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Human Frailty Pty Ltd |
Holy Grail
The Single Released In: [Australia / NZ] [Europe] Release Date: May 1993. Australian Chart Position: 20. Front Cover:
Disc:
UK Front Cover:
UK Back Cover:
UK Disc:
Promotional video screen shots: Single Availability: Moderately rare. Value: A$4-A$18. Australian CD single has live acoustic versions of "Where Do You Go?", "True Tears Of Joy", "When The River Runs Dry" and "Holy Grail". UK single includes "Grindstone", "Head Above Water" and "True Tears Of Joy". Picture above is Australian CD single.
"Holy Grail" is one of the best known Hunters and Collectors songs, up there with "Throw Your Arms Around Me". Alex, a fan involved in the creation of the "Holy Grail" video clip has the following to say on the original of the song: In the lyrics section of your Hunters and Collectors site you [used to!] mention that Holy Grail was written about the crusades. It wasn't. I was on the film crew that did the clip for it (at a reptarium and the little studio on Warrigal Road in Melbourne) and had a talk to Mark about the inspiration. Mostly I just pointed out that he had captured the grittiness of spending 18 hours in armour almost perfectly (I am a medievalist). He pointed out that he actually wrote it about Napoleon in Russia (the winter campaign). Since he said that I could sort of see it, and it does work... but it still seemed more of a medieval forced march type of song. As it happens Mark ended up trying on bits of armour from my van in between set ups (and finding ways to redraw the massive penis that the artist had painted on the De-Vinci like sketch on the floor (way too graphic for Saturday morning TV)). In the end we just had one of the band members stand on it strategically. Odd kind of night... and it takes Mark 16 takes to lip-sync on account of constantly finding "new" ways to perform material (unfortunately NOT an option when shooting a video to an existing sound-track). Now you have a semi-pointless bit of lyric history!
For those who are interested, in 2002 Mark Seymour got some publicity when his mobile phone rang to the tune of "Holy Grail" during a press conference. Mark made this ring tone using 'composer' that comes with some Nokia Phones. Thanks to Martin and Miriam, here is the code to program "Holy Grail" into phones with composer: 8c1 8f1 8c2 8#a1 8a1 4g1 4f1 4f1 16f1 2g1 8c1 8f1 Note: Set to 100 beats per minute.
Comments from the "Natural Selection" liner notes (by Mark Seymour): Obsessed with a vision of a Russian Eldorado, Napoleon forced the grand army to march on Moscow in the winter of 1812. They froze to death in the ice and snow and the crows moved in to feed. This song was originally conceived while reading 'Art and Lies' by Jeanette Winterson, a little light relief, during the recording of 'Cut'. It's a parable about an army whose beliefs led to its own destruction. It also alludes to the endless search for the 'rock 'n' roll carrot' (otherwise known as 'the Holy Grail'), that dangles before the collective nose of every band that ever walked the earth. Now a major sporting event standard...
Oh, so high Woke up this morning from the
strangest dream Started out seeking fortune
and glory We'll have you heard about the
great crusade All the locals scattered, they
were hiding in the snow We were full of beans You know I, I've been searching
for an easy way There's nowhere else to go And I've followed orders Oh yeah I'm a fool for the holy grail
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