Carlton Supporters Club

For those that are so inclined, you could certainly have some interesting discussions about what is included and what is excluded, and the criteria that is used to judge, the aims and objective of such an undertaking, and several others. Are they judging songs by what they mean to the population, whether they have come to be known as iconic or "Australian", is it Australian artists or musicians that have produced work of outstanding artistic merit, even through the words / music may not be identifiably "Australian" ?

To give one example among many, A Pub With No Beer's place in Australian music history is pretty much guaranteed, and it deserves a place in this songbook. If you are judging by what living in Australia is like for most Australians, then the Slim Dusty song represents something of a paradox IMO, because lyrically it describes a niche set of experiences, that would be foreign to most Australians. We live in a very urbanized country, and whilst there could be city pubs that run out of beer, it's pretty obvious that the song is referring to places and characters from the outback, even if the lyrics of the 5th, 6th and the verses are more geographically ambiguous. So if this song is part of the National Songbook, is this because of its history, its mythical status, because it is top shelf artistically etc.

We only hope for this Songbook is that it includes work of a high artistic caliber, and represents the diversity of experiences, histories, places, ethnicities, and artistry of Australia.