HOLD YOUR HAND OUT, NAUGHTY BOY
By Graeme Hague
21 August 2013
Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy. Sounds like something Lady Gaga might sing or maybe the late, great Chrissy Amphlett. Actually it was a singer called Florrie Forde and the song was a chart-topper in 1913 – back in the days when you bought the song charts, we didn’t just list them. Florrie tops the list of the ten latest songs chosen to be included in the Songs of Australia national archive and she’s in the august company of present-day performers like Russell Morris (pictured above for The Real Thing, of course), Archie Roach and Peter Allen. The This Sporting Life radio broadcasts by Roy & HG also got included – which could be a little difficult to explain to generations of school kids in a hundred years or so… Songs and performances deserving of the archive are chosen after public suggestions are first submitted, shaved down to a short-list then judged by a panel of experts. The aim is to create “the ultimate selection of sound recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance, which inform or reflect life in Australia”. A cool groove and a killer guitar riff won’t be quite enough. You can find out everything you need at the National Film and Sound Archive at http://www.nfsa.gov.au
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