PICK OF THE WEEK: "Eastern Rosellas"

A few weeks back, a dad named Joel Phillips posted a video of a song he and his 7 year old son, Miles, had been working on.

“It all started off, I was at Raymond Island,” says Miles “and I was feeding the bird seed on the veranda, and birds just came along. There were pigeons, there were lorikeets, there were rosellas, but the one bird … the main bird that stood out to me was definitely the eastern rosella. I just started singing: Eastern rosellas, eastern rosellas, look at the beautiful colours.”

WATCH THE ORIGINAL VIDEO HERE

The video took off immediately, and so did the cover versions. Here are myself and Ball Park Music giving it a little tribute:

“Eastern Rosellas” has hooks that seem to get lodged in everyone’s heads against our will, a true ear worm. Miles and Joel released a full band version this week:

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Personally, the song appeals to me the same way the work of artists like Daniel Johnston and Wesley Willis do - OUTSIDER ART - the innocence and naivety of someone sitting outside of convention, speaking their truth and reconnecting us to ourselves.

But it also resonates at a deeper level at a time when there is a risk of traditional music production being overtaken by AI. I made a video about that here:

Anyway, lots to think about - more next time - but until then - keep rinsing “Eastern Rosellas!”