You're the Voice

The uplifting "You're The Voice" is wildly popular in Australia, where it is considered the unofficial national anthem. It was written, though, by a team of British songwriters led by Chris Thompson, who was the lead singer in Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Thompson wrote it with Andy Qunta and Maggie Ryder, who were writers from his publishing company. The song was inspired by a protest march for nuclear disarmament that took place in London's Hyde Park on October 25, 1985, the day they started writing the song. Thompson planned on attending the march, but overslept; he, Qunta and Ryder watched it on TV while they were writing the song. "I was annoyed at myself and that's where the idea for 'You're the Voice' came from," he told News Corp Australia. "If you want to do something you have to go out and do it yourself."

Chris Thompson sang the demo version of "You're The Voice" and planned to record it for a solo album he was working on, but his publisher talked him out of it, telling Thompson protest songs were old news. The demo made its way to Australia via co-writer Andy Qunta, who was working with the Aussie band Icehouse (he co-wrote their hit "Crazy"). That's where John Farnham heard the song. As "Johnny Farnham," he was a teen idol in his native Australia and took over as lead singer of The Little River Band from 1982-1985. Chris Thompson knew Farnham from his 1967 novelty song "Sadie The Cleaning Lady" and wanted him nowhere near "You're The Voice." He had to be convinced that Farnham was now a legitimate singer and could do the song justice. After Thompson relented, Farnham made it his first release under the name "John Farnham." After a careful promotional campaign to sidestep the stigma of "Johnny Farnham," the song picked up airplay in Australia and took off, going to #1 and winning the ARIA Award for Single of the Year. Farnham's album Whispering Jack was also a mighty seller, spending 25 weeks at #1. He became one of Australia's most popular performers.

Chris Thompson called in Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid for help with the words. Reid told Songfacts: "Chris called me and said, 'I've got something and I don't know what to do with it lyrically. It feels as though it should be slightly political, but I don't know. Have a listen.' And we sat down, he played me the tune, and I got the title idea, 'You're The Voice.' It's an anti-war song in a way, but it was more of a 'make your voice heard' kind of thing. Wake up to your own power." Thompson's demo version of the song was released on Keith Reid's 2008 album The Common Thread.