Flour, salt, a little red wine, and a dollop of tomato sauce. Those are the essential ingredients for cooking up a storm today – “Gravy Day.”
Paul Kelly’s classic ‘How To Make Gravy’ is now firmly established in Australians’ Christmas parade of activities, a bittersweet remembrance every 21st December.
‘How To Make Gravy’ is the tale of a man, Joe, aching to be with his family on Christmas, but instead will spend that special time of year locked-up, incarcerated, with little chance of a step outside until June, at the earliest.
Making the gravy is an important task, with an special blend of ingredients. It’s an art, and science. Get it wrong, well, it’s just not Christmas.
The ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted singer wrote the number back in 1996 after he was approached to contribute to the Spirit Of Christmas charity album, once an essential stocking-filler found at Myer.
The song was loosely based on a personal experience; Kelly’s brother Michael was in prison at the time.
The legend of ‘How To Make Gravy’ is so great that a film of the same name was released this year, exclusively on Binge.
Shot on the Gold Coast, the movie is adapted for the screen by ARIA award-winning artist Meg Washington and director Nick Waterman.
Kelly’s autobiography, also titled ‘How To Make Gravy,’ was released in 2010 through Penguin Books Australia.
As previously reported, the veteran artist is set to perform arena shows across Australia and New Zealand in 2025, for a tour produced by Frontier Touring.
Awarded the Order of Australia in 2017, Kelly has received 17 ARIA Awards and five APRA Awards. He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997, and accepted the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music at the 2011 APRA Music Awards.
Sing along to Paul Kelly’s legendary song below (lyrics via Genius).
Hello Dan, it’s Joe here
I hope you’re keeping well
It’s the 21st of December
And now they’re ringing the last bells
If I get good behaviour
I’ll be out of here by July
Won’t you kiss my kids on Christmas Day?
Please don’t let ’em cry for me
I guess the brothers are driving down from Queensland
And Stella’s flying in from the coast
They say it’s gonna be a hundred degrees, even more maybe
But that won’t stop the roast
Who’s gonna make the gravy now?
I bet it won’t taste the same
Just add flour, salt, a little red wine
And don’t forget a dollop of tomato sauce
For sweetness and that extra tang
And give my love to Angus, and to Frank and Dolly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry, I screwed up this time
And look after Rita, I’ll be thinking of her
Early Christmas morning when I’m standing in line
I hear Mary’s got a new boyfriend
I hope he can hold his own
Do you remember the last one? What was his name again?
Ahh, just a little too much cologne
And Roger, you know I’m even gonna miss Roger
‘Cause there’s sure as hell no one in here I want to fight
Oh, praise the Baby Jesus, have a Merry Christmas
I’m really gonna miss it, all the treasure and the trash
And later in the evening, I can just imagine
You’ll put on Junior Murvin and push the tables back
And you’ll dance with Rita, I know you really like her
Just don’t hold her too close
Oh, brother, please don’t stab me in the back
I didn’t mean to say that, it’s just my mind it plays up
Multiplies each matter, turns imagination into fact
You know I love her badly, she’s the one to save me
I’m gonna make some gravy, I’m gonna taste the fat
Ahh, tell her that I’m sorry, yeah, I love her badly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry, and kiss the sleepy children for me
You know one of these days, I’ll be making gravy
I’ll be making plenty, I’m gonna pay ’em all back
Yeah, do-do-do-do, do-do
Do-do-do-do, do-do
