Bernard Fanning

I have one or two Bernard Fanning songs on my YouTube Playlist.

I really like the song Watch over Me.

I like the lyrics, because they can be interpreted in different ways. It can be a religious thing—a person talking to their God or guardian angel. It can be a child talking about their mom or dad. It can be someone talking about their best friend.

I think Fanning was also part of a musical group, but I forgot which one. I guess I shall find out.

Well, I think I got it already. You know how YouTube flashes new videos when you're done watching the one you were watching. Well, there was a Powderfinger video. That jogged my memory. I think that's the group Fanning is from.

I might have some of that music on my Playlist. I'm going to check.

I found another Fanning song.  Wish You Well. I didn't realize it was him. Like I've said earlier, I didn't always pay attention to who was singing what on my Playlist. I like this song too, though.

Here's a Powderfinger song. My Kind of Scene. I'll laugh if, after all this, it's not Fanning's. The guy in the video looks like him, though. I think he looks a little bit like Keanu Reeves....but less Asian.

Wow. I like this song too. Three songs in a row! I might become this guy's fan or something.

I'm now listening to Passenger. I'm not sure I remember this one. See, I made the Playlist and would listen to it almost everyday. But I'd often not get past the few pages of the list.

Ah, okay. Never mind. I remember this song. And I like this one too. Four songs in a row!

It turns out I have a lot of Powdersinger on my Playlist. Now I'm on These Days.

I'm getting a little tired of his voice. I think that's my problem with music. I get tired of hearing one person's voice continuously. I think that's why I prefer listening to a mix of music.

All right. It's time for me to have a talk with Lord Wiki.

 Hey, Lord Wiki was in the news recently, because he lied about a composer. BAD Lord Wiki! Really. You have to take what Lord Wiki says with a grain of salt. He's usually honest, but sometimes he's not. That's why it's very important to go to other sources after talking to him. I feel like I'm betraying Lord Wiki by saying this. Sorry, Lord Wiki. Please don't spit on me. Please tell me about Bernard Fanning. And please get your facts straight. Thanks. I appreciate it.

Fanning was born on 15 August 1969. He's a Leo like my son.

Birthday Website Time

Wow. He's a 3 in numerology. That's the social and expressive one. A 3 and a Leo. What a combination. I picture a total party animal. He (or she) would always be the center of attention. Fanning doesn't seem that way to me at all. Of course, all I'm going on here is his videos and the fact that he reminds me of Keanu Reeves.

I guess a 3/Leo would fit any type of entertainer. But Fanning seems more subdued. I'd picture him being a 3/Scorpio or a 7/Leo. The 3 and the Leo together makes me think of someone much more flamboyant.  Liberace maybe? Or Shirley MacLaine. Maybe Dame Edna?

Here's good news. He WAS part of Powderfinger. I didn't get that wrong. That might have been embarrassing. I guess I could have edited all that out....fixed my mistake. None of you would have known how foolish I am. But I'd probably be too lazy.

Fanning was born and raised in Toowong Brisbane. I guess that's a suburb in Brisbane. I gotta go to Google Maps.

The Suburb is near this big river. I wonder what river it is. On the map, it looks like a giant snake. Maybe Lord Wiki will tell me something.

The suburb is five Kilometers west from the Brisbane CBD.

The river is the Brisbane river.

Queensland's largest cemetery is there. I saw that on the map.

There's a famous controversial man in Toowong named Ziggy the bagman. He's a man without a home, but he says he likes it that way. He prefers to live in the park.

Back to Fanning.

His mother taught him how to play the piano when he was a child.

He attended a school called Terrace. It's a Roman Catholic boy school in Brisbane.

While in high school, Fanning began writing music.

He then went to the University of Queensland. He began getting himself a degree in journalism. Then he met some guys in his economic class. They had a band called Powderfinger. Fanning became the lead singer.

Ian Haug, John Collins, and Stephen Bishop had started this band back in high school.

Wait. Here's more childhood stuff.

He had two brothers and a sister. One of his brothers died from cancer. This was the inspiration behind Fanning's song Since You've Been Gone.

Lord Wiki says that Haug had recently joined his high school friend's band when Fanning met him. I guess Collins and Bishop had a high school band. Haug joined them, and soon after Fanning did as well. Before Fanning came along, Haug was the lead guitarist and singer. He replaced himself with Fanning. The other guys thought Haug was good enough as a singer, but Haug felt they needed someone better. Haug seems like a pretty decent guy. I like people who recognize their own strengths and weaknesses.

Later a fifth guy joined the group. Darren Middleton. That was in 1992.

Through the 1990's, Powderfinger found fame and success.

In 2003, Fanning was asked to do music for the movie Ned Kelly. He performed the folk song "Moreton Bay". Unfortunately, I can't find his version on YouTube, but I did find this one. He also did an original song for the movie. Shelter for My Soul.

(Edited to add (12/12)...I see I had forgotten to add a link for "This one".  Oops.  But good news.  I now have a link to Fanning's version of Moreton Bay)

I really like the Moreton Bay song. I can totally picture it in a movie.

In October 2005, Fanning released a solo album called Tea and Sympathy. I like that name.

It debuted at #1 in the ARIA charts. VERY Impressive.

He wrote the songs during a creative burst in March-May 2005. I think this is about the time that my secret love for Australia began.

The songs he wrote were mostly inspired by the death of his brother and the end of a twelve-year relationship with his girlfriend.

Sometimes beautiful things come out of sad things. Right?

Fanning won best album at the 2006 ARIA awards.

Two of the released singles from the album were ones I've mentioned before: "Wish You Well" and "Watch Over Me". And then there was another one I'm not sure I've heard before. That's Songbird. I head about five seconds of the song and liked it immediately. Some songs have to grow on me, and there's some songs I like immediately.

Fanning did a solo tour around Australia. Then he returned to Powderfinger. They hadn't broken up. They just had a hiatus. I think that's nice.

They released a new album in 2007. Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. I think I like the title of the solo album better.  Just my personal opinion.

Fanning is not in love with his voice. I think he has more faith in his writing. The message of the song is more important to him than showing off his vocal talents.

Lord Wiki says Fanning has some political beliefs; leaning towards the left. But he tries not to be too political in his music. He did have some passionate feelings after returning from Uluru; offended that he saw people climbing the rock. That offends me too. I think it's very disrespectful. He wrote a song called "Black Tears". I think it deals with how the indigenous Australians have been treated. I'm going to check out the lyrics.

Here's some poignant ones:

These trees bear a strange fruit
Harvesting lies and poisoned blossoms of the truth
There's blood on all our hands and blood on our boots
And black tears on a red rock

I like his writing.

The song actually got into some legal battles. There were lyrics in the original song that alluded to a death in custody case that was about to be tried in court. It seems the defense team worried the song would influence the court decision. Fanning changed the song but then later released the original version.

Fanning does charitable work.

He played at the Wave Concert in 2005. The purpose of this was to raise money for the Tsunami victims.

In 2007, Powderfinger teamed with Silverchair for the Across The Great Divide Tour. This was to raise awareness of Reconciliation Australia and their goal of reducing the seventeen year life expectancy gap between indigenous Australians and other Australians.

He also goes to youth detention centers in Brisbane and runs songwriting workshops. That's really amazing.

I like this guy....at least so far.

All right. I'm done with Lord Wiki. I shall look elsewhere. At one point, I'd like to see more song lyrics.

First I'm going to look at his official website. It's creepy. There's a scary laughing noise on the site. His site kind of reminds me of JK Rowling's. I wonder if it was done by the same people. Have I mentioned how much I love JK Rowling? I think I might almost worship her. And I usually shy away from worshiping people.

Fanning played ping pong at an English Garden party. That sounds like a lot of fun. Actually, it sounds LOVELY, and that's exactly how Fanning himself describes it.

Fanning has no upcoming tours. Maybe he's busy with his new wife.

The last time someone updated the news section on this site is January 10 2008. Did they forget they had a website? Wait. Wrong. The date is probably written Aussie style. So that would make it October 1 2008. Still. That's seven months ago.

Fanning was involved with another benefit concert. This one was in Brisbane only. It's for an organization called YoungCare.

Oh! This sounds like a really great organization. It helps young people who need intensive care. I remember seeing really sad cases when my sister was brain-injured. Fortunately for my family, my sister recovered. Other people aren't so lucky. They become severely handicapped, and some of them end up in nursing homes. I mean nursing homes are sad for everyone, but I think they're even more sad for young residents.

Shit. This statistic is so sad. It makes me sick to my stomach.  Forty-four percent  of young people in aged care facilities receive a visit from friends less than once a year. That's so depressing. Geez. And I feel bad when I get ignored on Twitter.

It seems what this organization has done is create two apartment buildings for young people who need care.

It sounds really great. Hopefully they'll expand across Australia and then go international.

I'm going to check out Fanning's MySpace now.

Well, there's nothing too exciting there.

It seems that he's on Twitter....or someone is pretending to be him on Twitter. It's really hard to tell sometimes.

I'm going to guess he's real. There's no updates and he's following only three people. I think fake celebrities usually follow more people. And I also think they update frequently.

Is anyone talking about him on Twitter?

Dpourbaix says, Now playing: "Wish You Well" - Bernard Fanning... I miss Aussie music.

If she misses the music, why doesn't she just listen to it? Missing Aussie music is more easily remedied then missing Aussie friends or food....or just the atmosphere itself.

I'm not being very sympathetic am I. Sorry. Plus, she might actually even be in Australia. Maybe the girl's not homesick. She could just be listening to other types of music lately and now she wants to return to listening to Australian music.

I don't know.

She also likes Paul Simon.

Oh, and The Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffet.

I like all that music. Well, except Buffet reminds me of our horrible Thanksgiving guests. They were big fans--at least the wife was. You know, they STILL haven't thanked us for letting them stay at our house. No gift. No card.....not even a damn email.

KennyGW says, Has been on a Bernard Fanning kick lately, definitely not complaining. I might go on a Fanning kick myself. And I also won't complain. Maybe. Kenny is in America. Does that mean Fanning is known here as well. Or is Kenny an Australian living in America? Or maybe he's like me: an American obsessed with Australia. I know there are others like me out there...somewhere.

Okay. Now I'm going to look at lyrics.

I'll see if there's anything I love.

I'm not a big poetry fan, though, so it's hard for me to like something without hearing it in music first.

I like this line from "Wish You Well".

Heart attacked by fear and doubt
won't be long till the truth comes out
first impressions never last

I can really relate to those lines. I feel that way when I have a new friend I really like. It's that fear that they'll find out something about me that will make them like me less. Or I'll find out something about them that scares me.

Why did you give up on me so soon? Did you give up on me so soon? I just want to wish you well

Those are great lines; maybe a little passive aggressive, though. It's kind of giving a mixed message. It's like he's hurt and mad that someone gave up on him. But then he just wants to wish this person well. I'm not sure that's honest. Does he not also want her to return to him? Does he not want her to regret leaving?

Maybe I'm a complete lowlife. But I don't buy this whole if-you-truly-love-someone-all-you-want-is-their-happiness.

The only person I have EVER felt that way for is my child. I don't care if he's angry at me, if he hates me, or if he excommunicates me. I will always love him. To me, my child's happiness is more important than his opinion of me.

For everyone else. No.

I want the people I love to love me back.

It makes me sad to love someone who is happy and not giving a shit about me.

I don't wish them well.

I wish them to miss me like crazy.

Then once I'm over them.... THEN I'll wish them well.

When I broke up with my boyfriend, I wished him well. I wanted him to be happy, so I wouldn't have to feel guilty about breaking up with him. I wished him well, because I didn't love him anymore. If I still loved him I wouldn't have broken up with him.

Yes, I'm emotionally immature. What can I say?

All right. I'm going to end here. We need to eat breakfast...or maybe lunch. It's 11 am. I guess we could do brunch.

I also have to pee.