Usually known for politically-charged tunes like 77%, The King Is Dead and I Was Only 19 with The Herd, Sydney rapper Urthboy has released Nambucca Boy, a tribute to Phillip Hughes as the first anniversary of the former Test batsman's death approaches.
Friday marks one year since Hughes died in a Sydney hospital two days after he was struck in the side of the head by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield clash at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The sparse piano-based track traces Hughes' rise from a precocious young bat from the NSW north coast making his Shield debut, to becoming the youngest man to score twin tons in a Test match in South Africa in 2009 and finally his fateful final innings when a recall to the Australian side seemed assured:
"The kid was seeing them like basketballs,
The summer that he would be recalled,
Feet moving and a better balance on the shorter ball,
Scoring freely, barely getting caught at all."
An essay on junkee.com announcing the track's release said Urthboy, whose real name is Tim Levinson, wrote the song after seeing the glow of the SCG lights from his car following Hughes' passing.
"They're in the middle that November night,
Let the groundsman turn on the lights,
The radio reports saying that the batsman died,
So let the groundsman turn on the lights....
Grown men crying at traffic lights,
And everywhere there were bats outside,
So let the groundsman turn on the lights."
Nambucca Boy is the second taste of new music from Urthboy released this month following the premiere of single Long Loud Hours last week.
His most recent solo album, 2012's well-received Smokey's Haunt, peaked at No.14 on the ARIA charts.
