Tim Minchin’s Controversial Cardinal George Pell Song Nominated for Apra Award

By Simon Collins, Music Editor
West Australian
March 14, 2017

https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/music/tim-minchins-controversial-cardinal-george-pell-song-nominated-for-apra-award-ng-b88415107z

Tim Minchin’s controversial call for Cardinal George Pell to face the music has been nominated for Australia’s highest peer-voted songwriting award.

Written in response to Australia’s highest-ranking cleric’s claims he was too ill to give evidence in person at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Come Home (Cardinal Pell) is one of five songs in line for the 2017 APRA Song of the Year.

The song, which raised money to send survivors of abuse to Rome to front the Vatican-based Pell, is nominated alongside compositions from Nick Cave, Amy Shark, Julia Jacklin and D.D Dumbo.

After becoming “infuriated” by Pell’s statements, Minchin wrote and recorded Come Home (Cardinal Pell) in two days before it first aired on television’s The Project in February.

By 5pm the following day, more than $128,000 had been raised via online crowdfunding.

“This is a song representing the voices of people who didn’t have a voice,” Minchin said.

“The fact ... it helped raise money to send the survivors to Rome means that it will probably be the most impactful thing I do.”

Come Home (Cardinal Pell) reached No. 11 on the ARIA singles chart.

Amy Shark, the stage name for Gold Coast singer-songwriter Amy Billings, is the favourite for the award for her platinum-selling hit Adore.

Troye Sivan and Birds of Tokyo are the other WA artists nominated in the 35th annual awards, decided by APRA’s 90,000-strong membership of songwriters, composers and music publishers.

Sivan is up for Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year as well as Pop Work of the Year for his song Youth.

Birds of Tokyo’s I’d Go With You Anywhere is nominated for Rock Work of the Year.

Grammy Award-winning Sydney electronic producer Flume has four nominations.

Meanwhile Justin Bieber has two songs in the International Work of the Year category, alongside hits from Adele, Justin Timberlake and Duke Dumont.

The 2017 APRA Music Awards will be announced in Sydney on April 3.