MusicPaul Grabowsky & Red Symons

Music Engineer John French

"Who's Laughing Now"Lyrics by Philip DalkinMusic by Philip Dalkin and Red Symons

The song "Who's Laughing Now" is first performed on stage in the Wills and Burke musical by Nicole Kidman and then turns up over the end credits. The two versions have slightly different lyrics:

Stage version:

Stage lead except where indicated:

Singer (in the film Nicole Kidman):They said I couldnʼt do itThey said I shouldnʼt tryThey said that Iʼd be up the creekSome said Iʼd even dieBut I just kept on pushing onI kept on aiming high

Chorus:  Ummm, ummm, ummmmWhoʼs laughing nowWhoʼs laughing nowWhoʼs laughing now

Singer:Didnʼt I tell you that I would come through itDo you remember how I said Iʼd do it?Well, you can kiss my ass ʻcause I know whoʼs laughing now

Chorus: Who's laughing now?Who's laughing now?

Singer:While everybody contemplated failureAnd said I had no guts or genitaliaI went ahead and crossed AustraliaWho's laughing now?Iʼd like to take this opportunityto thank the teamLike to thank my mum and Dad for having me

And thanks to some of you from near and farFor still believing in me when the times were hardShows just how clever some folks areWhoʼs laughing now?

Male stage actor: To us men heʼs like a Dad and MotherAnother stage actor: As Inspiration he is like no otherActor in bad camel suit: To us camels heʼs a brother, Whoʼs laughing now?

(Synth/harpsichord/fiddle interlude)

Vocoder/Processor chorus: Whoʼs laughing now?

Producer in theatre box seat: I thought Iʼd never get the show togetherI knew it wouldnʼt mix with guns and leatherNow they love me more than everWhoʼs laughing now?

Audience: Whoʼs laughing now?Whoʼs laughing now?Aussie winners are a big sensationThe victory deserves inebriationWelcome to the celebrationWhoʼs laughing now?

Singer:They said Iʼd never do itThey said “you donʼt know how”Some even said ...

Chorus: ...Itʼs just too hard

Singer:Look whoʼs laughing Look whoʼs laughingYou wanna know? Iʼll tell you whoʼs laughing Iʼm laughing now …

End credits version:

Chorus: Who's laughing now?Who's laughing now?

Singer:

While everybody contemplated failureAnd said I had no guts or genitaliaI made us proud to be AustralianWho's laughing now?

Chorus: Who's laughing now?Who's laughing now?

Singer:Didn't I tell you that I would come through itDo you remember how I would come though it?And all the time you thought I'd blew itWho's laughing now?

Using guts, determination and the spirit to winGone against the oddsand took each blow on the chinBut I was nobodyAnd now I'm notI once was indecisive, Now I know what's whatI once had bugger allAnd now I've got the lotSo...

Chorus: ...Who's laughing now?Who's laughing now?

Singer:Now reporters take me out to dinnerAnd TV chat shows love to talk to winnersOn top of that Now I'm a singerWho's laughing now?

I'd like to take this opportunity To thank you allWho stood behind meWhen the rest said I would fallAnd thanks to those of you from near and farWho still believed in meWhen times were hardShows just how clever some folks areSo ...

Chorus: Who's laughing now?Who's laughing now?

(music fades out)

The juxtaposition of Paul Grabowsky and Red Symons as joint composers of the underscore is somewhat odd, but both were relatively young in their careers, and fortunately they would go on to do other useful work, if on divergent entertainment and artistic paths.

Grabowsky has a wiki here, and this short biography at the Australian Music Centre here:

Paul Grabowsky is a pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, and one of Australia's most distinguished artists.

Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea in 1958, Paul Grabowsky was raised in Melbourne where he attended Wesley College. During the late 1970s he became prominent in the music scene in Melbourne, working in various jazz, theater and cabaret projects.

He lived and worked in Europe and the US in 1980-85, during which time he performed with many jazz luminaries, including Chet Baker, Art Farmer and Johnny Griffin. He returned to Australia in 1986 and established a reputation as one of Australia's leading jazz musicians with bands such as his own trio and sextet, the Wizards of Oz, and as musical director for singer Vince Jones. He was musical director of Tonight Live with Steve Vizard from 1990-1992.

A lot of Paul Grabowsky's time is spent composing and arranging for various projects. He has been commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia, the Queensland Music Festival, the Australian National Academy of Music, and by various other organisations. His work for the concert stage includes orchestral and chamber music, a song cycle and works for the Australian Art Orchestra. He has written three major stage works, and is currently working on a fourth one. In his large-scale works, Grabowsky integrates influences from many different kinds of music and musical cultures.

Grabowsky has written the scores for over twenty feature films in Australia, the UK and US, including The Eye of the Storm and Last Orders (Fred Schepisi), Innocence (Paul Cox), and Shiner (John Irvin). Among the many other filmmakers he has worked with are Gillian Armstrong, Nadia Tass and Clara Law. His television credits include the series Phoenix and Janus and the Emmy-winningEmpire Falls. His works for the theatre include two operas and various multimedia works.

He is the founder and artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra, with which he tours both nationally and internationally. Recent AAO projects have concentrated on collaborations with traditional and contemporary indigenous performers, something which Paul passionately advocates.

Grabowsky has his own website here. His early work for the film doesn't make his extensive list of works as a film composer here.

(Below: Paul Grabowsky)

Red Symons has a wiki here. He has subsequently had a much more electric career than Grabowsky after their collaboration, as shown by the short CV his agent provides here:

A science graduate in computer programming and pure maths, Red Symons has established himself in the entertainment industry as musician, author, stage & screen performer, record producer, composer, columnist and, most recently, breakfast announcer on ABC radio 774, Melbourne.

Red's theatrical flair and humour was apparent from his early days as guitarist with the band "Skyhooks" who swept onto the Australian music charts with their "Living in the 70's" anthem, and many hits including "Ego is not a dirty word", "Women in Uniform', "Blue Jeans" and "All My Friends are Getting Married".

His popularity as a media personality, however, was evidenced during his years with the long-running national television program, "Hey Hey It's Saturday". The Hey Hey

team enjoyed music mixed with spontaneous banter and fun'n'games. Paradoxically, Red became one of the shows most endearing performers despite being the heartless and sarcastic judge in the weekly "Red Faces" segment.

There can be few performers who have appeared on Countdown with a number one record, Neighbours in its first week ever, escaped from theBig Brother house, lost a quarter of a million dollars on Who wants to be a Millionaire, been measured as Australia's smartest celebrity ( yes, it's an oxymoron) on The National IQ Test and written music for Blue Heelers, whilst contributing a regular column to The Age newspaper. In between all this he managed to fit in a number of stage shows that inevitably involved some sort of cross-dressing. Red also wrote the music for Australia 's first condom commercial.

Popular on the corporate and arts speaking circuit, a regular on ABC TV's Einstein Factor, a judge on 7 Network's Australia's Got Talent, Red Symons can be heard Monday to Friday, 5.30am-7.45am on ABC radio 774. (ABC radio Melbourne, the breakfast shift was current as of March 2015).

(Below: Red Symons, in showbiz Skyhooks mode 1975, posing with dummy in 1975, working the red faces gong, and in more posed later official mode).