New Single from Meeanjin (Brisbane)-based Paddy McHugh.
Paddy has released two albums: ‘City Bound Trains’ in 2017 and ‘Trials & Cape Tribulation’ in 2014.
A contemporary of Australian artists such as Paul Kelly and Mark Seymour and, to an international extent, artists like Billy Bragg and Damien Dempsey, McHugh’s music shares a common thread.
27 Weeks is the story of a bloke from Wollongong. Like his dad and most of the men In the Gong, he works at the Port Kembla steelworks. Well at least he did. Due to circumstances well beyond his control he loses his job and must figure out how to make ends meet. So, he gets creative. After all he has mouths to feed. It’s dodgy, but it works. He wants to find employment again and he is looking. But it’s been 27 weeks. And he ain’t found nothing yet.
But this song isn’t just about this one man and the town of Wollongong. It is song about many men and women from towns all over Australia. It is a story that is being played out again and again. It is the assembly worker from Geelong, the hardware store owner from Gympie, the teller from Moonee Ponds. As greedy companies chase ever higher profits and cut every corner in the process, people find themselves squeezed out, down on their luck and out of options.
They do what they must to survive. Can you blame them?
