Farewell Aunty Jack

"Farewell Aunty Jack"
Single by Grahame Bond
B-side	"Doin' the Aunty Jack"
Released	1973
Format	7" single
Genre	Pop
Length	3:24
Label	Polydor Records
Writer(s)	Rory O'Donoghue & Grahame Bond
Certification	Gold record in Australia

"Farewell Aunty Jack" was the closing theme to The Aunty Jack Show, played at the end of each episode. It was re-recorded and released as a hit single in late 1973 and spent 3 weeks at number one in the charts in Australia in March 1974.^[1] The music was written by Rory O'Donoghue, who also did the singing as the character "Thin Arthur", whereas "Aunty Jack" (Grahame Bond) provided wise-cracks and other spoken commentary to the lyrics, addressed to the listener and the singer.^[2]

The single had Aunty Jack demanding that listeners listen to this song real close, because I tell you what, if you don't I'm gonna jump through your speakers and rip yer bloody arms off, whereas on the TV show, Aunty Jack threatened to jump through the television screen and rip yer bloody arms off, if viewers didn't watch the show the following week.

The vinyl single was released on Polydor Records and some picture-vinyl copies of the single were also pressed – the first Australian picture disc.^[2] This version has a listed play time of 3:24. The 'B' side recording was "Doin' the Aunty Jack", with a listed play time of 2:10.

References

1. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
2. McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Grahame Bond (aka Aunty Jack) and Rory O'Donoghue (aka Thin Arthur)'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 30 September 2004. Retrieved 13 November 2014.