Review:
CD Single
"I’m Sorry" interview with Simon Hunt (aka "Little Johnny")
Little Johnny's "I'm Sorry"
- a good song for an apology.Simon Hunt
formerly known as "Pauline Pantsdown" is currently fighting for airplay of his new single "I'm Sorry" (now as "Little Johnny"). John Howard's own unauthorised voice (like Pauline Hanson's before him) has been arduously edited and mixed to create a sublimely crafted dance track - chock full of apologies (including the Stolen Generation).The stoic conservatism of our "national youth broadcaster" Triple J, is reflected in their not-for-public-scrutiny "playlist" mentality which actively excludes even artists like Hunt, who in '98 as Pauline Pantsdown ("I Don't Like It"), was at number 10 on their own chart.
Hunt has blown what money he made as Pauline and also suffered the trauma of listening to Howard's voice for hundreds of hours, in order to produce "I'm Sorry". He is now relying on the good taste and integrity of Australia's independent community broadcasters to recognise a good song for an apology, rather than an apology for a song.
John Frame of Brisbane's Community Radio 4ZZZ spoke to Little Johnny on 8th August, in the week of release of "I'm Sorry" (CD includes "I Don't Like It", Shock Records CP003):
4ZZZ:
Little Johnny, welcome - how are you?L.J.: I'm very well, thank you John - I'm very sorry to be here!
4ZZZ: It's interesting to get to a website that spends so much time concentrating on the word "sorry". So, are you doing the work, perhaps, that the Prime Minister is not prepared to do?
L.J.: I like to think of it as complementary. He's a very busy man - Mr. Howard - he can't actually, sort of, spend the time on coping with things like social policy, break dancing and apologies to the Stolen Generation - so I'm just gonna look after that side of it for him.
4ZZZ: I like the website www.littlejohnny.org and it includes a link to "Apology Australia" as well - so people who want to join that petition, can. Pauline Pantsdown over the last couple of years has been with the "Black, White & Pink" entry in the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, so will Little Johnny be there next year?
L.J.: Oh, I'd like to think so. I'd like to see a crowd of about 40 to 50 lesbians - with beautiful "comb-overs" running over their heads. I think that'd add a bit of sex appeal to the entire enterprise.
4ZZZ: You've journeyed into the world of pop music with a single.
L.J.: That's right, yes. The single's entitled "I'm Sorry" and it contains apologies for absolutely everything: for the way that John Howard looks, for the way that he acts and his political policies. Yes, I think people will be able to "get down" to it - it's good to have a funky vocalist. And after, you know, being a man wearing women's clothing for two years, it's very good to get out there with a bit of a macho image once again.
4ZZZ: Do you find yourself taking on the blame for Mr. Howard?
L.J.: No. I think, personally, that it's all his fault, and I don't have to take any blame for that as such, no.
4ZZZ: Do you expect to be getting the celebrity greetings and invitations that Pauline Pantsdown was?
L.J.: Well you know, I think it was that short skirt that she used to wear that got her a lot further than she would have got otherwise. But there is the ability, perhaps in the way of a cartoon, to show the Australian people an idea of what Mr. Howard is really about - even on a macro level in the pop charts - and I think that's a good thing for Australia.