Hamilton

Many of our young rural men are socially inept. They are bored silly with the drugery of the family farm, and want to start an independant family life, but don't know how to.

CHORUS
   C        C7
  Hamilton, Hamilton
  F                       D 
  Greatest little town in New Zealand
  C               Am             G      G7 
  But I'd do any thing to ge-et away
  C                 C7 
  Trouble is I'm committed here
  F                           D   
  Dad's gone blind I've gotta fetch him his beer
       C                  G    
  And when the shearing's over
  G7             C
  we're starting hay.

 C                    C7 
Every evening when the sun goes down
F                   D
Most of the jokers go downtown
    C           Am          G      G7
And pick up a sheila or get pissed
        C                C7 
Some go home, turn on Teevee
    F                  D                       
And while the wife is burning tea
     C               	     G          C
They nip down to the army depot and enlist

CHORUS
 

The only time I ever had a real chance
It was down at the Nga-hi-na-pou-ri dance
When I met a little girl, she said her name was Sue
I said, "Gidday Sue, my name's Chris
Let's step outside an' cuddle an' kiss"
She punched me in the mouth and then she shot through

CHORUS
 

Hamilton on Record

1981 Chris Thompson Hometown Voodoo (cass)
1990 Chris Thompson The Road to Raglan (cass)
1993 Chris Thompson Coffee Break (CD)

New Zealand born singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Chris is probably best known for his songs Chelsea Style (aka London Blues), Hamilton, We Need Oil, I Know What It's Like, and Where is my Wild Rose

Chris is a composer and player of what could best be described as 'country folk blues.' His tunes combine insight, energy, technical complexity, and an ironic sense of humour. He has also written beautiful love ballads.

(As I am not a technically skilled blues guitarist, I have chosen Hamilton to write up first, as it it has relatively slow and easy guitar work in it, and I have played it lots of times. JA)

He has written about 150 songs & instrumentals including Where is my Wild Rose, Chelsea Style, Witchdoctor Blues, and Barcelona, which are regularly performed by other artists, both in NZ & overseas.

His most popular songs with a specific New Zealand theme are We Need Oil (covered by various artists, incl Mike Harding), Hamilton, All the Rain Fell Down and Road to Raglan.

© The copyright holders for Chris (and Lynne's) songs are: Wild Rose Music Limited in New Zealand, and Peer Sourthern elsewhere.

Chris' skill as a guitarist has earned him an international reputation: from working as Julie Felix's guitarist through to jamming with Brownie McGhee, Wizz Jones, and many others.

Chris' skill as a guitarist has earned him an international reputation: from working as Julie Felix's guitarist through to jamming with Brownie McGhee, Wizz Jones, and many others.

You can find out more about our Chris at his web-site http://www.up.co.nz/chris/

You can e-mail him at [email protected]

Lynne Thompson

Chris's canadian-born wife Lynne is also a writer and performer of note. Lynne did quite a bit of performing in the late 70s & early 80s in the Auckland folk scene before she met Chris. She and Chris have produced two shared albums, "Together," in 1985, which features some of Lynne's early efforts at song-writing, and in1988, "Live in Concert". Lynne has also taken part in the production of several later Thompson albums. Now working full time as an accountant, she doesn't get much time to practise and perform these days.

Chris Thompson on Record

"Chris Thompson" (LP) 1973. Re-released as a CD in 2001
Echoes from the Pit (LP) 1975
Minstrelsy (LP) 1977
Hometown Voodoo (cass) 1981 (Hamilton, We Need Oil)
The Natural Blues (LP) 1983
Together (LP) Ode 1985. (Lynne and Chris Thompson) *
Live In Concert (Ode) 1988 (Lynne and Chris Thompson) *
The Road to Raglan 1990 *
Sings one track on "25 Years Of Kiwi Pop" -compilation CD 1990 (This Is The Moment)
Far Out & Solid (cass) 1992 *
Coffee Break (CD and Cass) 1993 *
Wrote one track on John Farnham's album Then Again 1993
Song for Laura (CD) 1995
Time Flies (CD) 2000

* Old Ode albums now held by BMG(NZ). Order them from any record store

There are also two other singer/songwriters called Chris Thompson.

Our Chris Thompson lives in Raglan, New Zealand, and sings folk blues.

This Chris Thompson lives in England and was the vocalist for Manfred Mann

This Chris Thompson tours in the USA, doing concerts with her sister Meredith.

The Manfred Mann Chris Thompson was born in England but lived in NZ for a while. He went to Hamilton Boys High School at the same time as our Raglan Chris (but was a year or two ahead).

He went back to the UK and joined Manfred Mann. He & our Chris ended up in the same recording studio at one stage over in England, and they do occasionally correspond or run into each other.

The Manfred Mann Chris Thompson claims to be an NZer at times, causing some confusion--our Raglan Chris is 100% home-grown.