One of the most talked-about songs in Australia last year has been nominated for the 2017 APRA Song of the Year award.
Comedian and composer Tim Minchin’s Come Home (Cardinal Pell) was released as a charity single in February last year, with proceeds going towards survivors of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions. The money raised allowed the survivors to fly to Rome to observe Cardinal George Pell giving video evidence to Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.
In a video released by APRA, Minchin responded to the nomination, talking about why he wrote the song and how he recorded and released it in the space of three days:
It’s nominated for Song of the Year alongside Amy Shark and M-Phazes’s Adore, Julia Jacklin’s Pool Party, D.D Dumbo’s Satan, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Skeleton Key. The award will be presented in Sydney on Monday April 3.
Minchin’s song has proven to be as controversial as it was popular, with lyrics calling Pell “scum” drawing the ire of conservative commentators such as Andrew Bolt.
Minchin sings: “I want to be transparent here, George: I’m not the greatest fan of your religion, and I personally believe that those who cover up abuse should go to prison. But your ethical hypocrisy, your intellectual vacuity and your arrogance don’t bother me as much as the fact that you have turned out to be such a goddamn coward.”
You can see hear the full song below.