Cool Change

Album: First Under The Wire (1979)
Charted: 10
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was written by Little River Band lead singer Glenn Shorrock at a time when tensions ran high in the band. Shorrock, who told Songfacts that he and guitarist Graeham Goble were like "chalk and cheese," needed a cool change from the internecine squabbles. In this song, he goes into reverie, dreaming of spending some tranquil time to himself in nature.

    At the time, he kept this interpretation under wraps, but Shorrock later admitted the song was a "cry for help."
  • Much of the lyric is about sailing and the feeling of being on the "cool and bright clear water." Shorrock wasn't much of a seafarer at the time, but he did take up sailing a short time later, abetted in the expensive hobby by his earnings from this song. Shorrock lived on Sydney Harbor and later took a second home in Fiji. The South Pacific became one of his favorite places to sail.
  • With a mellow '70s sound and specific references to sailing, this song is the apotheosis of yacht rock, a genre that became quite popular in America in the '00s and helped revive the music of the Little River Band. Glenn Shorrock stayed away from the various yacht rock tours due to contractual squabbles - he left the band for good in 1996 and was barred from performing under the Little River Band moniker as part of an agreement.
  • In 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) named this one of the 30 greatest Australian songs of the last 75 years. The song's writer, Glenn Shorrock, was invited to the ceremony, where he reconnected with fellow LRB founder Graeham Goble, who was being honored for the song "Reminiscing," which he wrote for the band. They hadn't been in a lineup together since 1990 and had cut ties with the band, but they got on well and decided to make more music together. They contacted Beeb Birtles, another founder and the third piece of their famous harmony vocals. Together, they formed a group called BSG and began performing in 2002.

Comments: 3

  • Lord Piddlepuck from KentuckyMy dad died in 1981, from suicide, and I was a helpless wreck, my dad was my Hero, some spirit visited me whenever this incredible song came on the airwaves, I was driving my car and this song would entertain me through the thought that there's more to this life after death, recollection of the short time I spent with him was abundant, yet now, manifested melancholy. I love ya, Pops. Save a seat for me at that Friday night poker game.
  • Peri J from KyI was born in the sign of water
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1979 {December 14th} The Little River Band performed "Cool Change" on the NBC-TV late-night musical variety program, 'The Midnight Special'...
    At the time "Cool Change" was at position #13 {for 1 week} on Billboard's Top 100 chart, five weeks later it would peak at position #10 {for 1 week} and it spent eighteen weeks on the Top 100...
    Between 1975 and 1986 the Australian sextet had seventeen records on the Top 100 chart, six made the Top 10 with their biggest hit being "Reminiscing", it peaked at #3 {for 2 weeks} on October 22nd, 1978...
    Besides "Reminiscing", their other five Top 10 records were "Lady" {#10 in 1978}, "Lonesome Loser" {#6 in 1979}, the above "Cool Change", "The Night Owls" {#6 in 1981}, and "Take It Easy On Me" {#10 in 1981}...
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