I want to stand with you on a mountain
I want to bathe with you in the sea
I want to lay like this forever
Until the sky falls down on me
I want to bathe with you in the sea
I want to lay like this forever
Until the sky falls down on me
Savage Garden (1994 - 2001) were an Australian duo, consisting of Darren Hayes (the brunette) as vocalist and Daniel Jones (the blond) as instrumentalist, whose brand of soft-rock mixed with straightforward pop was a surprise international hit as the 1990s exited the Grunge/Gangsta Rap era and re-embraced bubblegum pop. Though they only released two studio albums (in an era where artists didn't shell out an Updated Re-release to tide fans over), they had many successful singles including "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", "Truly Madly Deeply" and "I Knew I Loved You", and maintain a cult following to this day.
After splitting in 2001, Darren Hayes continued with a solo career to some success.
Discography:
- Savage Garden (1997)
- Affirmation (1999)
- Truly Madly Deeply: The Best of Savage Garden (2005)
"Tropely, Madly, Deeply":
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The "chicka cherry cola" line in "I Want You".
- Ambiguously Gay: Darren Hayes, before he officially came out around 2005-ish.
- Anaphora: The Title Track from Affirmation is a series of (sometimes controversial) statements preceded by "I believe".
- Anti-Love Song: "Gunning Down Romance".
- Broken Bird: The girl described in "To The Moon And Back" fits this to a tee.
- Domestic Abuse: "Two Beds And A Coffee Machine" is about a woman and her child dealing with the aftermath of domestic abuse.
- Divergent Character Evolution: The song "She" started as a sparse piano song in 1994 (released years later on The Singles), had new Spanish-influenced music written for its 1995 demo (leaked) and the music of said 1995 demo was reworked for a totally new song "I'll Bet He Was Cool" (a B-side) in 1996. Whilst the 1994 and 1996 recordings stand alone, the 1995 shows their link.
- Grief Song: "You Can Still Be Free".
- In the Style of: From the first LP, "Violet" in the style of INXS and "Break Me Shake Me" is in the style of Michael Jackson (HIstory era).
- From "Affirmation", "I Knew I Loved You" is deliberately in the style of a Backstreet Boys ballad - it was initially a jab at the record company's demand for a commercial hit...then ended up stereotyping the band.
- "I Want" Song: "The Animal Song" expresses the singer's desire to live a more natural, stress-free way of life'Cause I want to live like animalsCareless and free like animals
- List Song: "Affirmation" is a list of things that the lead singer believes in.
- Little Bit Beastly: Both male and female versions appear in the "Crash and Burn" video, which include, but not limited to: Fireflies, Ostriches, and Spiders.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "Promises".
- Motor Mouth: "I Want You" is a prime example. The few clear lyrics, "Chick-a-cherry cola", are often mistaken for the title.
- Shout-Out: Savage Garden was named for a line in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles:The mind of each man is a savage garden.
- Overcrank: Often used in their videos, especially in "Truly Madly Deeply".
- Silly Love Songs: A whole lot of them. It was what they were known for in the eyes of the general public, even though they had recorded harder-edged pop-rock songs like "Break Me, Shake Me" or "Memories Are Designed to Fade". To a general audience, they were basically The '90s' answer to Air Supply. Not too surprising, given they worked with Charles Fisher who produced for that group.
- It should be noted, that most of the silly love songs had Ambiguous Genders, which could be applied to just about any kind of relationship, Sans for a few songs, like "I Knew I Loved You".
- The first album really only has Truly Madly Deeply and Santa Monica to fit this description, but Affirmation has a whole lot more, due to the band aiming for a radio hit. "I Knew I Loved You" was frequently mistaken for the Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC when it came out, such is its overt poppishness.
- It should be noted, that most of the silly love songs had Ambiguous Genders, which could be applied to just about any kind of relationship, Sans for a few songs, like "I Knew I Loved You".
- Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Apart from the chorus, the only lyric most people know from "I Want You" is "chicka cherry cola".
- Special Guest: A young Kirsten Dunst plays the Love Interest in the "I Knew I Loved You" video.
- Stock Shout-Outs: The chord progression from "I Want You" has become a staple of Electronic Music's romantic side as one of the go-to riffs for upbeat and slightly nostalgic Silly Love Songs and their trance equivalents.
- Video Full of Film Clips: The video for "The Animal Song" is intercut with clips from the Juliette Lewis movie The Other Sister.
- You Are Not Alone/A Friend in Need: "Crash and Burn".
- Zeerust: The video of "I Want You".
