John Farnham has allowed his classic song, You’re the Voice, to become the official soundtrack of the Yes campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
The music legend has agreed to lend his 80s hit to the campaign as Australians gear up to vote in an October 14 poll to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament that aims to give Aboriginal Australians a say in the country’s political decisions.
“This song changed my life. I can only hope that it now might help, in some small way, to change the lives of our First Nations people for the better,” Farnham said in a statement.
Tim Wheatley, the son of his late longtime manager Glenn Wheatley, added: “Win or lose this referendum, this song will forever remain on the right side of history.”
The campaign video will be rolled out on Sunday across television, social media and other digital platforms.
However, the move has sparked some backlash online, with many seeing it as a missed opportunity to use an Indigenous artist to promote the important event.
Here are some of the opinions flooding Twitter:
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is also not a fan of the ad.
“In a sense, it’s the appropriate theme song for the Yes campaign, because remember that the key line in the lyrics there is, you know, ‘you’re the Voice, try to understand it’,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“I honestly don’t think most Australians understand it. And they want to be informed.”
The two-minute ad shows an Aussie family watching key milestones in our country’s history that have played out on TV through the years.
As Farnham’s hit plays in the background, iconic Aussie events flash on screen, such as Cathy Freeman’s win at the 2000 Olympics, former Prime Minister John Howard’s gun reform in 1996, and Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations in 2008.
This marks the first time Farnham has ever permitted the use of his classic hit, which has been hailed the unofficial Aussie anthem.
Over the years, the singer has been protective of his song since its release in 1986.
“Both John and my father have fiercely protected this song’s use for decades, I think for this very moment,” Tim added in his statement.
While the song is part of the Aussie landscape now, it took a while to take off on the music charts upon its release.
Far from an instant hit, You’re the Voice took a month to top the charts and set up the release of Farnham’s comeback album Whispering Jack.
Now, that album is the highest-selling Australian album in our chart history, having gone 24 times platinum and making 1.7 million in sales.
Originally published as John Farnham’s hit You’re The Voice the official soundtrack for 2023 referendum Yes campaign
