Veteran Aussie singer/songwriter Paul Kelly pens sequel to 'How to Make Gravy' on upcoming album '70' in November

Paul Kelly returns with new album Seventy, out November 7, on EMI.

On Seventy, the veteran Aussie pop and rock singer/songwriter draws on classic storytelling traditions — from The Canterbury Tales to The Decameron — where shared tales offer comfort, meaning, and light in the dark. The album has references spanning Yeats, The Lord of the Rings, Cicero, the French Resistance, and circling magpies.

First single, “Rita Wrote A Letter,” is out now alongside a video featuring Australian actress Justine Clarke, that was directed by acclaimed Australian filmmaker Imogen McCluskey and produced by Dollhouse Pictures. 

A follow-up to his 1996 classic “How to Make Gravy” - a song so beloved and iconic in Australia it has inspired an unofficial national holiday, “Gravy Day” (December 21) - the track arrives nearly thirty years after we first met Dan, Joe and Rita, Kelly, and brings them back with a ghost story. 

Told from Rita and Joe’s point of view, the song revisits familiar characters that often take on lives of their own. Watch the official music video below, and find the lyrics here.

"I've been mulling over the idea of a sequel to ‘How To Make Gravy’ from Rita's point of view for quite some time," Kelly explains. "About five years ago I wrote down the words, 'Rita wrote a letter,' and thought, 'There's my title.' I scratched away intermittently and fruitlessly for several years but never got very far until Dan Kelly sent me a recording of something he'd written on piano with a rough melody over the top. The words started rolling after that. As often happens, they took me by surprise. You could say the song took a dark turn but to my mind it's a black comedy. A ghost story. You hear Rita's voice loud and clear, but Joe talks even more. I couldn't shut him up."

Throughout Seventy, Kelly blends new work with a couple of favourite poems set to music, including a full-band take on W.B. Yeats’ poem with “Sailing to Byzantium.” It was first recorded with an orchestra more than a decade ago. 

“Happy Birthday, Ada Mae” was written directly to his granddaughter; other songs are about two old friends holding fast as life nears its end, a couple whose unbridled desire keeps finding new paths, and lyrics that capture the simple pleasures of a morning breeze, a shared meal, and the fleeting moments that linger longest in our memory.

With a career spanning over four decades and 30 albums, Paul Kelly has collaborated across genres and often set poetry to music. 

Track listing:

1. Tell Us A Story: Part One
2. Don't Give Up On Me (feat. Meg Washington)
3. Rita Wrote A Letter
4. The Body Keeps The Score
5. I Keep On Coming Back For More
6. Take It Handy
7. Happy Birthday, Ada Mae
8. The Magpies
9. Made For Me (feat. Rebecca Barnard)
10. Sailing To Byzantium
11. My Body Felt No Pain
12. I’m Not Afraid Of The Dark
13. Tell Us A Story: Part Two