Episode 5: Pilot

Hard Boys ... a psychodrama for radio

Produced by Blue Trumpet for Radio 2RRR, Hard Boys, a psychodrama for radio, is a uniquely Australian story in 10 parts. Starring Johnny Boxer of the long-running Australian TV show, Fat Pizza, he brings the same uniquely Australian voice to this production.

“You know, you’ve got 5000, 6000, 0000 men in some of those camps and miners are pretty rough characters. They’re wild boys. They live and sleep and eat and shit and masturbate in a male environment. They go to the pub and get pissed and pick up a whore. No self-respecting woman would have anything to do with miners. We used to go out prowling around. Sort of business hours you know. After dark. See we were after money all the time. Anyone was fair game. Used to go down the park and wait for people.”

The music...

Featuring Australian music of the 1960s and early ‘70s in order of play...

Ever Lovin’ Man by The Loved Ones

The Loved Ones were an Australian rock band formed in 1965 in Melbourne following the British Invasion. The line-up of Gavin Anderson on drums, Ian Clyne on organ and piano, Gerry Humphrys on vocals and harmonica, Rob Lovett on guitar and Kim Lynch on bass guitar recorded their early hits. Their signature song, 'The Loved One', reached number two on Australian singles charts and was later covered by INXS. Their debut album, The Loved Ones' Magic Box, was released late in 1967 and included their other hit singles, 'Ever Lovin' Man' and 'Sad Dark Eyes'. They disbanded in October 1967 and, although the band's main career lasted only two years, they are regarded as one of the most significant Australian bands of the 1960s. Here they are performing 'Ever Lovin' Man' on the ATV-10 program The Go!! Show - broadcasted on the 24th of October 1966.

Nobody Knows You by Wendy Saddington & Company Caine

Wendy June Saddington, also known as Gandharvika Dasi, was an Australian blues, soul and jazz singer, and was in the bands Chain, Copperwine and the Wendy Saddington Band. Saddington had Top 30 chart success with her 1972 solo single 'Looking Through a Window', which was written and produced by Billy Thorpe and Warren Morgan of the Aztecs. Here she is singing 'Nobody Knows You' from the motion picture 'Once Around the Sun'...

The poem...

As distance makes the heart grow fonder
Like seasons passing from summer to now
Thus my hand stretches out
To clasp what memories lay beyond our footsteps

What sudden shock this emptiness brings
How our time has ceased and love remains

What need have I to see an autumn leaf
And remember
When spring was in our veins

The mist that held us so
The slumber of a kiss to match two beating hearts

These moments gone now
Like shadows on the wind