These Days (Powderfinger song)

Infobox Song
Name = These Days


Caption =
Type = Song
Artist = Powderfinger
Album = Odyssey Number Five
Released =
track_no = 8
Recorded = Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne, Australia
Genre = Alternative rock
Length =
Writer =
Composer = Powderfinger
Label = Universal Music
Producer = Nick DiDia
Chart position =
Tracks =
prev = "My Kind of Scene"
prev_no = 7
next = "We Should Be Together Now"
next_no = 9
Misc = Extra track listing
Album = "Two Hands" soundtrack
Type = soundtrack
Length =
Label =
prev_track = —
prev_no =
this_track = "These days"
track_no = 1
next_track = "Lucky Star" (Alex Lloyd)
next_no = 2"These Days" is an alternative rock song from Powderfinger's fourth studio album, "Odyssey Number Five", which was released in 2000. The song was also released on Powderfinger's 2004 compilation album "".

"These Days" was not released as a single, however it topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 1999. It was also awarded "Song of the Year" at the 2000 Music Critic's Awards. Powderfinger have described "These Days" as one of their most simple, enduring, and popular works to date.

Writing and production

"These Days" was developed by Powderfinger after a request by film director Gregor Jordan, who asked the band to write a song for his upcoming film, "Two Hands", after showing them scenes in which the song would appear.cite web|url=http://www.ozmusic-central.com.au/powderfinger/text/articl22.htm|title=Primed for the P2K tour|publisher=Powderfinger Central|author=Carmine Pascuzzi|date=1999|accessdate=2007-11-10] Lead singer Bernard Fanning initially wrote the D minor song, and it was demoed in the garage of guitarist Darren Middleton.Powderfinger (Fanning, Middleton, Haug, Collins, Coghill, et al.) (2004). "" companion booklet. Page 3.] Fanning described the process of creating the song as "the first time there was an outside reason to write a song, rather than my own emotional response to something...we saw the film so I took bits and used it without being too specific."cite web| url=http://www.ozmusic-central.com.au/powderfinger/text/articl29.htm |title=Five Easy Pieces |publisher=Powderfinger Central|work=Sain Magazine|author=Christie Eliszer|date=September 2000|accessdate=2007-11-10] .

The lyrics of "These Days" were similarly styled to those of other songs written by Fanning between the production of "Internationalist" and "Odyssey Number Five", such as "Passenger" and "My Kind of Scene". The songs generally dealt with the routine and unhappiness of a "typical existence", according to Esky Magazine's Kelsey Munro. Fanning did not describe this as a conscious theme, despite it appearing in many of his songs, but agreed that the songs did discuss "having to always bow down to all of the responsibilities and obligations" of life.cite web|url=http://www.ozmusic-central.com.au/powderfinger/text/articl28.htm|title=The Odyssey Continues|pubisher=Powderfinger Central|author=Kelsey Munro|work=Esky Magazine|date=February 2001|accessdate=2007-11-10] Fanning also told The Sun-Herald that as a result of the lyrics in "These Days" and "My Happiness" (also on "Odyssey Number Five"), he had been dubbed "as some sort of antipodean Mr Miserable."

Release

The "Two Hands" soundtrack, which contained "These Days" as its lead track,Soundtrack Collector (1999), [http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/catalog/soundtrackdetail.php?movieid=10528 Two Hands Soundtrack] , retrieved on 12 June 2007.] was released while Powderfinger were playing their "P2K tour", and at a time when Powderfinger's last album, "Internationalist", was still selling well. [cite web|url=http://www.ozmusic-central.com.au/powderfinger/text/articl17.htm|title=Up Close (And Not Too) Personal|publisher=Powderfinger Central|author=Iain Shedden|work=The Weekend Australian|date=10/11 July 1999|accessdate=2007-11-10] With the release of both "These Days" and "My Kind of Scene" on movie soundtracks (the latter appeared on the soundtrack for ""), Powderfinger hoped to launch their overseas career, with Australian reviewers stating that "there’s a wide world out there yet to hear them, particularly These Days. The time is right...for the band to spread their wings."cite web|url=http://www.ozmusic-central.com.au/powderfinger/text/articl31.htm|title=Trusty Old Jackets|publisher=Powderfinger Central|work=Massive Magazine|author=Rod Yates|date=September 2000|accessdate-2007-11-10]

Response

"These Days" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 1999, as the result of a nationwide listener poll. The song was also awarded "Song of the Year" at the 2000 Music Critic's Awards.cite web|url=http://www.ozmusic-central.com.au/powderfinger/text/articl30.htm|title=Odyssey Number Five Is Born|publisher=Powderfinger Central|work=Sain Unlimited Magazine|date=September 2000|author=Pennie Dennison|accessdate=2007-11-10] In response to the award wins, Powderfinger said they were "excited" that they were voted #1 in a listener poll. Fanning jokingly said that "We worked out that being number one on the hottest 100 makes us the biggest band in the world because its the biggest music poll in the world", before going on to make a mockery of the band's long time antagonist, Ben Lee, by saying "we remembered we can't be the biggest band in the world because Ben Lee is the biggest in the world!" Fanning continued to publicly insult Lee, eventually calling him a "precocious little cunt" in 2005. [cite web|url=http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features/10487/Ben-Lee-The-indie-kid-that-could.htm|title=Ben Lee: That indie kid that could...|publisher=FasterLouder|author=Andrew Weaver|accessdate=2007-11-15]

Fanning alone performed a sombre acoustic guitar version of the song at a live benefit concert in the days following the 2002 Bali bombings.

"These Days" was also rostered briefly on the English curriculum in some Australian high schools, something Fanning took with amazement rather than discomfort, stating that the emotional part of the song development process was the writing, rather than the performing of the song. The song was also featured on "The Hidden Toll" road trauma campaign, produced by the Victorian Transport Accident Commission, which first aired on Victorian television on 19 October 2005. [Transport Accident Commission (2005), [http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/jsp/content/NavigationController.do?areaID=23&tierID=1&navID=63CC12CD7F00000101A5D19311EC6AC2&navLink=null&pageID=1122 New TAC Campaign Unveils The Hidden Toll] , retrieved on 12 June 2007.] Powderfinger performed "These Days" at a commemoration service for Heath Ledger, whose breakthrough film was "Two Hands". [cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23188474-2761,00.html?from=mostpop |title=Friends remember much-loved Heath|publisher=news.com.au|work=PerthNow|author=Shannon Harvey|date=9 February 2008|accessdate=2008-02-10] [cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23188762-921,00.html |title=Tear-jerking farewell to Heath|publisher=news.com.au|work=Mercury|author=Wendy Caccetta, Nicole Cox|date=10 February 2008|accessdate=2008-02-10] "These Days" was ranked seventh in a 2008 "The Weekend Australian" poll for the best Australian songs of the past 20 years. [cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24365642-5017898,00.html |title=Magazine's 20 best songs poll results|publisher="The Weekend Australian" |date=18 September 2008|author=Iain Shedden|accessdate=2008-10-09]

Alternate versions

There are two distinct studio versions of "These Days." The first is the version used in the film "Two Hands". The second version is the re-recording used on "Odyssey Number Five".

Original version releases

*"Passenger" single - B-Side (1998)
*"Two Hands" Soundtrack - Feature song from soundtrack (1999)
*"Triple J Hottest 100" - #1 (1999)
*"" - (2004)

"Odyssey Number Five" release

*"Odyssey Number Five" (2000)

Other versions

*"Internationalist P2K Disk" - Live performance (1998)
*"" - Live performance (2004)

References