Take 5 with Zan Rowe: Oct 24

Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes sits down on Take 5 with Zan Rowe to talk about the music that made him, taking him from a tough childhood, onto the biggest stages in Australia.

He comes to the show armed with 5 songs that he used to build “Jimmy Barnes”. “That’s what musicians do. You find your own voice through these influences”

The songs lead us through his early years, the wild days of Cold Chisel, and ultimately to self-realization and being comfortable in his own skin.

It is one hell of a journey; “I was going through it in an industry that wanted me to be wild, it wanted me to be crazy it wanted me to be reckless. It wanted me to be killing myself. The more I did it the more people liked me”

“I had to come off stage at some point and when I did, I had to face life.”

Jimmy opens up about aging and having a new understanding of what being a real man is. It’s a fascinating conversation about finding solace between the dark and the light, as an artist and as a human being.

If you grew up in Australia, it’s pretty much guaranteed at some point you’ve been on a dancefloor and sung Kha Sahn as the lights got turned on or found yourself belting out Flame Trees on a solo country drive. Jimmy Barnes is part of the fabric that binds us.

8pm Tuesday on ABC.