Come Midnight

Album: Andrew Farriss (2019)
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Songfacts®:

  • At age 60, INXS founder Andrew Farriss released his first solo single, "Come Midnight." It's a country song, veering off from the pop and rock music he's known for. Farriss worked up the song as an INXS track but without the embellishments of modern music. Instead of putting dance grooves and beats on it, he decided to make it a country song, which set the course for his new musical direction.

    Farriss has worked in the country milieu before: he produced the 2001 album Big Sky Country for the Australian country singer Tania Kernaghan.
  • Farriss' wife Marlina, an American who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, was an inspiration for this song, which finds Andrew offering his support in good times and in bad. Marlina used the unfinished version of the song as her wake-up sound and encouraged him to finish it.
  • Farriss owns a cattle ranch in New South Wales, Australia, which is where he shot the video. He went with a cowboy theme, combining imagery from the American Old West and frontier times in Australia. "There is some Americana in the setup, but there's also some Australiana," he told Songfacts. "In that respect, the Old West and Australian history are similar: We're both young countries compared to Europe or parts of Asia. The United States is a bit further down the track and a lot more powerful than Australia, but our histories are quite a bit similar in that back end."

    In the video, a young rider is racing against the clock. The story continues in the video for Farriss' next single, "Good Momma Bad."
  • The videos for "Come Midnight" and "Good Momma Bad" were edited and directed by Duncan Toombs of The Filmery. "These videos were filmed on Andrew's property with a group of family friends who have all never acted in anything before," he told Songfacts. "It was an amazing couple of days with everyone giving their absolute best to create something awesome. Finishing these videos left me wanting to film a feature film with horses and 'the real deal' stockman and women just like the crew we had. All of these guys and girls can actually ride!"

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