You may not realise it, but you already know and love the honey-toned voice of Aussie singer-songwriter Martha Marlow. In 2014, she brought the perfect dash of longing to Randy Newman’s Feels Like Home for a moving series of Qantas ads. Martha’s rendition was praised as “soul-stirring”, but it might never have existed if her talent hadn’t touched the heart of one of the world’s greatest living composers.
The story goes that the ad campaign’s creative director, Neil Lawrence, had asked several artists to record versions of Feels Like Home to help him convince Newman to grant him permission to use the song.
In a moment of inspiration, Neil asked the daughter of a friend how she would perform it. Martha was only 21, but she had a reputation for finding the emotional core of a piece of music. So, in their garage, Martha and her father, jazz musician Jonathan Zwartz, recorded a stripped-back, melancholy version of the song.
“I tend to put most things into alternate tuning. It’s quite an intuitive process, finding the right chords and trying to tap into the feeling of the song,” Martha explains. “I don’t have music theory, I don’t know how to read music – everything is self-taught. It’s a process of finding and listening and using my ears.”
Neil travelled to LA to present Newman with several variations of the song. First, he played those by the professional artists. “[Randy] said, I don’t think these versions do it justice,” recalls Martha’s mother, Jane.
Undeterred, Neil played Martha’s home recording. “Randy was sitting there with his hand on his head, and Neil thought, ‘He hates it’,” Jane says. “Then Randy said: ‘She’s got it’.”
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の June 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の June 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
