John Farnham aka ‘The Voice’, started racking up the hits in the late 60s with songs like ‘Sadie’ and was King of Pop for years (it was a TV Week title in Australia) then he fell from popularity in the late 70s failing to chart from 1972 to 1975 and no albums between 1976 and 1979, he had a revival in 1980, got the Little River Band frontman job in 1982 and after its bad ending, then took a gamble on a solo album called ‘Whispering Jack’ which was his last chance to be a big time singer.

Suddenly the world wants him, and a string of hit albums happen, in fact from 1986 to 2016, all ten of John’s studio albums peaked at either No. 1 (seven times) or No. 2 (three times) in Australia.

In the 2020’s a phenomenon happened, YouTube reactors were digging through all of John’s songs and his originals and renditions of songs like ‘One’ and ‘Help’ were analysed with most reactors having the same conclusion ‘John is Amazing’.

So here are some of my favourite John Farnham tracks.

One

One, an early hit for John and what I love about this song is that he gradually lets out the power of his voice, it gets higher and louder when he says, ‘One is the loneliest’ and the third time he says it is when he really demonstrates his vocal power.

Chain Reaction

The first two minutes of this live rendition is Steve Williams playing the harmonica and it is really impressive that he could do it holding the microphone in the same hand and walking along the stage even going up a step.

John starts singing two and a half minutes in and it is a fun song to listen to, great vocals, great music, cannot be happier with it all.

Two Strong Hearts

This one is probably a song that lots of people enjoy, it is a song where its meaning is perfectly clear to listeners and especially love the two lines below

We’ve got two strong hearts
We stick together like the honey and the bee

I love songs like this, guess it makes me a bit of a softie but that’s ok.

Let Me Out

John’s time with the Little River Band was not a happy one, he was given the challenging task of replacing Glenn Shorrock, the band had Beeb Birtles and Derek Pellici leave and chart success was slipping away, then there was the band debt that John had to help pay for and out of that came ‘Let Me Out’.

This rendition is popular thanks to the guitar playing of Brett Garsed who had fans calling him ‘Rambo’ because of his hair, his muscles and his red headband that resembled the fictional movie hero.

The studio version of this song was actually recorded by three former Little River Band members, John, David Hirschfelder and Roger McLachlan, the on-stage version has then and current Little River band member Wayne Nelson playing Roger’s part.

You’re The Voice

‘You’re The Voice’, the record version was great, but this live version is really something special, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra gives the song that added kick that a standard band cannot do.

There is a great anticipation in the air and then comes the drums like a bunch of howitzers going off and then John starts singing, greatness has arrived.

One lesson for YouTube reactors is to watch John very carefully, watch his move around the stage, the way he handles the microphone, the mic stand, it is a performance of different levels, and you really have to take it all in.

‘That’s Freedom’ another anthem of a song, absolutely love the guitar solo by Jack Jones (Irwin Thomas), the John Farnham Band of the early 90s really had the best in the business in Australia if not the world.

One thing missed by most if not by all YouTube reactors is that you can hear Lindsay Field answering John when he sings ‘I want something you understand’ with Lindsay beside him.

Burn For You

This ballad is a song that gets plenty of love by fans, it is just John on stage with Phil Buckle (also co-writer of the song) playing the guitar.

John at 1:28 opens his mouth but nothing comes out, he then smiles and improvises before glancing at the ground at 1:46 and resuming the song where it was supposed to be.

Here is ‘Pressure Down’ another of the Whispering Jack album hits, the first track to be precise and I love this one, the whole band is great, and I love the ‘take the, take the, take the’ part then the drums and there is John jumping up towards the overhead camera and his usual microphone tricks.

Help

This rendition of The Beatles ‘Help’ has been dissected by lots of YouTube reactors and for good reason, it is a classic with a new arrangement and John showcases his vocal talents and this was in the encore of his concert so to have something left in the tank after some eighteen songs is impressive.

There are other Farnham songs to consider Age of Reason, Reasons, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, ‘Every time You Cry‘, ‘Baby Without You‘, Sadie (The Cleaning Lady), Dare to Dream, ‘In Days to Come‘ and more, check them out, found out what you like.

Check out these reactions by The Charlie Smith Channel, ThatSingerReactions, Sing with Emma Today and CVTECK1.