What About Me

"What About Me" is a song written by Garry Frost and Frances Swan. It was first recorded by Australian rock band Moving Pictures, of which Garry Frost was a member, for its 1981 debut album, Days of Innocence. It became the band's first and only number-one single in Australia, spending six weeks atop the Kent Music Report; it was the second-highest-selling single of 1982 there. At the 1982 Countdown Music Awards, the song won Best Australian Single. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "What About Me" was ranked number 37. The success of the song in Australia led to its American release. "What About Me" subsequently reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, ending 1983 as the 88th-most-successful single of the year in the US. The song re-charted in 1989, reaching number 46. In January 2004, Australian Idol season 1 runner-up Shannon Noll released a cover of the song that topped Australia's ARIA Singles Chart for four weeks and ended the year as Australia's most successful single. Noll's version was also a surprise hit in Ireland, where it debuted and peaked at number two in October 2004. Background Frost wrote the song when he was working with autistic children in his day job. He had gone out to get lunch at his local shop in the Sydney suburb of Asquith and saw a small boy not being noticed waiting at the counter. He was sufficiently moved by the vision to write the song. The song was rarely played live by the band; when it was, it was played in a modern country style. It would never have been recorded but their debut album's producer Charles Fisher heard Frost and Smith tinkering with the tune on the studio piano during a break in recording. Fisher suggested that Moving Pictures record the song. It was initially released as a single in January 1982. Chart performance The song debuted on Australia's Kent Music Report in February 1982 and reached number one five weeks later, where it remained for six weeks, going on to become the second biggest-selling single in Australia for 1982 (behind Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger"). It went on to win the "Best Single" award at the 1982 Countdown Music Awards. The song was also a top 20 hit in New Zealand, debuting at number 46 in June 1982 and peaking at number 17 six weeks later. It remained in the top 50 for a further five weeks.