It's our best ... do, do, do, do, do

By RUSSELL BAILLIE entertainment editor

Its chorus might consist of only one word. And it's not actually a word, it's a "do" repeated many, many times.

But that hasn't stopped Nature - the psychedelic pop ode to letting the mind wander while walking in the bush - being voted the best New Zealand song.

A number one hit in 1969, written by Wayne Mason while a member of the band Fourmyula, revived in the mid-90s by the Mutton Birds, and now an ad jingle for dairy products, Nature beat the widely tipped favourites, Neil Finn's Don't Dream It's Over and Dave Dobbyn's Loyal.

The best 10 songs were announced tonight at the 2001 Apra Silver Scroll Awards.

Members of Apra (the Australasian Performing Right Association) and a guest academy voted for the best song as part of the organisation's 75th anniversary.

Mason, now a solo singer-songwriter after leaving the Warratahs, performed his winning song with the Mutton Birds at the awards ceremony before 750 guests at the ASB Stadium in Kohimarama.

While Mason's song took the top spot, Dobbyn's five-song showing in the top 30 - including a number three for Loyal and number seven for Slice of Heaven - probably confirms him as our greatest popular songwriter.

As well as winning the number two spot with Don't Dream It's Over, the international hit that launched Crowded House internationally and voted number seven in an equivalent Australian event, Neil Finn had I Got You at 11 and Weather With You ( co-written with brother Tim) at 16.

Tim Finn had three entries from his Split Enz days - Six Months In A Leaky Boat(5), I Hope I Never (25), I See Red (28).

Meanwhile, the silver scroll for the song of the year went to Neil Finn for Turn and Run, a track from his last solo album One Nil. Finn's Don't Dream It's Over also won the most performed work overseas, while Fur Patrol's Julia Deans won the most performed work in New Zealand for the hit Lydia, the only song from this young decade in the top 30. Gillian Whitehead won the Sounz Contemporary award for her The Improbable Ordered Dance.

Among the 11 live performances of the evening attended by Prime Minster Helen Clark, Transport Minister Mark Gosche stunned many by drumming with country singer Al Hunter on a version of Loyal - mainly because no one realised the ballad needed drums.

* The top 30 New Zeland songs of all time ...

1. Nature,Wayne Mason (Fourmyula, 1969)

2.Don't Dream It's Over, Neil Finn (Crowded House, 1987)

3.Loyal, Dave Dobbyn (1988)

4. Counting The Beat, Phil Judd/Mark Hough/ Wayne Stevens (The Swingers, 1981)

5.Six Months In A Leaky Boat, Tim Finn (Split Enz, 1982)

6.Sway, Bic Runga (1997)

7.Slice Of Heaven, Dave Dobbyn (Dave Dobbyn with Herbs, 1986)

8. Victoria, Jordan Luck (Dance Exponents, 1982)

9.She Speeds, Shayne Carter (StraitjacketFits, 1987)

10. April Sun In Cuba Paul Hewson/Marc Hunter (Dragon, 1978)

11. I Got You, Neil Finn (Split Enz, 1980)

12. Whaling, Dave Dobbyn (DD Smash, 1984)

13. Not Given Lightly, Chris Knox (1990)

14. Pink Frost, Martin Phillipps (The Chills, 1984)

15. Jesus I Was Evil, Darcy Clay (1997)

16. Weather With You, Tim Finn/Neil Finn (Crowded House, 1991)

17. Blue Smoke, Ruru Karaitiana (Pixie Williams and the Ruru Karaitiana Quartet, 1949)

18. Dance All Around the World, Corben Simpson, Geoff Murphy (Blerta, 1972)

19. Lydia, Julia Deans (Fur Patrol, 2000)

20. Blue Lady, Graham Brazier (Hello Sailor, 1977)

21. Drive, Bic Runga (1996)

22. Chains, Che Fu/DLT/Angus McNaughton/

Kevin Rangihuna (1996)

23. Dominion Road, Don McGlashan (Muttonbirds, 1993)

24. Glad I'm Not a Kennedy, Shona Laing (1986)

25. I Hope I Never, Tim Finn (Split Enz, 1980)

26. Tears, Fane Flaws/Arthur Baysting (Crocodiles, 1980)

27. Be Mine Tonight, Dave Dobbyn/Ian Morris (Th'Dudes,1978)

28. I See Red, Tim Finn (Split Enz, 1979)

29. Beside You, Dave Dobbyn (1998)

30. Home Again, Karl Kippenberger/Tom Larkin/
Phil Knight/Jon Toogood (Shihad, 1997)