To Her Door

"To Her Door"

7" single cover
Single by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls
from the album Under the Sun
A-side "To Her Door"
B-side "Bicentennial"
Released September 1987
Format 7" vinyl
Recorded 1987, Alberts Studios, Sydney
Genre Rock
Length 3:19
Label Mushroom
Writer(s) Paul Kelly
Producer(s) Alan Thorne, Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls singles chronology
"Look So Fine, Feel So Low"
(1987)		 "To Her Door"
(1987)		 "Forty Miles to Saturday Night"
(1988)

"To Her Door" was the first single released by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls ahead of their second album, Under the Sun (released in North America and Europe as by Paul Kelly and the Messengers). The single was released in September 1987 and reached No. 14 on the Australian singles charts.[1][2]

"To Her Door" won an ARIA Music Award in 1988 for 'Best Video' directed by Claudia Castle.[3][4] In 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) listed the Top 30 Australian songs of all time,[5] including "To Her Door" written by Kelly.[6]

Music and lyrics
To Her Door
Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls' highest charting single, "To Her Door", released in September 1987. Ahead of their December album, Under the Sun.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The song is a ballad about young love, the couple's marriage "hit the skids" and Kelly using a third-person narrator provides a fragment of this couple's struggle to survive. It is brutal and beautiful and an attempt at reconciliation.[7] In the final verse, Kelly chooses to eschew a happy ending and reflect life's uncertainty: "Could he make a picture and get them all to fit?"[7] The song contains references to 'The Buttery', a drug and rehabilitation clinic on the north coast of New South Wales,[8] 'Silver Top', a taxi company and 'Olympic', which is a local bus company.

In an interview with Debbie Kruger, Kelly indicated that the song took seven years to write.[9]

I sing little melodies into a tape recorder and every now and then I go through the tapes and have a listen. And I heard that and I thought it would be good to put words to that, it’s a good tune.[9]

Kelly uses the same protagonist in "Love Never Runs on Time" from 1994's Wanted Man and then in 1996's "How to Make Gravy" from the extended play How to Make Gravy.[9] All three tracks appear on Kelly's live 8×CD boxed set, The A – Z Recordings (2010).[10]

The B-side, "Bicentennial", is about the plight of Australian Aborigines in the past and the present, highlighting aboriginal deaths in custody.[11] In 1988, Australia celebrated its bicentenary, in the song Kelly writes from the point of view of those unimpressed with 200 years of white settlement.[7]

Track listing

  1. "To Her Door" – 3:19
  2. "Bicentennial" – 3:03

Personnel

Credits:[12]

Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls
Recording details

Releases

Format Country Label Catalogue No. Year
7" single AUS Mushroom White K412 1987

References

  1. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  2. ↑ "Discography Paul Kelly". Australian Charts Portal. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  3. ↑ "ARIA Awards 2008: History: Winners by Artist search result". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  4. ↑ Garcia, Alex S. (2008). "Paul Kelly - artist videography". mvdbase.com. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  5. ↑ Kruger, Debbie (2001-05-02). "The songs that resonate through the years" (PDF). Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  6. ↑ "Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) search engine". APRA. Retrieved 2008-10-12. Note: requires user to input song title e.g. TO HER DOOR
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Ford, Karen (6 February 2006). "Don't start me talking - lyrics". The Age. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  8. ↑ Writer, Larry (10 November 2007). "Buttery rehab puts its ambitions into music". The Australian. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Kruger, Debbie (December 2002). "Paul Kelly words are never enough". APRAP. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  10. ↑ "The A – Z Recordings". iTunes. Apple Inc. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  11. ↑ Speelman, Paul (26 November 1987). "Paul Kelly goes for the jugular". The Age. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  12. ↑ Holmgren, Magnus. "Paul Kelly". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2014.