Six Months in a Leaky Boat

"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" is a single from New Zealand art rock group Split Enz's album Time and Tide. It was written by Tim Finn and released as a single in 1982.

"Six Months in a Leaky Boat"
Single by Split Enz
from the album Time and Tide
B-side"Make Sense of It"
Released1982
Recorded1982
GenrePop, rock
Length4:21
LabelMushroom Records
Songwriter(s)Tim Finn, Split Enz
Producer(s)Hugh Padgham and Split Enz
Split Enz singles chronology
"Dirty Creature"
(1982)		 "Six Months in a Leaky Boat"
(1982)		 "Never Ceases to Amaze Me"
(1983)

The song is a reference to the time it took pioneers to sail to New Zealand (hence the reference to Aotearoa and The Tyranny of Distance - a history by Geoffrey Blainey), and a metaphor that refers to lead singer Tim Finn's nervous breakdown.[1]

The song was "discouraged from airplay" in Britain during the Falklands War by the BBC for reasons of morale - it was thought that references to leaky boats were not appropriate during the naval action in the war.[2]

Track listing
  1. "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" 4:21
  2. "Make Sense of It" 3:40

An introductory piece titled "Pioneer", written by Eddie Rayner, appears before the song on the Australian and New Zealand release of History Never Repeats - The Best of Split Enz. This track is not present on the American release. This track also forms an introduction to "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" on its original album release (on Time and Tide).

Personnel

Music video

The video shows band members dressed in nautical gear, and Maori artists performing traditional Maori poi dance.

Chart performance

The song entered the RIANZ New Zealand singles charts at number 31 on 13 June 1982, and peaked at number 7 for two weeks. It spent a total of 16 weeks in the top 40.[3] It was an even bigger hit in Australia, where it reached number 2 for two weeks.[4]

Chart (1982) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[5] 2
New Zealand Singles Chart[6] 7
UK Singles Chart[7] 83
Canadian Singles Chart[8] 7
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[9] 104

Covers
  • Canadian broadcaster and singer Liz Rigney covered the song for her 1999 album Chameleon (as "Leaky Boat").[10]
  • The song was covered by UK rock band Marillion as part of their "Friends" evening at the Marillion convention 2007
  • "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" was covered by Australian indie rock band Little Birdy, and appears on the 2005 compilation album She Will Have Her Way. They also played the song during their set at the Sydney Sound Relief concert.
  • Ted Leo and the Pharmacists covered the song as a solo performance on their album Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead, and later recorded a full-band arrangement for their Sharkbite Sessions EP. (Leo also titled one of his albums The Tyranny of Distance, a phrase which he credited to "Six Months in a Leaky Boat," though Split Enz had actually taken it from the title of a book by Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey.)
  • Australian children's entertainers The Wiggles covered this song on their album/video, It's a Wiggly, Wiggly World, with Tim Finn singing back up and appearing in the video, but with the lyrics significantly altered to be about Captain Feathersword.

Legacy

The song was voted the 5th best New Zealand song of all time in 2001 by members of APRA.

The song was used as the funeral song for explorer, environmentalist and sailor Sir Peter Blake, sung by Tim Finn with acoustic guitar, at Blake's service.

Notes
  1. Ostrander, Ken (April 26, 2012). Time and Tide - Split Enz. super groovy delicious bite
  2. The Q Encyclopedia of Rock Stars by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton, Dorling Kindersley 1999, page 938
  3. Charts.org.nz
  4. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 Singles 1982". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  5. Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W. (1993). ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. "New Zealand Charts". Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  7. "UK Singles Chart". Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  8. "RPM Canadian Charts". Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  9. Whitburn, Joel (1998). Bubbling Under Singles & Albums (1998 ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wis., U.S.A.: Record Research. p. 190. ISBN 9780898201284.
  10. Cowie Recordings
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