Dragon, the ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted alternative rock outfit, had a string of hits during their prime, none greater than “April Sun In Cuba” from 1977.
When Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison covered the number Sunday night (Feb. 13) during a spot on national TV, it was a bona fide miss. That’s the critique from the song’s surviving creators.
With an election coming, Morrison and his Coalition federal government, an alliance of center-right political parties, find themselves in a spot of bother.
Most Australians, it would seem, have run out of patience for the current administration, and many will never forgive Morrison for heading to Hawaii for a holiday in December 2019 when the country was burning.
Morrison’s Valentine’s Day got off to a scratchy start when a Newspoll had his government trailing the opposition Labor Party at 45% to 55%, against a previous Newspoll which had Labor on 56%.
Just hours earlier, the PM was presented with a prime-time opportunity to rehabilitate his image with a spot alongside his family on 60 Minutes. A teaser from the commercial Channel 9 program gave the nation a head’s up on a moment that few voters will forget in a hurry: the country’s leader performing the classic Dragon song on a ukulele.
The puffy “Meet the Morrisons” segment lit up on social media thanks to Morrison’s choice of song, and instrument, and his failure to nail the lyrics.
Scott Morrison is focused on winning this election, but he’ll need the support of his whole party to get there. Either way, you get the feeling the Prime Minister has one eye on paradise – wherever that may be. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/4oxhZBL9qH
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) February 13, 2022
Dragon was less than impressed.
The band responded by sharing video of Morrison playing the song superimposed over vision of wildfires. “Once again, Dragon are famous for all the wrong reasons,” reads the accompanying comment.
A follow-up statement reads, “It is a cynical move for a politician to co-opt music in an attempt to humanise themselves come election time. Maybe if his trip had not been cut short, he could have learnt the lyrics to the rest of the chorus.”
Dragon was formed in Auckland, New Zealand, and relocated to Sydney, Australia in the mid-70s, Dragon was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2008, following a decades-long career during which they pumped out a string of hits, including “Are You Old Enough?” “Rain,” “Dreams of Ordinary Men,” “Young Years” and their standout, “Cuba”.
Dragon’s elevation into the Hall of Fame came ten years after the band’s flamboyant frontman Marc Hunter died with throat cancer, at the age of 44.
Today, Dragon continues to tour and record with a lineup featuring co-founder and bass player Todd Hunter — Marc’s brother — and Mark Williams on vocals.
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