Back in the Hole (cover)

The Single

Released In: [Australia / NZ]

Release Date: June 1994.

Australian Chart Position: #105 (ARIA) / [Did Not Enter] (AMR).

Single Availability: Moderately rare.

Value: A$6-A$20.

Single also includes Yes Man and Too Good Looking To Lose.

Versions

Version	Length	Source	Availability
Studio [1]	4:30	Demon Flower album.	Extremely common. Available new in CD and digital form.
Studio [1]	4:27	Natural Selection / Greatest Hits album and video.	Extremely common. Available new in CD, CD/DVD, DVD and digital form.
Studio [1]	4:30	Australian Back In The Hole single.	Moderately rare. Not available new.
Studio [1]	4:30	Anthology album.	Moderately common. Available new in digital form.
Studio [2] Demo	3:23	1993 08 06 Demon Flower Demos T2 Cassette.	The Vault digital download at True Believers, 5 April 2015.
Live Acoustic [1]	4:07	Living In Large Rooms & Lounges album.	Extremely common. Available new in CD and digital form.
Live Acoustic [2]	3:37	Mark Seymour Titanic album.	Moderately common. Available new in CD and digital form.
Live Acoustic [3]	4:16	Raw Material #14 1996 05 26 Continental Cafe album.	The Vault Desk Tape streaming audio.
Live [1]	4:21	Under One Roof / Greatest Hits Live album and video.	Extremely common. Available new in CD, DVD and digital form.
Live [2]	4:30	Live 2014 digital album (2014 version).	Moderately rare. Not available new.
Live [2]	5:30	Live 2014 box set – Enmore 2 album.	Extremely rare. Not available new.
Live [3]	6:01	Live 2014 digital album (2017 version).	Moderately common. Available new in digital form.
Live [3]	6:01	Live 2014 box set – Palais 2 album.	Extremely rare. Not available new.
Live [4]	3:40	Mark Seymour From Bondi to Bedlam video.	Moderately common. Available new in DVD and digital form.
Live [5]	4:08	Mark Seymour Roll Back The Stone album.	Moderately common. Available new in CD and digital form.
Live [6]	5:21	Raw Material #13 1994 01 06 Transformers album.	The Vault Desk Tape streaming audio.
Live [7]	4:33	1994 01 09 Playroom, Tallebudgera (2nd Night), Qld, Australia DAT.	The Vault digital download at True Believers, 13 December 2015.
Live [8]	4:41	Raw Material #15 1998 01 05 Seagulls album.	The Vault Desk Tape streaming audio.

 Recommended Version.

Commentary

Comments from the “Natural Selection” liner notes (by Mark Seymour):

Victorian politics. A prison warden arrives home from Pentridge where the inmates have been kept in ‘lock-down’ for the previous twenty-four hours. This state of affairs is a direct result of government cost cutting. The prison system is about to be privatised. A Melbourne daily newspaper is interviewing the warden. He insists on anonymity for fear of losing his job. At the end of each shift he sits in his car in the driveway and waits for the waves of frustration to pass.

Lyrics

When the day shift is over
There’ll be fear in the pipeline tonight.
All the prisoners are restless
Locked up from dusk to daylight

Well how can you blame them?
I get pretty close myself sometimes…
I know the score, I know the feeling
Isolation for canteen crimes

Still I gotta keep my shirt on
Gotta wait for the nerves to unwind
I gotta get control again
Gotta let the blood boil in my mind

But you don’t take it out on your children
Honey I won’t take my work home tonight
On the weekend I’m gonna have a good one
‘Cos I’ll be back in the hole in the morning light

When the schoolboy’s witch hunt is over
He’s gonna tell us that the system is wrong
But I’ll still be working in the cold Coburg air
We’ve had it too easy for too long

I’m on my way home now
To face up to the rest of my life
Hot water and a home cooked meal
And send kind regards to my wife

But you don’t take it out on your children
Honey I won’t take my work home tonight
On the weekend I’m gonna have a good one
‘Cos I’ll be back in the hole in the morning light