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Speaker 1: Jum Mission with Jonesy and Amanda Well.

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Speaker 2: Our next guest is one of the most accomplished yet

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Speaker 2: unassuming songwriters ever. She's a pioneer in her field who

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Speaker 2: was one half of the great partnerships in Australian music history.

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Speaker 2: Slim and I is a feature documentary telling the incredible

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Speaker 2: story of that partnership and of the brilliant woman who

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Speaker 2: lived beside the legend that is Slim Dusty. It's Australia's

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Speaker 2: own coin of country music at ninety Joy McKean, hello

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Speaker 2: and welcome.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much to Amanda.

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Speaker 3: It's nice to have you on this show. It really is.

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Speaker 2: And I've heard it said that you didn't realize at

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Speaker 2: the time, through all these years of songwriting since the forties,

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Speaker 2: that you were achieving in your career. It's just what

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Speaker 2: you did and you're only looking back at it and

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Speaker 2: realizing what an accomplishment it was. Now.

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Speaker 1: Well that's true, Amanda, because I mean, you just did

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Speaker 1: what came up every day and was the life that

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Speaker 1: we built. And now when I look back on it

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Speaker 1: and everybody seems, you know, well they're very complimentary and

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Speaker 1: a bit amazed about what happened. When I look back,

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Speaker 1: I think, well, did I really do all that? Looks

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Speaker 1: like I did? Apparently yes did?

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Speaker 3: And then some you and Slim one hundred and seven albums.

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Speaker 3: That's extraordinary.

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Speaker 1: Yes, well he was an extraordinary man, really, Jonesy. He

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Speaker 1: was extraordinary the way he mind all the stories that

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Speaker 1: people will you know, we're bringing to him over the years,

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Speaker 1: so as that we could put together. Slim did all

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Speaker 1: that major work of that, but I did a lot

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Speaker 1: of the background work, yes, because you know we worked

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Speaker 1: as a partnership. We really did.

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Speaker 2: You toured for about forty nine years, nine months of

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Speaker 2: the year, you'd tell your musical bandwagon across the country,

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Speaker 2: booking out every venue along the way. They must have

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Speaker 2: been exciting years, but hard too. And raising a family,

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Speaker 2: well it was.

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Speaker 1: It was exciting, it was adventurous, but it was pretty

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Speaker 1: difficult at times, and trying to keep the family together

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Speaker 1: was one of the biggest things. But it's paid off.

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Speaker 1: I always say, the two children are my closest friends.

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Speaker 2: And good humans. That's when you've done your job, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: Yep, exactly. I'm proud of them very much. I'm proud

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Speaker 1: of my family, and I appreciate too. Everything that they

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Speaker 1: do for me and have done for me, they're a

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Speaker 1: fantastic lot. So I don't always tell them that every day.

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Speaker 2: In the old days, when you were writing songs with

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Speaker 2: Slim and you're writing songs as well on your own,

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Speaker 2: they weren't always attributed to you. It's just the way

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Speaker 2: it was.

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Speaker 1: I guess, well, there was a reason. There was a

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Speaker 1: reason for that. We were concentrating on all the wonderful

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Speaker 1: stories that we were getting out there, and I began

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Speaker 1: writing the bush ballads and they were pretty well, very

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Speaker 1: strongly well else if a man had written them. See,

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Speaker 1: what people didn't think about was that I was with

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Speaker 1: Slim all the time, we were in and out of

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Speaker 1: the place, and I was listening and talking to all

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Speaker 1: his mates and to the bush people all the way along,

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Speaker 1: same with what Slim was. It was just the time

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Speaker 1: of life. And to hear these songs coming out, it

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Speaker 1: didn't fit very well with what people were expecting to hear.

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Speaker 1: So we decided that even on the songs that I

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Speaker 1: might have written, we would put Swim's name on there

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Speaker 1: as well, because, for Heaven's sake, he made the songs

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Speaker 1: once he got hold of them, because he told the story,

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Speaker 1: but we kept quiet about that. Antel. I think it

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Speaker 1: was my grandson outed me.

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Speaker 2: Well, just wonderful and one of your most famous song,

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Speaker 2: Lights on the Hill. So many people love, love, love

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Speaker 2: that song. And you write that while you were towing

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Speaker 2: a caravan in the dark. What incredible time's joy.

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Speaker 1: Yes, well that's right, Amanda, because we at that time

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Speaker 1: we had moved to Sydney because the recording company wanted

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Speaker 1: so much recording done and we had a lot of

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Speaker 1: our people for touring were waiting for us up at

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Speaker 1: Warrick and Queensland. This particular year, we're heading for Queensland

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Speaker 1: the winter tour, and so SWM was driving the big

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Speaker 1: truck with the big van on, Barry was driving a

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Speaker 1: smaller truck with his van on it, and I came behind,

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Speaker 1: driving a space wagon with the girl's caravan on behind.

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Speaker 1: And all the semis were coming down from Queensland in

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Speaker 1: northern New South Wales heading for the Sydney markets, and

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Speaker 1: you can just imagine them coming over the man. I'm

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Speaker 1: in a small space wagon, they're in a high semi

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Speaker 1: and I've only got one foot thanks to Poldier. But

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Speaker 1: it meant that at that time and age. The dimmer

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Speaker 1: switch is on the floor as well. Celerator your break

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Speaker 1: and then over to the left is the dimmer switch.

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Speaker 1: And every time I went rather bend or you know,

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Speaker 1: a big truck came towards me over a hill, I

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Speaker 1: got the full bream in the eye, and then I

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Speaker 1: had to flip my foot right over to the left

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Speaker 1: hand side, hit the dimmer switch so that the truck

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Speaker 1: you wouldn't think I was, you know, being sunny, and

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Speaker 1: give me another dose of line. And then I had

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Speaker 1: to juggle it back onto the accelerator so that the

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Speaker 1: loaded caravan and loaded vehicle wouldn't stall pull me back.

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Speaker 1: That's where it started. I said the swim when I

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Speaker 1: got there and he was unhooking the big van. Also,

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Speaker 1: I wrote a song on the way up the staw.

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Speaker 1: Did you well? You ought to put it down on

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Speaker 1: a cassette or something, And for some peculitary reason I did.

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Speaker 1: I pulled out a guitar and cassette player from under

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Speaker 1: the bank, whipped down this part of a cassette, shoved

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Speaker 1: it back and forgot about.

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Speaker 3: It was a Christmas time wow, and and that was it.

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Speaker 3: Lucky went busting together the loop and that was a song.

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Speaker 1: I probably was there before I.

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Speaker 3: Started the song that A that'd be a B side

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Speaker 3: joy I reckon.

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Speaker 2: But you were rewarded with a golden guitar for your

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Speaker 2: songwriting for that song for you alone, so that that

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Speaker 2: long trip paid off.

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Speaker 1: It did, really did. I mean, that song really struggled

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Speaker 1: to survive. Because when I pulled it out at Christmas

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Speaker 1: time and played it to Slim and everything, he said, oh,

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Speaker 1: this would be a good, good song. He was something different. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I said, no, no, no, too many words. You never

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Speaker 1: get your breath in between all of those, you know.

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Speaker 1: He said, didn't you give it to someone else? I

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Speaker 1: said no, But that's the first and only time I

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Speaker 1: ever pushed Slim about a song Before that. I just

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Speaker 1: put another cast set, offered it to him. He put

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Speaker 1: it away or used it whatever. But that time then

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Speaker 1: when I found the cast set, and that's what what happened.

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Speaker 1: He used it for a rehearsal tape and wiped up

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Speaker 1: and then he said, oh, well, he was off going

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Speaker 1: to go fishing. Oh he said, you could write it again,

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Speaker 1: and I did.

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Speaker 3: And you had to write another song.

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Speaker 1: So I still laughed about that, but I still do.

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Speaker 1: I laugh about that. Because I think it's funny. There

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Speaker 1: I was. He's going off fishing, I'm furious with him

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Speaker 1: and I'm banging away on mum's old Pierre.

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Speaker 3: That's so great. Well, Joey, it's great. It's great to

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Speaker 3: talk to you. Slim and I is in cinemas from tomorrow.

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Speaker 3: Joe McKean, thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me there listening to me.

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Speaker 2: It's been.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Bye. Sure with Jos and Amanda