No doubt you’ve seen the Falls Festival lineup drop, and bloody hell, it’s definitely something to write home about. Flume will be playing an exclusive set (that means no sideshows in case you’re holding out, bud) alongside folk wizards Fleet Foxes, hip hop kingpins Run The Jewels and indie legends The Kooks.
Plus, there’s the likes of Dune Rats, The Smith Street Band, All Day, The Jungle Giants, Julia Jacklin, Alex Lahey, and of course – national treasure Daryl Braithwaite.
So, without further ado, here’s every song we’re looking forward to at this year’s Falls Festival.
10. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
“That’s the way it’s gonna be little darlin’ / We’ll be riding on the horses, yeah yeah.” Somebody carve this pure poetry onto my tombstone when I kick the bucket. Someone get a tattoo gun down to the Beat office ASAP so I can have this inked onto my arm in cursive (read: meaningful) script. There is only one great Australian song ever written and this is it.
9. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
Oh, you think once is enough for Dazzy B? Think again, son. I’m playing this song during the birth of my first child.
8. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
Scratch that, I’m straight up naming my child after Daryl Braithwaite. No doubt he or she (Daryl makes a beautiful girl’s name, don’t you think?) will have lots of friends at school and be exceptionally talented at singing open-armed sandy beaches.
7. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
Actually, scratch that too. I’m going to go ahead and legally change my name to Daryl Braithwaite. Both myself and little Daryl Jr. will be a hit at the local RSL.
6. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
I’ve never been more jealous of a friend of a friend, whose godfather is Daryl Braithwaite. I think they once played golf together. I don’t know how to play golf, but Daryl, if you’re reading this, let’s get together and watch Happy Gilmore together. I know we’d hit it off.
5. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
Fuck it, I’m going to go full Melbourne and open a Daryl Braithwaite themed bar. We’ll play nothing but The Horses on loop every waking hour of every day. Just you wait. Say Daryl’s name at the door for free entry. Might as well add it to the list of other themed bars Melbourne needs.
4. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
Remember when the Berlin Wall came down? That will be nothing compared to seeing D.B. bust out The Horses at Falls. Nothing.
3. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
I once played a Very Fancy Gig where Daryl Braithwaite was the headline act. He had his own locked off greenroom away from unworthy saps like myself and I didn’t get to talk to him. I still think he is the greatest Australian of all time.
2. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
Have you ever yearned for love? Have you ever questioned the very meaning of our own fleeting existence? Me too. Like, every single day. None of this will matter when you see Dazzatron perform The Horses live. Everything melts away. Everything makes sense, if only for four minutes and fourteen seconds of pure musical nirvana.
1. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
“I hear all the people of the world / In one bird’s lonely cry,” Daryl Braithwaite – 1990. Can you even imagine being that in tune to the entire human race, let alone channeling its collective anguish through the solitary squawk of your neighborhood cockatoo? When I see seagulls in my day-to-day life, all I wonder is why they’re so far from the ocean. But no. Dazzy B exists on a higher plane of existence than we mere mortals. He is eternal. He is a national treasure. He is Daryl Fucking Braithwaite. And don’t even try to start me on the whole, ‘But he didn’t even write the song!?’ argument. Jesus didn’t write the bible, but it’s more his book than Mathew, Mark, Luke or John’s. If you do one thing in your life, see Daryl Braithwaite at Falls Festival. Then – and only then – will you have lived a life worth remembering.
