How Can Cold Chisel Not Believe What Ita Buttrose Tells Them To?
August 9th 2008 01:04
Say what you like about Cold Chisel’s Aussie cock-rock style and Jimmy Barnes’s subsequent solo career; these guys still wrote some of the cleverest lyrics I have ever heard. And none more so than in their song Ita, ostensibly an ode to Australian media queen Ita Buttrose, who was at the height of her powers at the time of its 1980 release:
Every night when I get home
I settle down to prime time limbo
When all the boys are gathered around
Shouting "Ita's on TV!"
And though the roaches are thick on the ground
Somebody goes to close our window
Keep the noise of the city down
Get a dose of integrity
Every week, in every home
She got wholesome news for the family
I believe, I believe, in what she says
Yes I do
I believe, I believe, at the end of the day
Her magazine'll get me through
Ita's tongue never touches her lips
She could always be my godmother
And though the desk-top hides her hips
My imagination's strong
She's the sweetest thing I've ever seen
I'd like to take her out to dinner
But when I think about the places I've been
I'd probably hold my fork all wrong
Every day and every night
She's the only one we can depend upon
I believe, I believe, in what she says
Yes I do
I believe, I believe, at the end of the day
Her magazine'll get me through
To every housewife through the land
There is no-one else they can depend upon
How could I not believe, when Ita tells me to?
Yes it's true, what Ita tells me to.
Living in the late 2000’s it is hard to imagine the sheer scope of the influence that Ita Buttrose
had on Australians in the 1970s and early 80s. Storming onto the male-dominated media scene as editor of Cleo magazine in 1972, she quickly became a household name, not least due to the fact that Cleo magazine featured nude male centrefold in those early, heady days. Whilst the idea of a male centrefold may sound a little tacky, passé or SFW to us in the so-called ‘naughties’, try to keep in mind that Australia being the conservative country it was and still in the grip of the Menzies years, still seemed to be of the idea that women’s magazines should be concerned with, in Ita’s words, “lots and lots of weddings”.
In 1975 Ita left Cleo magazine to become editor of the more matronly Women’s Weekly and shortly thereafter became a radio broadcaster, had her own TV show and launched her self-titled magazine, Ita.
In short, she was everywhere. And it is with this in mind that you should listen to the tongue ion cheek lyrics of Cold Chisel’s classic. Cheeky references to Ita’s famous lisp: “Ita’s tongue never touches her lips”, and plays on the allure of older women to young boys: “she could almost be my godmother and though the desktop hides her hips, my imagination’s strong”, make this song seem a sarcastic yet harmless ode to a famous lady.
But that’s not why I love this song. Its cleverness goes beyond simple sarcasm and mockery. This is a song about class and the deep divide between the rich and the poor. Whilst Ita’s efforts in what was then (and largely still is), a man’s world, truth is she was born into a life much more privileged than most which made her meteoric rise to the top possible. Her father was the editor of now defunct Sydney daily newspaper The Daily Mirror. This in no way diminishes Ita’s achievements as they are still incredibly impressive (and personally speaking, I adore her), but it does give more background to the song and the lyrics that compare Ita’s world to the world of the working class, namely lines such as:
And though the roaches are thick on the ground
Somebody goes to close my window
Keep the noise of the city down
Get a dose of integrity
And
She's the sweetest thing I've ever seen
I'd like to take her out to dinner
But when I think about the places I've been
I'd probably hold my fork all wrong
In short, what Cold Chisel are telling us is that the Ita’s of this world actually had no idea about the lives of the majority of Australians and the idea of listening to people such as Ita is a bit of joke since she belongs to another world. The line “How can I not believe what Ita tells me to?” is not a question. It is a sarcastic statement. What Cold Chisel are actually saying is “I don’t believe a word of it”.
More Ita trivia: Mark "Chopper" Read has an I Love Ita tattoo on his backside.
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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when i think of Ita i think of her from Beauty & The Beast with Stan Zemanek