Just before Christmas I got a call from Joel Farland, who is the Musical Director for the ABC New Year’s Eve show in Sydney. They were going to have a moment of silence at 11pm to remember the victims of the recent Bondi attacks and needed something special to lead out of it.
There were lots of messages and meetings as we all tried to think of the right song. It was decided that it should be INXS’s Never Tear Us Apart.
The brief was to keep it quiet; none of the big sounds or gestures of the original. Working with an iconic song like this can be a blessing and a curse. You have great material, which makes it easy, but then there are also expectations. Do you leave out the iconic lines or incorporate them? Do I change the harmony or leave it?
One thing I always keep in mind is that the melody is the most important thing. Whatever I do under it, anyone has to be able to sing the original tune over the top of it. It helps the audience still feel connected to it, but also makes it easier for the singer, as most of these sorts of shows I write for are done with limited rehearsal time.
One way of making it fresh but keeping it familiar is to change the inversion of the chords, and I use this a lot in this version. The iconic guitar line worked perfectly on piano.
I wanted the opening to come out of the silence. Strings would usually be the go-to, but I only had a quartet and they don’t do well on long exposed sustains, as you hear the bow changes. I chose organ, as it can make a very pure and plaintive sound.
I then came up with the simple piano part and, for verse one, stretched the time out. The rest was pretty easy to come up with. I wrote out every note you hear.
I was a bit stuck on the end, but then I realised the words from the backing vocals were perfect to end with:
Worlds collided, we’re shining through.
I don’t know if the person that picked this song realized just how perfect those lyrics were.
