Cloudland

Описание: Cloudland

Written and produced by Michael Stewart

Some places exist not only as buildings but as emotions.

That is the spirit captured in my lyric about Cloudland Ballroom, once one of the most remarkable entertainment venues in Brisbane.

The song begins with a simple but powerful reflection:
“I lived in a time of classical sounds
It was free of troubles…
Saturday nights dancing inflight
I used to feel the heat under my feet.”

Those lines immediately evoke the atmosphere of Cloudland during its golden years. Opened in 1940 on Bowen Hills overlooking Brisbane, the ballroom was famous for its sweeping Art Deco curves and enormous polished dance floor. People climbed a dramatic external staircase into what felt like another world. Once inside, orchestras played while couples danced beneath glowing lights.

The chorus of the lyric captures both pride and loss:
“The new world won
Oh Cloudland shone
A dancing ballroom memories undone.”

In 1982 the ballroom was suddenly demolished overnight, reportedly without much public warning, to make way for a hotel project.

For many locals, the demolition felt abrupt and unnecessary. The building that had hosted dances, concerts, and celebrations for over forty years disappeared in a matter of hours.
The lyric reflects that shock:
“The man gave a speech and that was it all done
Progress cast down Cloudland…
Those people took down Cloudland tore her all down.”

The use of “her” to describe the building is telling. In the song, Cloudland is not simply architecture; it is a living symbol of a cultural moment.

That musical history appears beautifully in the outro:
“Yes it does from Beethoven to rock’n’roll.”
With that line, the lyric reminds us that Cloudland was a bridge between eras.

This image captures the magic remembered by many who attended dances there.

Yet the song does not end entirely in sadness. Instead, it imagines a different reality:
“In the perfect world
Cloudland shines
A dancing ballroom memories remain.”

Here I offers a gentle kind of restoration. Even if the building is gone, the memory of Cloudland survives through stories, photographs, and songs like this one.

I lived through the history of cloudland. My mother who as a young woman danced the night away and the song is therefore both a tribute and reflection and her days but of course of Brisbane. It reminds us that cultural landmarks are not only about bricks and steel. They are about the music played inside them, the people who danced there, and the nights that seemed to last forever.

And somewhere in Brisbane’s collective memory, beneath imaginary neon lights, Cloudland still shines.

LYRIC:

I lived in a time of classical sounds
It was a free of troubles
It was
Saturday nights dancing inflight
I used to feel the heat under my feet
Now those times have changed
Less is more, when they took away the beat

The new world won
Oh cloudland shone
A dancing ballroom memories undone
Taken away one night
Cloudland shone as bright over city neon lights
Yeah
As it did and she existed before rock’n’roll

Cloudland shone
Dancing all night
It was more than alright
Dancing all night
Cast aside for a hotel how can that be
No real plan
No plan surely not tonight
Cloudland shone
What can we do

The man gave a speech and that was it all done
Progress cast down cloudland
(Down cloudland)
Those people
Took down cloudland tore her all down
No one rejoiced memories left to die
(stormy days ahead)
Until the hotel that is, is cast down
All gone
Replaced by cloudland oh yeah

The new world won
Oh cloudland shone
A dancing ballroom memories undone
Take away one night
Cloudland shone as bright over city neon lights
Yeah
As it did and she existed before rock’n’roll

Cloudland shone
Dancing all night
It was more than alright
Dancing all night
Cast aside for a hotel how can that be
No real plan
No plan surely not tonight
Cloudland shone
What can we do

All night every Saturday
Cloudland shone
Day or night under her dome
Coloured in red orange blue
Cloudland shone a link to a time now gone
Mmmm
Her time bought by the highest bidder

The new world won
Oh cloudland shone
A dancing ballroom memories undone
Take away one night
Cloudland shone as bright over city neon lights
Yeah
As it did and she existed before rock’n’roll

In the perfect world
Cloudland shines
No pain
A dancing ballroom memories remain
Dance away the night
Cloudland shines as bright over city neon lights
Yeah
Yes it does from Beethoven to rock’n’roll
Dance away the night
Cloudland shines as bright over city neon lights
Yeah
Yes it does from Beethoven to rock’n’roll
Dance away the night
Cloudland shines as bright over city neon lights
Yeah
Yes it does from Beethoven to rock’n’roll

END