‘Big Things‘, by Michael Waugh is a country rock song that moves along at a gentle lilt. It’s a nicely written piece of acoustic guitar-driven Aussie country pop-rock with Waugh’s rough-hewn, warm vocal style and some nice harmonies in the chorus. Interestingly and appealingly his voice evokes Redgum’s John Schumann of ‘I Was Only 19‘ fame, Shane Howard of Goanna and Paul Kelly. In other words, harking back to and conjuring up a magical era, the glory days of the mid-80’s when an incredibly good-natured Australian culture that had been developed through the 20th Century was still running strong and found its way into pop and rock music for the first time. ‘Big Things’ itself is a story of the country and the city, a tale of country farm folk who go on an interstate drive from country NSW to Sydney and up to Queensland, the effects the “big things” they find along the way have on them and the lessons learned from the contrast between the two.

Waugh recounts being confronted with the city of Sydney, a lyric describing bumper to bumper jockeying on Sydney Harbour Bridge having a particularly strong effect. Then he mentions they saw a lot of big things made of plastic going up the coast and taking their photos in front of them, such as the Big Pineapple and the Big Merino near Goulburn. This creates a really strong effect and contrast between the city and the country life and a really Australian portrait, both comical and bittersweet. There is a comment there as well about what’s real and what’s not, authenticity and fake things. That creates an engaging and thought-provoking message during the course of Waugh’s song, ‘Big Things’.