Original music and lyrics by Darren Venn. (Song available on Apple Music, Spotify. Just search "Darren Venn Chrissy")
In America it's important to put on a show of happiness. We paint our faces happy and we die in private. So nobody would know that January 2023 was possibly the lowest point of my life. Nobody would know that I was completely broken. You would not know because I hid it well, because that's what you do in America. You post a smiling picture, preferably at the beach, or with a golden retriever. Because if everyone else believes you're happy then it must be true.
Nobody would know that my sister's voice came to me at that time, loud and strong, and she insisted I write this song for her. Chrissy's life was turbulent. She started childhood with undiagnosed mental health issues, then became anorexic as a teen, following with alcohol and drug abuse as an adult. She died in Surfers Paradise, where she was a sex worker.
It's 12 years since Chrissy passed, and her memory is fading, so nobody knows how beautiful she was, and how much she just wanted to be loved. And most people would forget how she asked the same questions her whole life, and never got a good answer, simply because she asked the wrong questions.
And nobody would know of the special bond we formed, as teenagers, when we felt alone and isolated on the Gold Coast, and we just had each other to go out with, and dance all night, and have fun.
People always like to look on us and hold me up as a success and Chrissy as a failure. But this is not true. She surpassed me in so many ways, and nobody saw that. Nobody saw how much we are exactly alike, how we are molded from the same clay. She is just like me.
Chrissy couldn't see that the world loved her. Because she simply asked the wrong questions. So I will sing for her so everyone knows. We love you Chrissy. We love you.
(Special thanks to Nina and Lee for the inspiration of Hillside House. I didn't know if I would ever share this song, but their immense creativity pushed me finish it.)
