Versions

Version	Length	Source	Availability
Studio	4:44	Mark Seymour Embedded album.	Moderately common. Available new in CD and digital form.

Recommended Version.

Commentary

“Made Man” is an ode to Mark’s ‘friend’ Rupert Murdoch. Despite owning Festival Mushroom Records (FMR) and Mark being on the label for twenty years, Rupert did not have anything to do with Mark Seymour. After departing FMR, Mark wrote this ode to his made man ‘friend’. Does the made man have a heart?

From Mark’s site:

Tony has moved strategically through various positions in the music industry. The corporations he has worked for have collapsed or flourished depending on the vagaries of the global market. But Tony has an uncanny instinct for self- preservation. He is seemingly untouchable. People love him. Musicians in particular. He has the affable nature of a light weight pop star…He likes to get trashed now and then which makes his company all the more endearing and he delights the heavier bands he signs with his wicked sense of humour. Tony never gets too worked up about anything in particular, except sales performance. He’s damn good at selling records and he signs his artists accordingly. His career to date has been exceptional.

One day he gets THE CALL. The company he works for has been purchased by a mogul who is looking for someone to elevate to a crucial managerial position. Someone who is tough, responsible, and utterly capable of kicking heads hard when brutality is required. Tony has been noticed. The new job is his. His salary triples. Within a week his career has been ‘made’. With the sheer scale of this new package, he has become untouchable.

Tony lives in a large Victorian home in Kew with his beautiful wife Catherine and their two sons Liam and Caleb who both attend the local Steiner school. Tony is very happy.

Lyrics

I never paid him much attention
He was a private kind of man
He never gave a lot away to me
But he must have had it all laid out from the start

He’s on the television every night
People talk about him all the time
Makes me wonder what I’ve been doing all these years
To lose that friend of mine

He’s a made man
He wears that badge of honour
He’s a made man
Everything fell right into place
He’s a made man
He’s got the numbers to prove it
And the girl on his arm has perfect taste

People come and go in your life
I don’t care much anymore
I count my friends on one hand at a time
Try to keep the wolf from the door

What goes around comes around every time
And gossip won’t change the behaviour
Of anyone who’s got an axe to grind
And it won’t bring back that friend of mine

He’s a made man
He wears that badge of honour
He’s a made man
Everything fell right into place
He’s a made man
He’s got the numbers to prove it
And the girl on his arm has perfect taste

So if you’ve got that Midas touch
Be careful not to care too much
For friends just have that certain way
Of holding on too long

He’s a made man
He wears that badge of honour
He’s a made man
Everything fell right into place
He’s a made man
He’s got the numbers to prove it
And the girl on his arm has perfect taste

I never paid him much attention
He was a private kind of man
He never gave a lot away to me
But he must have had it all laid out from the start

He’s on the television every night
People talk about him all the time
Makes me wonder what I’ve been doing all these years
To lose that friend of mine