Welcome to travels with Todd

The music puzzle has a different form for this trip than in trips past. In every post with a parenthetical either following a section header or used as one (there are at least three that don’t have parentheticals but do have a reference) I’ve extracted a line of lyrics from a song. The songs and artists are listed below. If I could find a digital record – either video or audio – I’ve included it. Another difference from past references is that I didn’t necessarily know and don’t necessarily like every song cited. All I’m providing is the post title, the artist, the song title, and the lyric that’s in the post. I encourage you to try to work out the connection on your own. If you remain puzzled and curious, you can ask in a comment or send me an email and, if you catch me in the right mood, I’ll answer.

Perhaps to solve another mystery, the title of each post subsequent to the second post titled I’m a Carton and I’m in Sydney but that doesn’t make me Sydney Carton is taken from the Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities. As it is with the song references I’m going to leave it to you to discern the connections.

I hope you enjoy both quests and the music that follows.

Note: If you are using the text to speech feature, you will have to manually put it on pause if you want to listen to any of the linked videos without the feature talking over them. You will then have to manually restart the TTS.

until the stream absorbed it.

5 Seconds of Summer – End Up Here (How did we end up here).

A dream, all a dream.

INXS – Original Sin (To find your dreams have washed away).

a beautiful city and a brilliant people.

INXS – Building Bridges (Building bridges for the living).

every one of those darkly clustered houses.

Divinyls – Heart of Steel (You’re gonna need a heart of steel).

Restored to Life.

INXS – New Sensation (Perfect light and promises).

Every living creature there.

INXS – Wild life (I’ll be your one, Your one and only).

the last dream of my soul.

INXS – Kiss the Dirt (These passions never seem to end).

a multitude and yet a solitude.

AC/DC – Sin City (Bring on the dancing girls and put the champagne on ice).

Crush humanity out of shape.

AC / DC Night Prowler (A chill runs down your spine).

a sanctuary in their hearts.

AC /DC – Highway to Hell (Nobody’s gonna slow me down).

It could never be set right. 

AC /DC – Through the Mists of Time (Mystic voices conjure up our dreams).

glimpses of buried treasure.

AC /DC – What you do for Money Honey (All your digging for gold).

I travel in a circle.

AC /DC – Through the Mists of Time (Through the Mists of Time).

other things submerged.

Paul Kelly – Ghost Town (Every night the curtain falls upon the day gone down).

Old voices impelling me upward.

(No music reference).

The light was playing on the surface.

Sia – Beautiful Things Can Happen (I’m watching the dust as it falls and settles on my fate).

A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.

Sia – Courage to Change (World I want to leave you better).

the inscription on the baker’s shelves.

Paul Kelly – Hello Melancholy, Hello Joy ((We’re the quick who’ll soon be dead).

Then tell the wind and the fire where to stop.

Paul Kelly – Tonight our fires are burning (No video) (Tonight our fires are burning all across the plain).

The sea did what it liked.

Paul Kelly – Morning Storm (all the walls fall inside our slow moving storm).

sister of the shield and trident.

Paul Kelly – Every Step of the Way (And all blessings come with a curse).

The spring of hope.

Gurumul – Bayini (North wind coming in my way).

the swift river ran.

Gurumul – Wiyathul (Oh the place Guwalilna, Warradika, Yuma).

The sunset struck so brilliantly.

Archie Roach – Get Back to the Land (You got to get back to the land).

In the name of all the angels or the devils.

Archie Roach – We Won’t Cry (We won’t cry).

yet not a footstep was there.

Archie Roach – Far Away Home (Far away in another life/I walked my land proud and free).

and they were prophetic.

Gurrumul – Djarimirri (Sleeping fully formed  Ŋoya ḏimitmi Djarimirri (Child of the rainbow serpent).

Your suspense is nearly ended.

Archie Roach – Native Born (Familiar things are strange).

and a desert all around.

AC DC – It’s a long way to the top (Ridin’ Down the Highway / Goin’ to a show).

and the sun touched the tops of the still trees.

John Williamson – Raining on the Rock (And a shower has changed the lustre of his land).

I hear him tell the child my story.

Aunty Sharron mirri Bell – I am Me (We are the Children of this sacred Mother Land).

The age of wisdom.

Shane Howard and Archie Roach – A Secret River (Running deep beneath our world).

is not, as you know, my own.

Paul Kelly – From Little Things Big Things Grow (From little things big things grow).

No more can I look into the depths of this unfathomable water.

Ziggy Alberts – Days in the Sun (I am singing to the seas).

And a beautiful world we live in.

Bee Gees – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart (And misty memories of days gone by).

and the forest-trees flourished.

Archie Roach – Weeping in the Forest (and the tree were looking after little spirits dancing there).

such a fatal darkness.

Archie Roach – Took the Children Away (Like the promises they did not keep).

in the direction of the sanctuary, “to the Devil!”.

Don Spencer – The Smart Galah (Ooh, ooh he’s a smart galah).

it will surely yield the same fruit.

Yothu Yindi – Tribal Voice (But I know there is no other way).

far from its frowning walls.

Sia – Unstoppable (I put my armor on, show you how strong I am).

the quiet pause was audibly expressive.

Kylie Minogue – Edge of Saturday Night (I didn’t come to hold up the walls).

A moment more. An hour, if you please.

Little River Band – Reminiscing (Hurry, don’t be late, I can hardly wait).

walking up and down, walking up and down.

Tones and I – Fly Away (No one seems to think that I fit in).

as I draw closer and closer to the end.

Men at Work – Down Under (Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?).

The Footsteps Die Out For Ever.

Little River Band – It’s a Long Way There (I’m on the road to see If anything is anywhere).

And those are my songs from Australia. But here’s your bonus track.

In the post I travel in a circle, I included a video of The Seekers singing “I Am Australian” – a song written by Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton that some believe should become the country’s national anthem. The great Judith Durham was the group’s lead female vocalist. That she sang the way she did suffering from the chronic lung disease, bronchiectasis makes her accomplishment all the more remarkable. I couldn’t identify a song by the Seekers that I could comfortably fit into the section headers. But, this is my blog and, just as I sometimes add a performance by Eva Cassidy simply because I want to and you can never hear enough Eva Cassidy, I’m going to do the same with The Seekers and include two of their hit songs – Georgy Girl and Another You – because listening to Judith Durham is always a joy.

And have some fun with the intro.

Finally, in June 2026 when I added a new category tagging the music posts, it struck me that I should always include one song that expresses gratitude so I’ve decided to add it to those previously posted summaries and will also include it in my posts henceforth. So, Agnetha, Björn, Benni, Anni-Frid (and every other composer, lyricist, and musician), I Thank You for the Music.

To be certain that all songwriters and performers are properly credited, I am once again providing a list of credits.

End Up Here – Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford, John Feldmann, and Alex Gaskarth (Performed by 5 Seconds of Summer)

Original Sin – Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss (Performed by INXS)

Building Bridges – Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss (Performed by INXS)

Heart of Steel – Christina Amphlett, Mark McEntee, and Guy Gray (Performed by Divinyls)

New Sensation – Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss (Performed by INXS)

Wild Life – Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss (Performed by INXS)

Kiss the Dirt – Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss (Performed by INXS)

Sin City – Michael Young, Angus Young, and Bon Scott (Performed by ACDC)

Night Prowler – Michael Young, Angus Young, and Bon Scott (Performed by ACDC)

Highway to Hell – Michael Young, Angus Young, and Bon Scott (Performed by ACDC)

Through the Mists of Time Michael Young and Angus Young (Performed by ACDC)

What You Do For Money Honey – Michael Young, Angus Young, and Brian Johnson (Performed by ACDC)

Through the Mists of Time Michael Young and Angus Young (Performed by ACDC)

Ghost Town – Paul Kelly (Performed by Paul Kelly)

Beautiful Things can Happen – Sia Furler and Matt Kirby (Performed by Sia)

Courage to Change – Sia Furler, Alecia Moore (Pink), and Greg Kurstin (Performed by Sia)

Hello Melancholy, Hello Joy – Paul Kelly (Performed by Paul Kelly)

Tonight Our Fires Are Burning – Paul Kelly and Dan Kelly

Morning Storm – Paul Kelly (Performed by Paul Kelly)

Every Step of the Way – Paul Kelly (Performed by Paul Kelly)

Bayini – Gurumul (Performed by Gurumul and Sarah Blasko)

Wiyathul – Gurumul (Performed by Gurumul)

Get Back to the Land – Archie Roach (Performed by Archie Roach)

We Won’t Cry – Archie Roach (Performed by Archie Roach)

Far Away Home – Graham Charles Tardif and Rolf De Heer (Performed by Archie Roach)

Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) – Gurumul (Performed by Gurumul)

Native Born – Archie Roach (Performed by Archie Roach)

It’s a Long Way to the Top – Michael Young, Angus Young, and Bon Scott (Performed by ACDC)

Raining on the Rock – John Williamson (Performed by John Williamson)

I am Me – Aunty Sharron mirri Bell (Performed by Aunty Sharron mirri Bell and children)

A Secret River – Archie Roach and Shane Howard (Performed by Archie Roach

From Little Things Big Things Grow – Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody (Performed by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody)

Days in the Sun – Ziggy Alberts (Performed by Ziggy Alberts)

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb (Performed by The Bee Gees)

Weeping in the Forest – Archie Roach (Performed by Archie Roach)

Took the Children Away – Archie Roach (Performed by Archie Roach)

The Smart Galah – Don Spencer (Performed by Don Spencer)

Tribal Voice – Mandawuy Yunupingu (Performed by Yothu Yindi)

Unstoppable – Sia Furler and Christopher Braide (Performed by Sia)

Edge of Saturday Night – Kylie Minogue, Janee Bennett, Maria Stampe, and Rachel Keen (Performed by Kylie Minogue and The Blessed Madonna)

Reminiscing – Graeham Goble (Performed by Little River Band)

Fly Away – Toni Watson (Performed by Tones and I)

Down Under – Colin Hay and Ron Strykert (Performed by Men at Work)

It’s a Long Way There – Graeham Goble (Performed by Little River Band)

Bonus Tracks

Georgy Girl – Tom Springfield and Jim Dale (Performed by The Seekers)

I’ll Never Find Another You – Tom Springfield (Performed by The Seekers)

Thank You for the Music – by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (Performed by ABBA)