How did a Christmas song without a chorus, set in prison, become one of Australia’s most iconic tracks and inspire its own unofficial holiday?
Paul Kelly’s classic How to Make Gravy is definitely an unexpected hit. The song is written from the perspective of a man in jail, writing a letter to his family before Christmas, who shares his recipe for gravy since he won’t be there to make it himself.
Now 28 years old, the song has become a beloved tradition, with Aussies celebrating “Gravy Day” every year on December 21st, which is the date the letter in the song was written.
When How to Make Gravy was released back in 1996, nominated for Song of the Year at the 1997 ARIA Awards but lost to Savage Garden’s Truly Madly Deeply.
Despite the loss, it has remained one of Kelly’s most popular songs and, in recent years, it’s had a huge resurgence online. Every on December 21st, hashtags like #GravyDay, #PaulKelly, and “the 21st of December” start trending as fans pay tribute to this Aussie classic.
So, what’s ‘How to Make Gravy’ really about?
The song’s main character, Joe, pours his heart out in a letter to his brother Dan. Sharing his hopes of getting out of prison by July for good behavior and dreams of reuniting with his family. But in the meantime, he sends his love and his gravy recipe to help make the Christmas roast even more special.
The gravy recipe includes “flour, salt, a little red wine,” and a “dollop of tomato sauce for sweetness and that extra tang.”
Over the years, Kelly’s taken some heat from foodies for the tomato sauce in the recipe, clearly not everyone’s a fan of that addition.
But what does Paul Kelly think of his now iconic song?
The song actually came about back in 1996 when Kelly was asked to record a track for a charity Christmas album. He had his eye on a song he really wanted to cover, but it turned out someone else had already taken it. So, he was encouraged to write an original instead.
Kelly said he ended up creating a unique song from the perspective of someone who can’t make it home for Christmas.
“Why can’t they get there? Maybe they’re overseas and they can’t get home. Then I thought, ‘Oh, he’s in prison.”
“The song wrote itself from there.”
“You never know what’s going to happen to the song after you write them,” Kelly told ABC Radio back in 2014.
“It was a song that doesn’t have a chorus, it’s set in prison, so I never thought it would be a hit song or anything.”
The song has even been turned into a feature film. Kelly called the experience “an out-of-body moment” that unexpectedly tied the song, his career, and the film together.
You can stream the movie now on BINGE, Foxtel, and Hubbl On Demand.
