4 Great Songs About Melbourne

We all know Melbourne has a fantastic live music scene (even in video game form), especially in areas like Fitzroy and St Kilda, but there are also a lot of songs about Melbourne too that are simply awesome. Besides being hit songs, these tunes also sum up an aspect of living in this great city of ours, for better or worse. Though there’s plenty of songs about Melbourne out there, here are four of the best ones.

1. ‘From St Kilda To Kings Cross’ by Paul Kelly
Though originally from Adelaide, Paul Kelly has become one of Melbourne’s, and Australia’s, most acclaimed musicians. Having said that, Sydneysiders may not be too keen on him after he released his 1985 single ‘From St Kilda To Kings Cross’. Kelly moved from Melbourne to Sydney in the mid-’80s and missed Melbourne so much he penned this tune. With lyrics like, “I’ll give you Sydney Harbour, all that land and all that water, for that one sweet promenade” is the ultimate diss, as the Harbour is Sydney’s main attraction. It adds fuel to the fire that is the age old Melbourne vs Sydney debate, and this is basically Melbourne’s side of it in musical form.

2. ‘Depreston’ by Courtney Barnett
A great singer on the warpath on the music charts around the world at the moment, Melbourne’s own Courtney Barnett of course had to write a song about her hometown at some point. More specifically, she wrote ‘Depreston’, a cynical song about how expensive buying a home is for first time home owners in Melbourne, and obviously, the title is a play on the suburb Preston.

3. ‘All Torn Down’ by The Living End
Melbourne band The Living End were at their peak circa 1999, so it only makes sense they wrote ‘All Torn Down’ about things happening in their lives at the time. Melbourne was going through a lot of major changes at the time, such as the redevelopment of Docklands (not always the trendy hot spot it is now!), and how some of Melbourne’s historic buildings were being knocked down for new buildings (probably boring flats or some shit). This song is basically a big “fuck you” to those land developers.

4. ‘Melbourne Girl’ by Tripod
This was never a hit single at all, but just sung during Tripod‘s live comedy shows. But it’s been included as it’s a parody of songs that put in local references to cities, so what did they do? They wrote a song full of Melbourne references called ‘Melbourne Girl’. You could even think of it as a Melbourne version of Katy Perry’s song ‘California Gurls’.