DESCRIPTION:
A simple video for the much-requested Aerial Maps' song 'On the Punt'. The lyrics are here...
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'On the Punt'
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my father loved a punt and on most afternoons
we'd come home from school
and he'd be calling up PhoneTAB:

this is 20791900, he'd say,
this is 20791900, thank you,
race 5, Eagle Farm, number six, four units each way,
race 6, Flemington, number 12, there's two units each way
thank you very much

his transistor covered in a brown leather case,
frayed at the edges
and the lino floor in the kitchen
and he loved a punt my dad
and jesus he lost a lot
he loved a punt my dad
and jeez he lost a lot

and i connect that with
long drives in hot cars, hot leather seats
which burnt your legs to touch
and non-specific coastal roads;
and non-specific coastal roads;

(it's all coming back to me right now)

these aren't the places of magazines,
these are nowhere in history writ,
they figure in no mythology.
not a bit

there's static on the car radio
and many years have passed,
scattered cassettes are lying on the floor,
and the window are stuck-fast-dry,
out the windows,
bits of roadside kill
and it's been several years now that
that i've been lost,
all those years since my father died
and i don't believe a minute of that
not for one second
not for one second.

Because the bitumen it flew
into my face years ago,
it stuck in my cheeks
stuck in my chin and
caught in my eyes
and it's been many years
all manner of cars:
Chargers and other Valiants,
Holdens, XCS
All manner of Japanese imports
I can remember them all
cos I never forget
and I remember everything

my father loved a punt
oh he lost a lot

and we've up and down we've been across,
and me personally
have eaten so many bags of hot chips,
so many meat pies,
drunk so many cans of Coke,
so many bottles of lemonade
chocolate milkshakes,
so many cakes from cake shops
so many pies from pie shops
so many bananas from roadside stalls.
It's been many years now
and I remember my father and
I remember him on the phone tab
And jesus he lost a lot

And these years I've been lost
I've been driving,
raising my index fingers
to the oncoming cars,
just to say
how's it going?
Just like my dad used to do
In the old Valiant
oh across rivers and towns and over plains,
the Hay Plain
the Nullabor
places which don't resonate with the tourists,
the tourists have no idea of this history,
for many years I've been lost,
I've been so stuck on the roads and
we've become a road ourselves.

ah he lost a lot my dad
he used to say on the PhoneTAB:
this is 20791900,
Race 5 Randwick, thank you
Race six Eagle Farm
coming from some distance town
some distant place
oh the Daptos of my life
and the childhood
little signs that say such and such
and such and such.

this is the road there,
this is the road back,
this is the time I drove
so far
and so long
this is the time I
ate
that
custard tart.

Ahh this is 20791900,

all the while i've been dragging something,
all the way from Cairns to Broome and back again
all these things have been holding me back,
so I drove to another coastal town
look for another surf point
look for another right hander coming around a bend

and as I do the radio flickers to life
and on the races come on from distant town
from Eagle Farm or Flemington
from Eagle Farm or Flemington
and I hear my father saying those afternoons
this is 20791900, thank you
ah race 5, Eagle Farm, number six, four units each way,
race 6, Flemington, number 12, two units each way...

ah he lost a lot
but jeez he lost a lot
he lost a lot
but jeez he lost a lot

he was on the punt
on the punt
on the punt