| 14 February 2010
John Butler is renowned world wide for taking his music imbedded with stories around the globe. Although based in Western Australia, John calls the hinterland of the Byron Bay region his ‘home away from home’... and in October 2009 he made an impromptu and surprise visit to Goonengerry Public School, in the hills of Byron Shire.
When did you start making music?
I started playing music when I was sixteen, as a hobby, and I only really got into it when I was 21. When I was 16 music was like a good friend, it still is a good friend but back then it was like writing in a diary, a place where I could express all my feelings and get out all that teenager angst. It was when I was 21 that I got serious about my music and worked my tail off to make sure I could support myself and be creative at the same time. I started writing song when I was 16, I don’t write in a journal, I write songs to share my stories and experiences. I’m always writing. Writing songs for your music is a great craft and the younger you start the better.
Have you ever won an Aria award?
Yes, I’ve won some of those.
How many?
Six.
What’s the most favourite song you’ve ever made?
That’s like asking a parent who their favourite kid is? I can’t pick a favourite usually because they all represent different aspects of my life. Some songs are about my children and they’re really special, and other songs are about my wife, and that’s really special, and sometimes they’re about how I feel about the world around me and that’s really special . . . they all come from a different place, but Peaches and Cream is one of my better songs, if I had to choose.
Did you make the song With My Own Two Hands?
No that’s Ben Harper.
Why are your nails so long?
I keep these nails in a special tin and use them when I play guitar. They really help. Five minutes before I came here I was at home sticking them on so I could play for you.
How do you get them off?
Usually they start peeling off from the back, and I just help them. These one’s I put on today will come off in a couple of days, but the proper one’s will stay on for about a month.
Doesn’t the glue hurt your nails?
Well, it’s probably not the best but when I am off the road I don’t have them on so that helps. It’s like a commitment; it means I can make the music I want whenever I want. It means I can’t pick little things off the ground, but it’s all about making my music.
Do you just play the guitar?
I also play the Banjo. A voice comes out from the crowded library... ’You do play with me." John explains to all the children that she is his daughter and her name is Banjo (Giggles explode in the room). I play a Lapsteel guitar, which you play on your lap. That’s how my grandfather used to play. My grandfather died in a bushfire in 1958. He left a lovely slide guitar to his eight children, and none of them learnt. So my grandmother said the first child to learn the guitar would receive this slide guitar, and I was the first child to learn, so it’s really special.
Do you still play it?
Yes, yes, you know those guitars that have that big metal piece on the front... ("Yes, yes," the kids call out, and the room begins to rumble with chatter. The teacher does a clapping rhythm to regain their attention and the children instantly and naturally repeat the rhythm, and then the room is silent. John laughs, “I’ve never seen that before, wow, I’m going try that with the audiences when I’m playing live” . . . and then returns to answering the question) There are two kinds, a National and a Dobro, and my grandfather’s one is a Dobro, it’s about 79 years old now and I still love to play it. The slide was first played in India; it was a one-string slide guitar. The African slaves in America put two nails in the wall and tied a piece of wire between then and got a bottle and play music and sing African Hymn songs.
What is the song, Zebra, about?
Zebra is about how all of us have different sides to ourselves. Sometimes we can be really nice and sometimes we can be angry, sometimes we are mean, and sometimes we can be really beautiful and gentle and sometimes we are insensitive and sometimes we can be really smart and use our brains, sometimes we can be thoughtful and sometimes we can be silly about things. The message is that we can choose what we want to be, we can be in charge of our destiny and that’s really powerful. Light and dark, good and bad, it’s all inside of us and we just have to choose how we want to be.
Can I get your autograph?
Yes (the room erupts with 75 children calling, “Can I?” John calmly says they can all have an autograph after he plays Zebra, which all the children knew so they sang along.)
To finish his visit, John sat at one of the lunch tables with his son, Jali, and his daughter, Banjo, as 75 excited children lined up for an autograph, all carrying pieces of papers, music folders, and others chose to get their caps, shirts and sneakers signed. Everyone’s face was beaming as they left with their memento... what a wonderful way to ignite the spirits of our little ones. John Butler's impromptu visit to Goonengerry School, and his generosity, was a credit to this patient and talented man who emanated humbleness, creativity, a great strength in consciousness, and a big open heart!
