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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Charles Jenkins & The Amateur Historians have crammed a lot of history into just six months: a clutch of superb new songs inspired by Melbourne past and present; two sold-out shows at Fitzroy and Northcote Town Halls; two limited-edition albums; and now a “best of” collection!

    If you weren’t lucky enough to attend one or both of the Amateur Historians’ gigs, then this new release “The Past Is Never Where You Think You Left It” presents an accurate historical record: 14 of the trio’s songs captured in the studio very much as they were performed live with tasty playing, clever but economical arrangements and brilliant, soaring harmonies.

    It’s hard to pick favourites, but “The Melbourne Eye” is an instant Jenkins classic and sets the tone for what follows. Likewise, the melodies and heartfelt lyrics of “Beautiful William” (a love song to escaped convict William Buckley), "Blue Lagoon" (a lament for the long-lost wetlands just west of the city) and “This Is How You Say Goodbye” make them moving and memorable.

    “Dennis” is whimsically romantic, and I love the only-in-Melbourne humour of “Hook Turn”, “Victoria Market” and “Little Audrey”, and the wacky gold rush romp of “The Theatre Royale”.

    Not surprisingly I have a soft spot for “Stephen Street”, a rocking exposé of Melbourne’s dark Victorian underbelly. “Trams of Love” and “Statues of Melbourne” tell tales of petty street crime, and the spoken-word piece “Beneath the Maniacal King” brings the childhood horrors of Luna Park's Giggle Palace flooding back.

    But “Chloe” is truly chilling, the tragedy of the story behind the iconic painting told simply and compellingly, with a bitter edge to the refrain.

    Let’s hope this great selection keeps the wolf from the door while Charles Jenkins, David Andrew Milne and Douglas Lee Robertson regroup for another history-making live performance in the not-too-distant future.

    Stephen Downes
    Touch My History / Batmania, 3RRR-FM

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Past is Never Where You Think You Left It via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
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lyrics

She stands there in silence year after year
She's worth fortunes that she never knew
Spare her a thought shed her a tear
She stands naked for bastards like you
She stands naked for bastards like you

Chloe the French masterpiece that became a Melbourne icon was painted in 1875 when the beautiful young model who graces that frame was just 19 years old
Our dear Marie

Chloe was an over night success in Paris winning the hearts of all who gazed upon her and winning the most prestigious awards

She arrived on our shores a couple of years later where she hit 'em for sixes in Sydney and made her way to Melbourne for more of the same

She was bought and sold offered to galleries but rejected until she ended up in the pub of one Norman Figsby Young

That was in 1908 and she's been there ever since

Keeping company with soldiers and sailors artists and poets Prime Ministers and dignitaries drunks and celebrities knights dames and connoisseurs

Through two world wars the diggers would come and have a drink with her before being shipped out

Letters were written to her from the trenches of Turkey France and Papua New Guinea - all swearing their true love for her and promising to return

As Chloe she's been damaged and abused over the years
Had beer thrown at her
Suffered lacerations
And been the target for untold verbal abuse

As Marie the fetching French model of 140 years ago she became damaged by the very man responsible for immortalising her beauty

Marie fell hopelessly in love with Jules Joseph Lefebvre for whom she so often posed and with whom she shared her body

But the cad Jules Joseph was also bedding Marie's younger sister and before too long the two of them were married

Our dear Marie held her head up high
She threw her hands in the air and she threw a big party for all her friends

And as her guests drank Champagne and Cognac in her dining room
Marie slipped off into the kitchen to knowingly drink the concoction she had prepared earlier

This was only two years after she posed as Chloe.
And our dear Marie was only 21 when she took her own life.

She went into the kitchen out of her mind
And she drank from her poisonous brew
She went out of this world just to wind up in mine and stand
Naked for bastards like you
To stand naked for bastards like you

Of the countless who have stared few have known her name
She is Marie
She is and shall always be

Marie that prized possession so proudly presented naked forever on public display yet anonymous under glass and false identity

Marie the object of so many desires
Marie so vulnerable
Maybe "Chloe" could take it in her stride - ogled over and gawked at like a freak

The only totally nude person in a crowded room and she's there day and night Constantly greeted by silent eyes that in the past failed to hide their dour judgement overt discomfort or downright contempt.

Maybe if it were Chloe
But hanging on that wall is a portrait of a real person
Not merely a thing of fiction
Not simply the product of imagination
Within that frame lies somebody's daughter
Marie
We look at Chloe
We see Marie
Our dear Marie

She stands there in silence year after year
She's worth fortunes that she never knew
She went out of this world just to wind up in mine
And stand Naked for bastards like you
She stands naked for bastards like you.
Stands naked for bastards like you

credits

from The Past is Never Where You Think You Left It, released December 12, 2014

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Charles Jenkins Melbourne, Australia

Charles Jenkins is a Melbourne songwriter/musician, producer, performer and teacher with more than 30 years experience in the Australian Music Industry.

He has released 21 albums and been nominated for 2 ARIA awards with the Icecream Hands. In 2014 he won the AGE/Music Victoria award for best folk/roots album.

Charles has a Masters In Music and is an Ambassador for APRA/AMCOS. ... more

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