Doreen in the nude
Doreen in the nude, as performed by Al Ward on 21 September 2008 at the Balmain Rowers Club Balmain. The song is co-written by Al Ward himself and Lee Williams. The song was recorded in 1979 by Al's band, the Hokum Ensemble, then featuring Alan Meadows, my brother-in-law, on lead vocal. I don't have a copy of this song in it's original 1979 incantation. I'm awaiting digitisation of the vinyl EP they recorded and released back then, during the wonderful Balmain-year of 1979 and I look so forward to hearing Alan Meadows singing 'Doreen in the Nude' again from that EP. He performs the song with a delightful comic theatricality, full of little adlibs. The soundtrack is replete with kazoos, mandolins, washboards. In short it has that classic, authentic jug'blues sound. I believe Doreen in the Nude, written by Al Ward & Lee Williams, to be one of the greatest Australian songs ever written, post-European settlement. That may not be overtly evident here. I suspe...