Savage Garden unearth old song

May 15, 2015 5:23 am 6 comments Views: 85

Dynamic duo … Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes have unearthed a rare song from 1994. Picture: Supplied
Source: News Corp Australia

SAVAGE Garden fans are getting an unreleased song but no reformation to mark 20 years since Australia’s most successful duo started making music.

The piano ballad She was one of the first songs Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones wrote while creating what would become their million selling 1997 debut album.

The demo was recorded in 1994 but never finished and sat in the vaults.

Fans will be able to own the song on a new Savage Garden compilation, The Singles, out next month.

Space age … Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones getting out of this world. Picture: Supplied
Source: News Corp Australia

The duo still have no plan to reform, although frontman Darren Hayes admitted it could have happened soon after their split in 2000.

“There might have been a window 15 years ago maybe but I made my peace with it and I moved on,” Hayes said.

“I don’t want to make any more music, I don’t want to release albums as a band, those days are gone, that time has passed. I felt very conflicted about even releasing this (She), but enough time has passed that it’s as much a thank you as anything.

“I see it as a historical artefact, a snapshot of a band before they were famous, before they succeeded. To be honest I’m surprised that it’s not too bad.”

Savage Garden – She

Hayes said She was seen as “too mature” for their debut album and was never finished.

Daniel Jones said the piano ballad was inspired by the “darkness” in Wendy Matthews’ The Day You Went Away.

“It started as the two of us writing something we were both feeling at the time,” Jones said. “An artist that plays the piano and sings is exactly what Darren and I combined to become.”

Hayes said the song was inspired by his relationship with women including his mother.

“I’m indebted to these incredibly strong women who loved me and made me a man. Taught what it was like to be strong and yet underestimated. Being gay, I relate a lot to the dismissal that women sometimes experience — how you’re emasculated because you’re feminine.”

Indeed Hayes said he was initially unsure whether to air the song he hadn’t heard since it was recorded.

Literal … It would take a few years before Savage Garden stopped being photographed in gardens. Picture: Supplied.
Source: News Corp Australia

“I had the same feeling when I heard songs like Truly Madly Deeply, I thought ‘This is so intimate, I don’t know if I want the world to hear this’. This is the sound of someone thinking and it’s not perfect.”

Savage Garden: The Singles is released on June 12, the same day remastered versions of their Savage Garden and Affirmation albums are reissued, both with rare live tracks and remixes.

The Singles will also be released with a DVD featuring the Australian and international videos for hits including I Want You, To the Moon and Back, Truly Madly Deeply, Break Me Shake Me, The Animal Song, I Knew I Loved You and Chained to You.

The duo have refused to put their songs on streaming services, however the new releases will be available for digital download.

While Jones remains out of the spotlight (his reason for leaving the band) after four solo albums Hayes spent two years studying acting, comedy and improv in Los Angeles and has posted the He Said He Said comedy podcast with Tim Stanton on his website.

Keyboard worriers … Early photo session for Savage Garden in 1997. Picture: Supplied.
Source: News Corp Australia

Savage Garden facts and figures

* Have sold over 20 million copies of their albums Savage Garden (1997) and Affirmation (1999) globally

* Savage Garden sold over 850,000 copies in Australia and spent 19 weeks at No. 1 in 1997

* Affirmation sold over 560,000 copies in Australia and was No. 1 for six weeks

* Their Australian Top 30 hits were I Want You, To the Moon and Back (No. 1), Truly Madly Deeply (No. 1), Break Me Shake Me, Universe, The Animal Song, I Knew I Loved You, Crash and Burn, Affirmation and Hold Me.

* Truly Madly Deeply spent a full year in the US Top 30

* They hold the records for the longest number of weeks on the US Adult Contemporary Airplay charts — 124 weeks for I Knew I Loved You, 123 weeks for Truly Madly Deeply

* Sold over 15 million singles worldwide

* Won 10 ARIA awards in a single night in 1997 — a feat no other act has matched

* Join the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, Helen Reddy and Men at Work as the only Australian acts to have two No. 1 singles on the US chart (Truly Madly Deeply and I Knew I Loved You).

* Savage Garden spent 102 weeks in the UK Top 200, Affirmation spent 158 weeks in the UK Top 200

Rdio playlist of all the Australian No. 1 songs on the US chart