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’ve made a habit of collecting clocks1Keating’s hobby of collecting antique clocks has been the subject of much mockery from both the Opposition and the media, and is often cited as evidence of his perceived ‘elitism’.
Sleek antiques with ticks and tocks
Didn’t you ever wonder why?
I hear the seconds as a perfect space
Pushed together in relentless pace
The beat of a moment passing by
And every face is like the moon to me
Full of hope and opportunity
Pulled in the orbit of its hands
My tide is high and my chance is nigh
I’ve got to take it and you know why
Somewhere inside you, there’s a man that understands:
It’s time! Time, the revelator,2‘It’s Time’ was famously the slogan of Gough Whitlam’s Labor Party when they were elected to government in 1972 after a record 23 years in Opposition – a government which Keating was a member of.
Destroyer and creator,
No-one gets to wait on time!
Time to start afresh,
We know we’re only flesh and bone
And so it’s precious time!
Whoa, it’s time!
The Opposition take a different tack
They wind it down and they turn it back
They don’t like to hear that sound
But time is slipping past them everyday
Just like “The Picture of Dorian Gray”3‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is a famous story by Oscar Wilde, in which the titular portrait ages and experiences in the place of its subject. When the picture is destroyed, all that it has borne comes flooding back to Gray.
And it’s they, they who come unwound
Keating / Hawke: For evolution needs time to move
Just like a drummer beats time to groove
And it never can stand still
Keating: The revolution of a second hand
Is the solution that I must demand
A change is gonna come now,4Keating challenged Hawke a second time on December 19, 1991. This time, he was victorious, 56 votes to 51.
You know it always will
Keating / Hawke: in time!
Keating: time is of the essence
I know that it’s unpleasant
But no time like the present time!
Time won’t be denied
And though you try to hide
You know it’s on my side
Hawke: It’s time!
Time to make a break, it’s
Time for you to take it,
Whip it out and shake it,
Keating / Hawke: Time!
Keating: time and time again,
You might have dug the venue,
Now you’re on the menu,
Time!
Oh, it’s time!
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