Tea and Sympathy (album)/Comments - Music and Lyrics

Music and Lyrics

I realised about three songs into writing it how insulting that was to people who write country music ... someone like me trying to make a country record.

—Bernard Fanning

The country-folk-alternative blend on Tea & Sympathy formed a stark contrast to Powderfinger's last work, Vulture Street—the band's heaviest work yet. Initially intended to be a purely country album, Fanning abandoned the prospect shortly into the writing phase because he did not think he was able to make music of the quality he had expected. He thus turned to an amalgamation of country, rock, and folk elements. Fanning considered Powderfinger music to "always a song that just kind of grabs you" but doubted his album had similar elements; instead he focused on an album that as a whole would move the listener. The album is primarily acoustic—"Which Way Home?" a notable exception—and features fiddles and mandolins for backing music. The album centres on themes of love, in the context of the recent end to Fanning's relationship. Only three songs on the album exceed four minutes, while four are less than three minutes long; Fanning was critical of the "convention that a song should go on for 3, four minutes".

Opening track "Thrill is Gone" was written by Fanning as a joke about a hypothetical ending in his relation with rock music. The song is reminiscent of 70s country/folk Led Zeppelin, setting the mood for the rest of the album. Numerous songs on the album are influenced by Neil and Tim Finn; "Believe", "Sleeping Rough", "The Strangest Thing", and "Wish You Well" all have comparisons drawn to the brothers. "Not Finished Just Yet" and "Songbird", meanwhile, are reminiscent of Neil Young—a long-term Powderfinger influence. "Wish You Well", "Not Finished Just Yet", and "Yesterday's Gone" were noted as examples of "Fanning frankly prodding and probing matters of the heart" by dB.

On "Wash Me Clean", Fanning aimed to imitate Nick Drake; songs that "you to sleep because they've got so much air and space in them". This came as a contrast to the louder, more vocal Powderfinger work he was accustomed to. "Watch Over Me", released and promoted in support of Australian charity Youngcare, was one of the slowest and most emotional songs on the album—The Age's Daniel Ziffer described it as "emotionally wrenching". It was written alongside "Believe" following the 2005 Big Day Out. Sometimes construed as a relationships-based song, "Watch Over Me" was written by Fanning after watching Pope John Paul II's funeral. "Down To The River" was equally slow in portions, mixed in with sections of "searing, heart-rending pleading"—praised as the best song Fanning had written by musicOMH's Barnaby Smith.