
Mark Opitz, started his career with ABC TV in Sydney in the 1970’s and has since gone on to work with many of the great Australian musicians that have graced both the Australian and international music charts for the past 25 years....
(The Angels
The Angels (band)
The Angels are an American girl group, best known for their 1963 million selling #1 hit single, "My Boyfriend's Back".-History:The group originated in New Jersey as The Starlets which consisted of sisters, Barbara "Bibbs" and Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut, Bernadette Carroll, and Linda Malzone. They had...
, Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...
) had appeared in November. With the follow-up single, "Prefab Heart" also appearing in November, combined with the band's distinctive image, they gained increasing attention with their music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s featured on the influential national ABC TV pop show Countdown from early 1980. In February, The Reels were joined by another keyboardist, Karen Ansel
Karen Ansel
Karen Ansel is a film and TV computer graphics specialist in the United States.Previously a musician, she was an influential member of the Australian band The Reels...
(ex-Romantics), and released their third single, "After the News" in July. It marked a transition in their music—their songs took on a more serious lyrical tone—they dispensed with guitars, by using synthesisers as their main instruments.
"Shout and Deliver" was released in March 1981, ahead of their second album, Quasimodo's Dream
Quasimodo's Dream
Quasimodo's Dream is the second album by Australian group The Reels, released in May 1981 by Polygram Records. It is considered to be the band's best work and contains the iconic title track, which was voted as number 10 on APRA's list of Top 30 Australian songs. Other singles from the album...
, in May, which peaked at No. 27 on the Australian Kent Music Report
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
Albums Chart. The title single, "Quasimodo's Dream", followed but did not reach the Top 50 of the related Singles Chart. Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane claimed, "the album's highlight was the sparse, evocative title track". In 1983 the band travelled to the United States and United Kingdom, and released a five track EP, Pitt Street Farmers and followed with an updated version of "Quasimodo's Dream" in December, which demonstrated the band's faith in the song, although it failed to chart on its second release. At this point Mason was forced to give up performing after contracting hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
, which effectively ended the group. The song became acknowledged as a classic, and in 2001, it was named by Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) at No. 10 of their Top 30 Australian songs
APRA Top 30 Australian songs
APRA's Top 30 Australian songs between 1926 and 2001 was a list created by the Australasian Performing Right Association to celebrate its 75th anniversary...
of all time.
Music journalist, Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of Rolling Stone and a founding editor of Juice. In 1986 he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book Too Much Ain't Enough a biography of pub rocker and former Cold Chisel vocalist Jimmy Barnes...
, described the song in his 2005 book, 1001 Songs
1001 songs
1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them is a compendium of notable popular recordings collected by Australian rock journalist and critic Toby Creswell...
as being "a grim but beautiful tale of alienation and self-hatred." While the song's writer, Mason, concedes that the "whole lyric just doesn't make sense". In March 2011, while performing the song on RocKwiz
RocKwiz
RocKwiz is an Australian television quiz show series, focused on rock music, and broadcast on SBS One. It premiered in 2005.-Summary:The forty minute program airs on Saturday at 9:20 pm, and is hosted by Julia Zemiro. It is shot in The Gershwin Room at St Kilda's Esplanade Hotel, commonly...
, Mason says, "... And of course you know that Quasimodo
Quasimodo
Quasimodo is a fictional character in the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster but he finds sanctuary in an unlikely love that is fulfilled only in death. The role of Quasimodo has been played by...
, wanted to marry Gazelda [sic], and live in a nice little house with three children, and a picket fence; And I never want to be, in Quasimodo's dream. No Sir."
Cover versions
"Quasimodo's Dream" was coveredCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano is an Australian singer. She achieved success in the soul, jazz and pop genres as well as in her brief forays into musicals with Jesus Christ Superstar and film...
on her album, Brave (1989); by The Blackeyed Susans
The Blackeyed Susans
The Blackeyed Susans are an Australian rock band, formed in Perth in 1989, based in Melbourne since 1992.-Perth 1989-1990:The original line-up consisted of David McComb on vocals and guitar, Alsy MacDonald on drums , Phil Kakulas on bass guitar , Rob Snarski on vocals and guitar, and...
' Robert Snarski for the Triple R-FM
3RRR
3RRR is a popular Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. It is the largest per capita subscribed radio station in the world....
compilation, RRRewind in the Chapel (February 1999); and by Jimmy Little
Jimmy Little
Jimmy Little AO , is an Australian Aboriginal musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career has spanned six decades. For many years he was the only Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene...
on Messenger (June 1999).; It was also covered by Glenn Richards from Augie March on Triple J's like a version (Oct 2010)
Track listing
- "Quasimodo's Dream" (David Mason) – 4:06
- "(Love Is) Here Today" (Brian Wilson/Tony Asher) credited on the record label as Brian Wilson/Peter Asher – 3:39