About this song
- "Under the Milky Way" is a single by Australian alternative rock band the Church, released on 15 February 1988,[1] and appears on their fifth studio album Starfish. The song was written by bass guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Kilbey and his then-girlfriend Karin Jansson of Curious (Yellow). It peaked at No. 22 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, No. 24 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and No. 25 on the New Zealand Singles Chart; it also appeared in the Dutch Single Top 100. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989, the song won 'Single of the Year'. It was issued simultaneously in both 7" vinyl and 12" vinyl formats by Arista Records (internationally) and Mushroom Records (Australian region). In 2006, the song was remixed and released as Craig Obey vs the Church. It peaked at number 91 on the ARIA charts.[5] In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Under the Milky Way" was ranked number 33.[6] "Under the Milky Way" was written by Kilbey and Karin Jansson of Curious (Yellow).[10][11] Kilbey and Jansson had become friends in 1983 and lived together in Australia from 1986.[12] Kilbey said, "I smoked a joint and started playing the piano and she came in the room and we just made it up."[13] According to a press release issued with Starfish, the title is from an Amsterdam music and cultural venue, Melkweg (Dutch for "Milky Way"), which Kilbey used to frequent.[14] I just stumbled upon it and for some reason it has struck this wonderful sense of universality with people that most of my songs don't. Steve Kilbey[11] "Under the Milky Way" features a 12-string acoustic guitar melody, along with a solo composed with an EBow on a Fender Jazzmaster and recorded on a Synclavier, leading to a sound reminiscent of bagpipes.[9] In October 1990, Jansson told John Tingwell of Drum Media about songwriting with Kilbey, "it's a very spontaneous thing. It's not as if someone has put us together to write a hit song. It's more like sometimes when we write together, a song comes knocking on the door".[12] While in September 2008, Kilbey discussed the track with Iain Shedden of The Australian.[11] Willson-Piper said, "'Milky Way' is perfect really, in the way that it crosses over from our past records. It's still this very beautiful, textured song, which is what we write, but it doesn't challenge people to find out its deepest hidden meaning the way our other songs have in the past."[15] . User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply. — lastfm
- "Under the Milky Way" is a song by Australian alternative rock band the Church, released as a single on 15 February 1988, and appears on their fifth studio album Starfish. The song was written by bass guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Kilbey and his then-girlfriend Karin Jansson of Curious (Yellow). It peaked at No. — wikipedia
