Dear Slug, John Paul Young did not write: “Love is in the air, everywhere I look around, love is in the air, every sight and every sound...”

The almost-great JPY sang “Love is in the air, etc etc”, and revived his career in 1992 when it was used in the soundtrack of the movie Strictly Ballroom.

But the song was actually written by the absolutely great songwriting and production team of Harry Vanda and George Young (ex-Easybeats, ex-Flash and the Pan).

They’ve written dozens of hits and guided the early career of the Young siblings’ band AC-DC, and I’m sure if asked they could come up with something catchy and relevant as a national anthem for East Timor.

Vanda and Young also wrote the earlier hits “I Hate the Music”, which summed up many music fans’ opinion of JPY’s singing, and (mark this, Slugcatcher) “Yesterday’s Hero”.

John Fear

Editor’s note: While we expect (and pay for) poor to nonexistent research, bile, vented spleen, defamatory and inflammatory opinion and do not expect the Slug to have any depth of knowledge on the global subjects in which he espouses, it is distressing to note such a poor grasp of important Australasian cultural icons.