Shona Laing: (Glad I'm) not a Kennedy (NZ Music Month)
A DigitalNZ Story by Zokoroa
A pictorial interpretation of Shona Laing's song "Glad I'm not a Kennedy" for NZ Music Month
Shona Laing's single '(Glad I'm) Not A Kennedy' got to number two on the NZ Singles Chart in August 1987 and stayed on the chart for eight weeks. It also reached number 14 on the American rock charts. In 2013 Laing was inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame.
LYRICS:
See lyrics for (Glad I'm) not a Kennedy to hum along to whilst viewing these images which illustrate each line.
White House, Washington, The U.S. Presidential Residence
Auckland Libraries
MILITARY TYPE, NO. 1: THE VENEZUELAN SOLDIER. A member of President Castto's Bodyguard. (Otago Witness, 28 January 1903)
National Library of New Zealand
Juvenile gannet
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Group beside felled tree
MTG Hawke's Bay
One of the lonely Graves
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
f Who appears m two new Master pictures, "The Clean Heart" and "Code of the Wilderness." (NZ Truth, 31 December 1925)
National Library of New Zealand
Two Men penitent in the Wilderness
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
![Image: Rosary beads, [Thomas George Quilter]](https://thumbnailer.digitalnz.org/?resize=770x&src=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ehive.com%2Faccounts%2F4033%2Fobjects%2Fimages%2Fqsihfn_9uvk_l.jpg&resize=368%253E "Rosary beads, [Thomas George Quilter]")
Rosary beads, [Thomas George Quilter]
Mataura Museum
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Street art and Imagine art
Christchurch City Libraries
Desperate Remedies
NZ On Screen
Supreme Sacrifice 11 Nov 2011
Kete Horowhenua
Untitled (Prophet)
Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui
South Seas Rosary
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Peace Logo
Alexander Turnbull Library
Human Rights Emergency sign
Kete Horowhenua
Fear
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Eastern Great Egret
iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao
POSTSCRIPT: Background to writing the Kennedy song
In a NZ Herald article (21 Nov 2013), Shona commented about Edward Kennedy: "He was standing in the presidential race and that was the first time I'd seen him, and he just looked so puffed up and horrible, and I actually just said those words out loud: 'God, glad I'm not a Kennedy.' And bells went off, whistles rang and I went straight out to the shed to write it, and it was done and dusted in half an hour. It poured out."
Accolades:
Shona received the New Zealand Music Awards Legacy Award for her outstanding contribution to music and was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2013. The Independent Music NZ (IMNZ) Classic Record Award is to be awarded to Shona Laing for her 1987 album South at the Taite Music Prize awards ‘ceremony’ on 20 April 2020. The album includes the track ‘(Glad I’m) Not A Kennedy’.
