A review by
David N. Pepperell
Peter Lillie, the subject of this profusely illustrated and quite beautiful book, was an artistic polymath.
Peter sang, played guitar, performed as a standup comic and compere, drew comic strips and cartoons, wrote amazing songs about Australian culture and formed bands with magic names like Relaxed Mechanics, Pelaco Brothers, Fabulous Nudes, Autodrifters and Leisuremasters..
He packed a lot into his short life of 60 years. Many would say it was a miracle he lived that long given his love of danger and the bohemian path he followed.
Peter lived the life of an itinerant performer/writer and regrettably flew pretty much under the radar of the vast majority of the Australian public. Much of this could be blamed on his “difficult” nature and his determination to live his life to the full, totally in his own way. He rejected compromise of any kind and pursued his artistic vision to the very end of his days. I always thought he would have been ideal to write and perform a satirical song every night on one of the current affair programs, but I expect that would have been too restricted for him, and plus the people who hire artists for those spots would have been very unlikely to have hired Peter!
This book reprints his epic poems and much of his musings about Australia and life in general. It also contains, thankfully, a CD of his amazing songs, many sung by him but also by great vocalists like Stephen Cummings - who Peter discovered and recruited for the Pelaco Brothers – Paul Madigan, the madman of Melbourne, Fred Negro lead singer of the Fuck Fucks and his long-time collaborator and partner-in-crime Johnny Topper. Throughout the book Peter’s single voice rings so true and calling him a new Henry Lawson for a new time would not be an exaggeration of his talent.
I am particularly delighted that “The Man From Brash’s”, Peter’s satire of/tribute to of “The Man From Snowy River”, has been included in the text as to me it is one of the most moving poems I have ever read about the torrid life of musicians. He
used Phil Manning as the star of the work but I do believe that he was very much talking about his “years in bands”. Hopefully Peter’s heartfelt reciting of it will be included in some compilation of Peter’s works in the future.
The epic poems are pure Australiana but not the outback experiecne of Lawson rather the day to day survival in the suburbs of Melbourne – Fitzroy, Carlton, St. Kilda and Prahran – where Peter roamed like a wiry and weary ghost along the streets of High, Commercial, Fitzroy, Lygon, Brunswick, Gertrude, Acland and Smith. Those dark and sometimes dusty places come alive in his description of them and the denizens of those boho jungles live again in desperate dives and hell-raising hotels.
Peter is the guardian angel of dole-bludgers, junkies, poets, buskers, working girls, con artists and all the other phantasmagoria that makes a city wonderful and unique.
It is such a joy to take this journey inside the head of such a special artist and performer as Peter. He should have lived a much longer and happier life but he chose his own road and lived it to the fullest.
This is a book by someone who cared about this country and about all who lived in it.
Peter was a true observer of the Australian soul on many levels but maybe mostly of that subculture that has defined the Land Of Oz since the first jazzers and folkies manifested in the big cities in the late 50’s/early 60’s.
Read it and weep – if you can stop laughing long enough for the tears to come.
David and partner Keith Glass, outside their cool record shop, Melbourne 1971.