Annotations written by Loki Carbis, 2009; revised in 2014 & 2025.
The assistance and advice of Casey Bennetto in the creation of these annotations is gratefully acknowledged.
This page is intended for informational purposes only.
Keating: I wanna do you slowly – holy moly –1Keating actually said this, and in response to Hewson’s jibes about calling an election. However, the context was somewhat different from that of this song. The full exchange ran:
Hewson: I ask the Prime Minister: if you are so confident about your view of Fightback, why will you not call an early election?
Keating: The answer is, mate, because I want to do you slowly. There has to be a bit of sport in this for all of us. In the psychological battle stakes, we are stripped down and ready to go. I want to see those ashen-faced performances; I want more of them. I want to be encouraged. I want to see you squirm out of this load of rubbish over a number of months. There will be no easy execution for you. You have perpetrated one of the great mischiefs on the Australian public with this thing, trying to rip away our social wage, trying to rip away the Australian values which we built in our society for over a century…
I wanna turn you inside out, upside down and roundabout
Wrap you up like ravioli – roly poly –
I wanna make you mine2Far from the sexual overtones of this song, the actual relationship between Keating and Hewson is historically one of the most vitriolic seen in this country between a Prime Minister and a Leader of the Opposition. And it’s still a better relationship than that between Keating and Howard.
Dear boy, you know I’ve got your measure3One of the major reasons for delaying the federal election was to get the West Australian state election out of the way first. After a scandal involving that state’s Labor government, it was felt that voters there would punish the ALP for it at the polls, so it was decided to let the state party wear that. In the end, the bashing the ALP took was not as bad as feared at either level.
All good things take time…
Dear boy, you know I’ve got your measure4“Dear Boy” was one of Keating’s favourite ways to address Hewson in Parliament, intended as a patronising comment about their relative levels of experience.
I’ll take my time to take my pleasure
Well I’m gonna steam you like a lentil
I can be so soft and gentle
Boy, I know you want it fast
But I…
Keating / Hewson: I wanna make it last, ohh
I wanna do you slowly – holy moly –
I wanna turn you inside out, upside down and roundabout
Roll you round like a cannoli – roly poly –
Then it’ll feel so right
On election night
On election night
On election night
On election night
On election nighttttttt…5The 1993 election was held on March 13. Keating won handily.
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