Jimmy Barnes. Picture: Adam Knott Source: The Australian
ADELAIDE was a fun place in which to grow up, boxing is overrated and love is the most important thing in the world.
My memories of Glasgow, Scotland, where I was born (my family migrated to Australia when I was 4½) are of a tough, cold place where the people were really friendly. I remember my dad having to jump out of the window on the first floor to dig the snow away from the door. I remember the room in which I was born; it was a kitchen with a bed set back into the wall. Who says rock’n’roll is bad for your memory?
My childhood in Adelaide was filled with sport. I played soccer from morning until night. I would get out of bed and put my boots on and leave the house, I would come home as it was getting dark and if my Mum would have let me I would have slept in them too. Adelaide was a good place for kids. There were sports fields everywhere and always plenty to do. We weren’t particularly well off but we had all we needed.
My dad was a prize fighter in his youth. My boxing skills are very limited. I did train for most of my youth but couldn’t really see the point of getting punched in the head. I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I do enjoy the sport in its purest form. As a child my ¬heroes were my dad and Muhammad Ali.
One of my fondest memories from playing with Cold Chisel in the late 1970s and early 1980s was playing at the Largs Pier Hotel. It was a pub by the beach in Adelaide that attracted all types of different people. They were a tough but loyal group who drank there. This was such a special time for me that I wrote a song about it and recorded it for my new album, Rage And Ruin.
Recording the new album was fun because I got to work with a great bunch of musicians and a great producer. My kids worked with me too, including my son Jackie and daughter Eliza Jane, both of whom are fine musicians. I feel that I managed to say a lot of things through the songwriting that I needed to get off my chest.
If there was one thing I tried to instil in my children as they were growing up it was that you get nothing for nothing. You have to work hard to get any rewards. That applies in music or whatever you choose to do. The same goes in relationships; you will only get back what you put in. This doesn’t mean that life’s a drag. If you work hard you can play hard and have a lot of fun along the way. Too many people think that life owes them something and make little or no effort.
I’m very proud of my son David for being a great son and brother and husband and now a father. He has a great work ethic and is generous and caring. My other son, Jackie, has just graduated from Berklee Music College in Boston; he is the first guy from my side of the family to get a university degree. I left school at an early age and after watching Jackie grow and learn, I now know the importance of a good education.
You probably would be surprised by this but I’m a good cook. I first started learning from Jane, my wife, but have since taken cooking lessons in Thailand and Italy. I also had some lessons from a great Japanese chef who has a restaurant in the Southern Highlands. I find that cooking is relaxing and makes me feel at home. Maybe it’s because I spend so much time on the road.
If there’s one piece of advice I could give to my younger self it would be learn from my mistakes. The other thing would be to enjoy life and don’t take myself too seriously.
I’ve learnt that music is not just for having fun and listening to but is the language of the soul. Music can change the way you feel and the way you think. Music affects people’s lives.
I think love is the most important thing in the world. Every song I write is inspired by love or the search for love. I think that love is everything and if you are lucky enough to find it then guard it – but don’t smother it.
Jimmy Barnes’s new album, Rage and Ruin, is out now
