2 December, 1996.

You know, I can’t think why I would wake up with this in my head. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with a certain sport reaching Melbourne this weekend, could it?

Written by James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire, this was the final single released from the Manic Street Preachers’ 1996 album Everything Must Go. The song is essentially about Australia being the furthest place you can go to get away from the Manic’s native country of Wales. It was seen as being a metaphor for Wire’s desire to escape the emotional turmoil he was going through after the disappearance of his close friend Richey Edwards. Should somebody point out that New Zealand is just that little bit further?

On its release the song gave the band their fourth consecutive top ten hit in the UK, spending nine weeks on the chart and peaking at number seven. It also reached number five in the Scottish chart.