"Tojo" "Tojo Never Made It to Darwin" is a song by Australian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

group

Hoodoo Gurus Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1981 by Dave Faulkner (songwriter, lead singer and guitarist) and later joined by Richard Grossman (bass), Mark Kingsmill (drums), and Brad Shepherd (guitar, vocals, harmonica). Th ...

. It was released in June 1983 as the second single from their debut studio album, '' Stoneage Romeos'' (1984). It was written by their lead singer-guitarist, Dave Faulkner, and produced by Alan Thorne. The title refers to the World War II Japanese General and Prime Minister

Hideki Tōjō was a Japanese general and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944 during the Second World War. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence and mass killings perpetrated in the name of Japanese nationalis ...

. "Tojo" saw the introduction of new band members Clyde Bramley and

Brad Shepherd Bradley Mark Shepherd (born 1 February 1961) is an Australian rock musician. Shepherd is a guitarist, singer-songwriter and harmonica player; he has performed with several bands, especially Hoodoo Gurus. Biography Early life Shepherd was born ...

, with Bramley providing bass, which had previously been noticeably absent from the band.

'"Tojo" was an
answer song An answer song, response song or answer record is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...
to an Australian hit of a few years earlier, "Santa Never Made it Into Darwin" which had been released to raise money for the victims of
Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...
which had almost destroyed Darwin on Christmas Eve, 1975 (''sic''). During World War II the Japanese army invaded
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
but failed to reach Australia thanks to the heroic resistance however Darwin was bombed heavily and often.' – Dave Faulkner.

Santa Never Made It into Darwin "Santa Never Made It into Darwin" is a charity single recorded by Bill and Boyd. It was written by the band's William Cate. Funds raised supported the Australian city of Darwin, Northern Territory, following the damage wrought by Cyclone Tracy ...

" had been recorded by New Zealanders Bill (Cate) & Boyd (Robinson) which reached No. 2 in Australia during February 1975, Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA) created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.

Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...

actually devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve / Christmas Day 1974. "Tojo" was performed by

You Am I You Am I are an Australian power pop band, fronted by its lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tim Rogers. They formed in December 1989 and are the first Australian band to have released three successive albums that have each debuted at the ...

on the 2005 tribute album ''Stoneage Cameos'' (see '' Stoneage Romeos''); while "(Let's All) Turn On" was performed by The Wrights.

Track listing

; 7" single (BTS984) # "Tojo" (Faulkner) — 3:11 # "(Let's All) Turn On" (Faulkner) — 3:00

Personnel

Credited to: *

James Baker James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary ...

— drums * Clyde Bramley — bass, vocals * Dave Faulkner — lead vocals, guitar *

— guitar, vocals * Producer — Alan Thorne * Design (cover) — Yanni Stumbles, Faulkner * Photo (rear cover) — Annie Sidlo

Charts

References

{{Hoodoo Gurus 1983 singles Hoodoo Gurus songs 1983 songs Songs written by Dave Faulkner (musician) Songs about Australia