Single:
History Never Repeats entered the Australian singles chart* on 30 March 1981 and peaked at #4. It was #43 on the Top 100 of 1981.
Album:
The song is on Corroboree** which entered the Australian albums chart* on 13 April 1981 and peaked at #1.
Songwriter:
Neil Finn
Producer:
David Tickle
Record label of Australian release:
Mushroom
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
**More about the album name below.
Live at the MCG, Melbourne, in 2009:
Wikipedia – the album:
Waiata was released as Corroboree in Australia in March 1981. Waiata is the Māori term for song and singing. According to Noel Crombie the intention was to name the album using a word from the natives of every country it was released in. This did not go ahead and the only country to adopt this change was Australia. The rest of the world kept the New Zealand title Waiata.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiata_(album)
Songfacts:
Split Enz had a striking visual presentation and a tendency to dress like circus clowns. This combined for some very interesting music videos that got good airplay in much of the world but not in the US, where there was nowhere to show them. That changed when MTV went on the air on 1 August 1981, a few months after History Never Repeats was released on the Waiata album.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/split-enz/history-never-repeats
Lyrics:
History never repeats
I tell myself before I go to sleep
Don’t say the words you might regret
I lost before, you know I can’t forget
Click for full lyrics
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