1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:02,640 Speaker 1: Debrak Conway is coming to town. 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 2: In February for the Perth Festival Writers Weekend and she's 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 2: joining us now holiday. 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:11,640 Speaker 3: High Lasa Hydian, You're going to be. 5 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 2: In town for the Perth Festival Writers Weekend. While will 6 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 2: you be doing there? 7 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 3: Well, I'll be talking about the new book that I 8 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 3: have just released, my first book, my only book at 9 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,959 Speaker 3: this point, maybe maybe the first of many. But who 10 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 3: knows that is that is that is a future meat problem. 11 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 3: I don't know. But on in February, I think it's 12 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 3: the last weekend of February, isn't it twenty four to 13 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 3: twenty five? Well, no, that's not the last weekend of 14 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 3: February because we have a leak yere oh do what 15 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:38,160 Speaker 3: we do? Yeah? 16 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 4: Yeah, we have. 17 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 3: February twenty nine, which I am for, which I am 18 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 3: in Canberra for and doing and doing the show which 19 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 3: is the distillation of the book okay, which is another 20 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 3: topic we can pursue. But on on the weekend of 21 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 3: the Perth Writer's Festival, I will be there to talk 22 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 3: about my memoir and to talk to other writers I guess, 23 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 3: and be on a panel and I think we're doing 24 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 3: a songwriters' workshop, so it should be pretty busy a 25 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 3: couple of days, and I'm. 26 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 5: Excited that'll be sensational. 27 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 4: How was it for you writing the book after you know, 28 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 4: all those years and all those experiences. 29 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 5: Was it cathartic for you? How did you go? 30 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,199 Speaker 3: I started writing in November twenty nineteen, and I'd always 31 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 3: wanted to I'd always wanted to write a book, but 32 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 3: it was it was I guess it was a timing 33 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 3: thing or whatever. Anyway, at that time it was the 34 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 3: right thing to do. And then in March twenty twenty, 35 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 3: as we all know, particularly in Victoria, we were very 36 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 3: much locked severely into our houses. We couldn't leave our 37 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 3: houses for more than an hour a day. Yeah, no 38 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 3: one still I don't know why, but of course I 39 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 3: was given that gift of having actually no other distractions 40 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 3: except to pursue this little project. And it became a 41 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 3: really large project. It turned into two hundred and ten 42 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 3: thousand words, which is not the that you have. It 43 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 3: will one day be in front of your listeners, but 44 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 3: it was the first the first draft of my musings. 45 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 3: And it's also an audio book, which is good because 46 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 3: you get to hear the music as well. 47 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm always amazed. 48 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 2: Obviously I must have a terrible memory, because I'm always 49 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 2: amazed when people write a memoir that they can remember 50 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 2: everything that you know, all the great stories and stuff, 51 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 2: and they remember all the details. 52 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: Were you a journaler or did you keep diaries? 53 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 3: Or I made it all up? 54 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 5: You make it better than the real. 55 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 3: I'm lying now? Am I lying? 56 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 4: Then? 57 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 3: I have a lot of I have a lot of 58 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 3: journals that I have a lot of coverage of January. 59 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 3: January is a great month for me for a lot 60 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,679 Speaker 3: of the time. The time we get to all it 61 00:02:54,760 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 3: gets to be Yeah, I am, and I also but 62 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,239 Speaker 3: you know, as a songwriter, you know you are. You've 63 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 3: got a lot of notebooks and you write a lot 64 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 3: of jot things and into the into the margins, and 65 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 3: you draw pictures and you drop phone numbers down and 66 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 3: dates and people that you have to call. And I 67 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 3: have a lot of stuff like that which I was 68 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 3: able to put together, and you know, if I needed 69 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 3: gaps filling in, there were people that I could talk to. 70 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 3: But it was amazing. I mean, I guess the remarkable 71 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 3: thing for me was I would sit there and I 72 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 3: would start writing for the day, and I would end 73 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 3: up at the end of the day in a completely 74 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 3: foreign place, and I would never ever have expected that 75 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 3: I would do when I had started, And that was 76 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 3: I was really entertaining myself. I was. It was like 77 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 3: I was just writing a movie that I was watching 78 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 3: and was I found. I found it endlessly kind of 79 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 3: absorbing and entertaining. Which is not to say that people 80 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 3: necessarily find my man way of building aating, but I 81 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 3: hope they did it, and and there has been there's 82 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 3: been a lot of very favorful comments on it so far. 83 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 3: But I really really enjoyed writing it, so that was great. 84 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 3: It was nothing else that was fun for me. 85 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 2: Was that, you know, ending up in a different place, situation, 86 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 2: a different experience from when you would write a song 87 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 2: or did you find the you know, the process was similar. 88 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 3: No, it's much easier to write a book. And yeah, yeah, 89 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 3: writing a song is really hard. 90 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 2: Okay, it's really hard writing a good song anyway. 91 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 3: Or writing a good song something that you're really happy 92 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:32,799 Speaker 3: with that you really want to put out. There's some songs, 93 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 3: I mean, there's so many books, so you can say 94 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 3: the same thing. But I guess that thinking about its 95 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 3: song as you have to say something in a way 96 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 3: that no one else has said it. Yes, and you 97 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 3: have to say it with brevity and with a poetic bed, 98 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 3: and it has to marry perfectly with the rhythm of 99 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 3: the song, with the chords, with a melody yep. And 100 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,359 Speaker 3: that's really very It's a very tricky Sigel pricle to 101 00:04:59,400 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 3: put together. 102 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: I had absolutely no doubt. 103 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 5: Yeah, very difficult. And also, do you think about your memoir. 104 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 4: You're going to pick out which notes are more interesting 105 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 4: because you know, like Dawn and the drummer is annoying 106 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 4: me today, or I just want to count down music award. 107 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 4: You're going to pick them more favorable stuff. Don't you 108 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 4: pick out the big st necessarily? 109 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 3: I wasn't necessarily. I was only writing for me, Okay, 110 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:24,679 Speaker 3: I am my kids, I guess. Yeah. My eldest daughter, 111 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 3: a friend of hers, has just lost her mother in 112 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 3: a very very tragic, very early cancer and she was 113 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 3: she was young, and she had young daughters, and SID 114 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 3: went to the funeral and she was just devastated and 115 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 3: she said to me, you know, I'm just felt so 116 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 3: sad for my friend because she'll never know her mother 117 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 3: the way I know you having read this book, and 118 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 3: I just thought, well, if nothing else. I've given my 119 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 3: daughters the gift of knowing you know the report story 120 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 3: I came from. 121 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 2: Well, yes, they might as well know. You mentioned the 122 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 2: audio book. Have you done the audio book yourself? 123 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:07,799 Speaker 3: Yes? 124 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 2: And the music you said, you know, you get the 125 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,479 Speaker 2: music as well if you married up the actual songs 126 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 2: with the memoir. 127 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 3: So the original the original draft. I downloaded my I 128 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 3: downloaded my song titles from the Apple website, Yes, which 129 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 3: is Australasian Performing Once association. I've got all my songs 130 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 3: up there, anything that I've written or co written, anything 131 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 3: I've had anything to do, which really, who decided I 132 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 3: would write a hundred essays based on one hundred song titles, Okay, 133 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,359 Speaker 3: and I wrote them in alphabetical order because. 134 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: Yourself, Yeah, you like Charlotte. 135 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 3: It was like I was tricking myself because I wanted 136 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 3: to write a book, but the idea of writing four 137 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 3: hundred pages of the book was very daunting. These were 138 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 3: manageable chunks. 139 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: Okay. 140 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 3: It didn't end up that way. It's ended up much 141 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 3: more chronologically, although there's some periods where it goes into 142 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 3: a mad place, but pretty much all of the headings, 143 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 3: the titles of songs and along with that you get 144 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 3: the lyrics, and in the order case of the audiobook, 145 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 3: you also get either a fraction of a song or 146 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 3: the whole song, depending on at what point I am 147 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 3: in my career. Because after a certain period we became 148 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 3: independent records, had our own record company, and we don't 149 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 3: know copyright to anybody else. No other record company owns 150 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 3: our material, so we are allowed to put whatever we 151 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 3: want onto our audioce to be my audiobook. 152 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 5: No permission, right permission. I'd love to know. 153 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 4: I'm sure they must get covered at some stage in 154 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 4: the book that I've been listening to a Nile Rogers podcast. 155 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 4: He's talking to all these overseas big stars like Blonding 156 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 4: and the like, and they talk about the influence of 157 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 4: Countdown and Molly. Of course he broke so many But 158 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 4: to be someone who watched Countdown, and you've told me 159 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 4: in the past that you you were like Lisa and 160 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 4: I you watch Countdown every Sunday night, most of us. 161 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 4: But to actually be on the show, that must have 162 00:07:58,560 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 4: been free. 163 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 3: To be on there with that, well, I guess because 164 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 3: you know that you make that leap from being someone 165 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 3: on one side of the television screen to being on 166 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 3: the other side of the television screen. But I remember 167 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 3: we played up very badly. We were in trouble. But 168 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 3: I do write about it in the book, right yeah, 169 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 3: and yeah, crazy crazy, Yeah, there was that time. 170 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 2: You know, you have written, obviously some of the great 171 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 2: lyrics over the years, and I expect that book of life, 172 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 2: the memoir will be more of the same. Debracom is 173 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 2: going to be at the Perth Festival Writers Weekend on 174 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,680 Speaker 2: February twenty third at the State Library. Tickets are through 175 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 2: Perthfestival dot com dot are you. Thank you so much 176 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,640 Speaker 2: for joining us pleasure. 177 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Lisa, Thanks Dein, thanks ever, thanks 178 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 3: all of bit