Flame Trees - Background

Background

According to the band's official website, Walker's inspiration for the lyrics was a combination of his memories of Grafton where he had lived as a youth, and of his romantic dreams. The music had already been written, on a bass, by Prestwich. Walker liked the music so much he requested to write some lyrics for the piece, to which Prestwich reluctantly agreed. Ian Moss said, "The next day, after having like an hours sleep, Don came in with this fantastic story. Don's one of those uni student dudes who's like, 'This project's got to be in, so I'll get it done by hook or by crook.'" Prestwich said, "When I heard Don's lyrics, I told him, 'Mate, I don't know if they're right for the music.' I've grown used to them now."

The reference to flame trees instead of the jacarandas for which Grafton is famous, due to its annual Jacaranda Festival, is partly because of a contemporary television miniseries, the BBC's The Flame Trees of Thika, starring Hayley Mills, "an old flame of the lyricist's dreams". However, Grafton is well known for its many specimens of the Australian native rainforest tree Brachychiton acerifolius, commonly known as the Illawarra Flame Tree, which along with the more pervasive, introduced poincianas and the town's famous (also introduced) jacarandas, set its streets ablaze every spring.

The video of the song (directed by Kimble Rendall) was filmed in Oberon, New South Wales. It portrays a young man returning to his home town, meeting old friends, and remembering a past lover. The members of Cold Chisel have bit parts, except for Barnes, who only appears courtesy of some footage from The Last Stand. Barnes said, "The band was arguing so much that Flame Trees and the making of the clip, well, they never even told me, that's why I wasn't in it - the band weren't even talking to me at that point."