C’mon be the sugar in my tooth
You Am I are one of my favourite bands and this is one of my favourite tracks but until this morning I had no idea that the video clip for “What I Don’t Know ’bout You” was a tribute to Don’s Party.
Don’s Party by David Williamson, centered around the 1969 Australian federal election, but really it was about gender and class, boorish, pissed-up men and their dissatisfied wives, Labor and Liberal sympathies, and the sad plates of cheese cubes and celery at Australian parties of the sixties.
It had a run at the Opera House in 2007 during the lead up to the federal election where Labor won out against the incumbent Liberal party. Different end result but the politics and climate was incredibly similar to that in 1969.
Back to the clip. A few quotes serve as clues and some great Australian actors are involved: Stephen Curry, Ben Mendelsohn, Matt Day, Tania Lacy and Nadine Garner.
I’m guessing Matt Day is playing Cooley. He’s got some of the best lines:
Cooley: Hello, gorgeous! Care for a screw?
Don Henderson: He used to say “fuck.”
Kerry: Any particular reason for the change?
Cooley: Yeah, I get more fucks when I say “screw.”
And, damn what a song:
Don’t be cruel, come on be the sugar in my tooth
And I think I like what I don’t know about you
Don’t be cruel, come on be the champagne in my shoe
But I think I like what I don’t know about you
~