surf history
The Morning of the Earth Era.
The late 1960s and early 1970s were a turbulent time across the globe. The United States and Australia were involved in the Vietnam War. Both countries had politically conservative governments that were convinced Vietnam would be the next "domino" to fall to the evils of Marxist Leninist communism. Thousands of young Americans and hundreds of young Aussies lost their lives in a futile bid to stop the spread of communism in South East Asia. Conscription was enforced in Australia with up to 5000 Australian troops eventually being shipped off to fight in Vietnam. The anti-Vietnam war movement joined forces with the "hippy" counter culture and rock music bands and staged "peace rallies" and festivals across America and Australia.
The hippy counter culture spread into surfing which was already considered a fringe activity. Drug use and delinquent behaviour had become a well established part of surf culture by that time. An increased use of recreational drugs such as marijuana and LSD were also part of a radical change in youth values across Western society. Surfers also took on the hippy ideal of loving nature and living a "natural" lifestyle, with long unkempt hair, old clothes, old cars as their trademark and a strong interest in alternative religions. In general surfers were seen as "dropouts" and "dole bludgers".
There were a lot of young people who surfed who had not only physically moved away from the mainstream but mentally as well. This movement could be seen as the first "sea change" shift to the coast away from the city. A slow trickle of surfers moved to less populated towns up and down the coast of Australia places like Angourie, Ballina, Cresent Head, Valla, Lennox, Byron Bay were small hamlets that had existed mainly on the back of agriculture and timber with some tourism in the school holidays. For surfers they were paradise where they could pursue the surfing lifestyle in uncrowded and almost unchartered territory. Some guys also searched overseas for places to ride waves and they found a surfing haven in Australia"s near neighbour, the Indonesian island of Bali.
Surfers not only looked different but often used a words that meant little to people outside the surfingsub-culture. Long hair, old cars with boards tied to the roof, they surfers were easy to identify Surfing had been popularised in the USA throgh the 1960's with the "Gidget" phenomenom and songs by Jan and Dean and the Beachboys, but surfers in the early 1970"s wanted to be different than those of the 60's not only in the way they lived but more importantly in the way they approached riding waves.
A new radical, "rip, tear and lacerate" approach to surfing, departed from the smooth carving turns of previous generation in the 60's. Nat Young had been seen as a "radical surfer" in the 60's with his aggresive, attacking form of wave riding. Known as the "animal" for his uncompromising approach to surfing and life in general, Nat pioneered a new radical style in the mid 60s. In "Morning of the Earth" he looked a bit tame compared to some of the other surfers. Around the end of the 1960's he was almost left behind in the rush to ride ever smaller and more manoeuvrable boards . The new wave of younger surfers riding smaller and more manoureable boards were prepared to push the boundaries of what kind of board could be ridden and how a wave could be approached. This new crop of surfers were experimenting with surfboard design to help them achieve their goal of squeezing in more turns on a wave.
This new approach in late 1969 to early 1970's was enabled by what is now called the "short board revolution", a period where the shape and size of boards changed dramatically from long cumbersome "malibus" to super wide and smaller fish type boards that almost resembled kneeboards. From about 1969 onwards the average size of surfboards shrank from around 7;2" down to about 5'10" and smaller, allowing a dramatic shift in the way waves were ridden. The average size of boards did increase to a more realistic level throughout the 70's but this initial stage captured beautifully in "Morning of the Earth" was the start of the revolution.
"Morning of the Earth" was the first surf movie to join the threads of "hippy counterculture", the "sea change" phenomenon and the "short board revolution" together. Surfing became a form of artistic self expression and a pastime that captured the essence of the hippy lifestyle. The north coast of NSW especially from Angourie to Byron Bay was a great place to be in the early 1970's Surfers could be seen living off the land, growing fruit and vegetables, raising chickens and shaping their own boards. In one particular scene in "Morning of the Earth" with the John J Francis" "Simple Ben" as backdrop, the viewer can see "Baddy Trealor" shaping a surfboard. As he literally tearing away strips of surfboard foam he is metaphorically hacking away years of surfing style to expose a raw, aggressive approach that would see Australian lead the surfing world for many years to come. The physical power and self expression here symbolise the new approaches to boardmaking, design and surfing itself. "Baddy's" short board surfing at Angourie is pure power and aggression mixed with great style and strength and this to me is one of the best sequences in the whole movie.
Surfers in the movie are shown living an uncomplicated lifestyle eating simple healthy foods and finding shelter where they can. They ride waves and enjoy relationships with the opposite sex. In "Morning of the Earth" surfing is a rebellion against mainstream society but in an ironic twist the very surfers the movie highlights, like Michael Peterson or "MP" as he was known, who was without doubt a cult leader within surfing at the time, ruthlessly pursued professional surfing competition to fund a fulltime "surfing" career according to Sean Doherty in his book about MP.
A mellow lifestyle on land stood in stark contrast to the way "Baddy", MP and their ilk approached riding waves. Michael Peterson (MP) is seen literally tearing "hacks" out the waves, screaming down the long walling point waves of Broken Head and Kirra, wailing "cutbacks" and "re entries" at will. Some of his surfing in the movie is mind blowing in the context of the era. Known as the "King of Kirra" for his domination of the waves around his home town Coolangatta, MP was the archetypal "bad boy" but also the spiritual leader of a lifestyle and wave riding style that would soon come to dominate the surfing world. Ironically MP the laconic rascal and "free surfing" master relentlessly pursued the professional side of the sport using the money earned to sustain his drug habits and haphazard lifestyle.
Surfers in Morning of the Earth are shown enjoying an almost esoteric pleasure and joy at riding waves. A pleasure heightened and enhanced by recreational drug use including marijuana and magic mushrooms. The pursuit of pleasure in the warm waters of the north coast of NSW which supplied a myriad of relatively uncrowded waves and the old dairy farm houses and sheds as places to stay. Fruit and vegetables were easy to grow and Marijuana and "magic" were in plentiful supply.
"Morning of the Earth" captured a moment in time when all these forces (hippydom, seachange and surfing developing into a professional sport) coalesced and exploded on to the world surfing stage. Bali would become Australia"s number surfing destination. However as much as surfers were pulling away from the mainstream, the mystique created around this withdrawal and their pleasure seeking lifestyle created the marketing pull of Australia"s future surf companies, Billabong, Quiksilver and Rip Curl. A surfing "industry" was coming into being. The allure of a lifestyle created when surfers had nothing and wanted nothing except a few friends and some waves is captured eloquently by "Morning of the Earth". The talented individuals involved in the making of the film were up and coming artists, many of whom went on to be the top of their game.
Background to the making of Morning of the Earth "The Original Soundtrack Album"
When Alby Falzon and David Elfick originally approached G Wayne Thomas, he was working at Warner Records in Sydney. They had heard his music and decided that was the style they wanted for their film. They went to Warner Music"s office in Sydney and asked a guy with long blonde hair they met in the hallway that they "wanted to speak to the boss - G Wayne Thomas". G Wayne informed them it was "he" they were speaking to, but they refused to believe. They were finally persuaded it was the recently renamed "G Wayne" Thomas who added the "G" to differentiate himself from another Wayne Thomas who played drums for a well known band in Sydney.
The soundtrack for "Morning of the Earth" was put together by G Wayne Thomas over a period of about 10-12 months in early 1971. The album included a range of known and unknown artists including Brian Cadd, Taman Shud, Peter Howe and Terry Hannigan. G Wayne himself had already had a No.1 hit in Australia called "Take it Easy" but his main work had been in the advertising industry where he was known for his ability writing catchy "jingles" for TV and radio commercials. He was initially approached by Alby Falzon and David Elphick to write the soundtrack for a new surf movie they were planning. G Wayne took this assignment on "as a he would a brief for any job".
G Wayne knew of Alby and David"s work with Tracks magazine a counter cultural "broadsheet style" surfing magazine Falzon, Elphick and John Witzig had started a few years previously. Tracks espoused surfing as a "lifestyle" and in general mocked professionalism within the sport. It ran articles on growing organic vegetables and had its own hero in the form of a drug smoking, surfing pig called "Captain Goodvibes". Tracks magazine was in the forefront of an environmental campaign vehemently opposed to sand mining along the coast of NSW. Sand mining was used to extract rutile, a rare and expensive mineral from just under the surface of the golden sand hills that formed the beaches of Australia"s East Coast. With this background, no story board or script, G Wayne started to work on organising music for the album.
Surf music had developed around the phenomenon of "Gidget" and the Beach Boys in the early 1960s, and the surf movies of the 60"s and early 70"s generally had an original soundtrack. Often the work of just one band, the style of music had evolved from the pure pop tunes of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys to a more "folk" oriented style of songs. G. Wayne"s songs and the choice of music for the soundtrack really reinforced this "folk" element and in a way set the standard for soundtrack albums.
Morning of the Earth was the first surfing movie to ever capture the incredible waves and beauty of the island of Bali. G Wayne had heard the name for the new movie was going be along the lines of a quote from a German philosopher who had lived in Bali around the turn of the century and claimed that "waking up in Bali was like waking up to the morning of the world". The working title for the film was soon considered to be "Morning of the Earth".
Without script or storyboard and only a working title, G Wayne went with a tune "rattling around" in his head that included a rising chord combination resolving in the E major. G Wayne had seen a lot of the footage showing large eruptions of lava Falzon had shot of Mt Kealualua in Hawaii. He came up with words inspired by the creationist theme of rocks, lava, fire and water. The words poured themselves onto the page and G Wayne knew he had a good title track. To add to the mix he decided to draft a cut down orchestra. The song starts with a basic acoustic guitar riff that eventually builds in a rising gusto of strings and orchestra and choir. Wayne enlisted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to assist and over 2 days in Melbourne their part was recorded and built into the song.
The other songs came together well with G Wayne making adjustments that would turn out to be quite controversial. During the recording of "Sit Right Down" by Lindsay Bjerre and Tim Gaze from Taman Shud, G Wayne decided to rerecord the vocal track, but Tim Gaze the lead singer was sick with a cold. G Wayne enlisted his friend and colleague Broderick Smith to do the vocal in his absence, he liked what he heard and decided to use Broderick"s vocal for the final cut. Unknown to members of Taman Shud Tim"s voice wouldn"t make the the soundtrack and it wasn"t until opening night that Gaze and the other members realised what had taken place. An article from Go Set magazine described "Lindsay had lost his voice on tour in Melbourne, so Tim (an excellent singer in his own right) cut the vocal, and although Lindsay recalled that Tim was apparently having voice problems too, his vocal "sounded great" according to Bjerre. But unknown to the group, Thomas later erased Gaze's vocal and replaced it with a new one by Broderick Smith, lead singer of Melbourne band Carson. The resulting track is fine in its own right, but the new vocal was added without the group's approval. In fact "Shud" didn't find out about the substitution until they heard the result at the film's premiere, and they were "understandably upset about it at the time" (http://www.tamamshud.com/History.htm). This did cause some friction between Thomas and Gaze but over the years this has mellowed and I understand the Tim and G.Wayne are now on speaking terms.
Alby Falzon and David Elfick were busy putting together the movie and G Wayne was trying to sort the songs that best suited the different film clips. As the final cut came together and the song list was finalised a demo copy of the soundtrack was sent to the head of 2SM, the pre-eminent radio station for pop music in Sydney at the time. G Wayne included a song he had just written that day entitled "Open Up Your Heart". After listening to the various tracks the word came back that "Open Up Your Heart" was the song that should be released as a single. This posed a problem because at that stage it wasn't even part of the movie soundtrack. The only space left was over the closing credits and that is where it went. "Open Up Your Heart" would according to G.Wayne go on to be No. 1 on the 2SM chart for over 18 weeks when it was released in 1971. It was eventually pushed out of by John Lennon's "Imagine".
John J Francis originally named John McGregor was a popular folk singer from Newcastle who changed his family name to Francis. I was lucky enough to be in touch with him recently and he told me:-
"I had a hit song prior to "Morning of the Earth" with the track 'Play Mumma Play, (Sing me a Song) which surprisingly came from the same album 'Simple Ben' was on. It was a staggered national hit in that it became a hit in most states but not at the same time. It broke first in NSW, then Tasmania, then W.A., then QLD., and lastly Victoria - happening over about a six month period".
John J went onto to talk about the track Simple Ben and the album "Morning of the Earth":-
"It's a very rare event when straight film image and soundtrack combine to produce something of quality. It is even rarer when this combination transcends the time period it was made and keeps striking chords of relevance with new generations as they rise; when the sum of the parts creates a unique standalone. - John J. Francis, December, 2008" That's my bit. : )) Regards, John J"
Brian Cadd contributed three songs "Sure Feels Good" and "Making It On Your Own", "Come With Me". Cadd"s contributed greatly to the overall tone of the album. He was one of Australia's most successful song writers at the time and with G.Wayne"s production expertise his songs for the album are a terrific offset to the guitar based melodies of the other tracks.
Taman Shud's -Tim Gaze and Lindsay Bjerre contributed "Sea the Swells" which was also reprised during the movie as well as "Bali Waters". Both great songs they compliment the other tracks perfectly with a great sense of movement and freedom evocative of the surfers lifestyle and the way they ride the waves.
Peter Howe contributed "I'm Alive" and wrote this about how the song came about:-
" At the time I wrote this I was working at a boatshed in Palm Beach. I'd leave for work early and catch a surf on the way, often at my favourite reef break. The silky grey early morning barrels gave me the feeling that created this music".
Peter Howe's song is a great track that really adds that acidy spiritual mystercism that was so much a part of 1970's surfing. G.Wayne had heard of Peter's skills and managed to get him into the studio one afternoon where the song was recorded.
The album sound track was released and charted in May 1972 with a number of songs from the film being deleted leaving just 12 great songs just seem to flow together. G Wayne didn"t like some of the songs - including a few of his own -and according to Wayne everyone involved was having a very hard time deciding on the order of songs for the soundtrack album. The sound engineer John French wrote what he thought was the best order for the tracks a list on a piece of paper in the studio and this was finally adopted as the song order "Morning of the Earth". I personally enjoy this adopted song order as it seems to fit together with a strong narrative of life, love and the world we live in but it's an unusual feeling when you watch the movie and the songs come and go in a different order.
The soundtrack remains the biggest selling soundtrack in Australian music history selling well over 160,000 copies worldwide.
Grant Drinkwater 2009