Little Boy Lost - JOHNNY ASHCROFT
16/4/60 - 14/5/60
I think this is probably one of the earliest songs released in Australia that was such an accurate telling of true events. Pretty much every word of the song is true; Steven Walls, a four year old boy went missing around Guyra in northern New South Wales on February 5, 1960. He had over 5,000 people and 7 aircraft looking for him, which even now, nearly 50 years on, remains as Australia's biggest land and air search. It turned out that he was doubling back on the search party as he was scared of the strangers that were looking for him, and when he was finally found, he was indeed asking "Where's my daddy?".
Interestingly, in an interview broadcast on ABC radio about a month ago on Walls' 50th Birthday, Ashcroft revealed that he requested that the song be removed from radio playlists when Graeme Thorne was kidnapped and murdered in June, and the sales subsequently crashed. Still, he'd managed a Gold record that was given to Walls, and earned himself New Zealand's first Gold disc.
I don't think there's any question of Ashcroft's intentions in writing this song, this was a big event in Australia, and I really think that he was simply documenting it. It just happened to capture the emotion of the community, and the collective joy present when that such a potentially tragic set of circumstances had such a happy ending. With all due respect, it doesn't really indicate that much of a pop sensibility, and I'm sure Ashcroft wasn't aiming for a number one. Regardless, he got it. And the pop that touches hearts is some of the best.
Interestingly, in an interview broadcast on ABC radio about a month ago on Walls' 50th Birthday, Ashcroft revealed that he requested that the song be removed from radio playlists when Graeme Thorne was kidnapped and murdered in June, and the sales subsequently crashed. Still, he'd managed a Gold record that was given to Walls, and earned himself New Zealand's first Gold disc.
I don't think there's any question of Ashcroft's intentions in writing this song, this was a big event in Australia, and I really think that he was simply documenting it. It just happened to capture the emotion of the community, and the collective joy present when that such a potentially tragic set of circumstances had such a happy ending. With all due respect, it doesn't really indicate that much of a pop sensibility, and I'm sure Ashcroft wasn't aiming for a number one. Regardless, he got it. And the pop that touches hearts is some of the best.
