Paul Kelly - Rita Wrote A Letter (Official Video)

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Description

From Paul's upcoming album 'SEVENTY'
Pre-order here - https://PaulKelly.lnk.to/SEVENTY

Director: Imogen McCluskey
Creative Producer: Jessica Carrera / Dollhouse Pictures
Executive Producer: Siân Darling
Director of Photography and Cinematography: Lucca BP

CAST
Rita: Justine Clarke
Sally: Niam Hogan
Sammy: Wylder Holiday

Production Designer: Emma Rose White
Hair & Make Up: Annabel Barton
Costume: Maia Liakos
Lighting & Gaffer: Mirco Guidon / Shaping Light
Grip: Jonathan Scott / Misfit Grips
First AC: Irisha Adnyana
Best Boy: Henry Anderson / Shaping Light
1st AD: Eric Zac Perry
Stills Photographer: Monique Placko
Casting: Leigh Pickford
Producer Assistant: Juliana Carrera
Production Assistant: Deborah Faye Lee
Props Assistants: Mia MacCormick, Alice Vance, Bronte Hunt, Ella Wilkinson

Post Production: Michaela Fenton
Editor: Phoebe Taylor
Colourist: Charlotte Wilson Lee
Panavision: Nicolas Godoy

We acknowledge the Wangal and Cadigal/Gadigal clans of the Dharug people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the video for 'Rita Wrote A Letter' was made.

LYRICS
RITA WROTE A LETTER
I really don’t know how I’m talking
Six feet down and under the clay
The laws of nature forbid it
But I was never good with rules anyway
The day I walked out of prison
I knew that I was still in stir
For the crime committed I was still doing time
Behind the walls between me and her

Rita wrote a letter
I keep it with me every day
Rita wrote a letter
And this is what she had to say
She said, ‘Joe I’m really sorry
But me and Dan, our love is here to stay
With the kids it’s getting better
And now a little baby’s on the way’

Well, they took me back on at the restaurant
But the new cook there had stolen my game
They put me on the dishes and the pots and pans
I was happy being busy again
And every night when I came home
With my back and feet all aching sore
I‘d lay there in Mary’s spare room
Tossing ‘til the break of dawn

Oh, Rita wrote a letter
One you don’t want to get from your wife
When Rita writes a letter
The pen is sharper than the knife
She said, ‘Joe, I gave you good chances
But half a year turned into two
You could never hold your temper
And you always made it all about you'

Oh, the phone calls they started to dwindle
Once they moved further up the coast
Those silences that dragged on forever
I couldn’t find the words I needed the most
One day I went to see an old friend
And I brought a little package home
For old times’ sake sweet oblivion
But some things you shouldn’t do alone

Yeah, Rita wrote a letter
I’m still hugging it under the clay
Rita wrote a letter
Deep down I know it’s better this way
And maybe she and Dan feel guilty
And the children sometimes cry at night
But I made my bed, I’m lying in it
And I know they’re gonna be alright

Oh, Rita wrote a letter
I will always love her
Be the ghost above her
Hover all around her
But Dan, I don’t forgive you
Oh, I didn’t mean to say that
It’s just my mind it plays up
Multiplies each matter

Written by Paul and Dan Kelly (Sony Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd)

Peter Luscombe – Drums and percussion
Bill McDonald – Bass
Dan Kelly – Electric guitar
Ashley Naylor – Slide guitar
Cameron Bruce – Piano, Hammond organ and Mellotron
Paul Kelly – Vocal, harmony vocal and acoustic guitar

Recorded by Callum Cusick and Chris Townend at Frying Pan Studios, MONA, February 20, 2024
Assisted by Eliza Bird
Mixed by Steven Schram