Working Class Boy

Jimmy Barnes

Oct 2016 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

A household name, an Australian rock icon, the elder statesman of Ozrock - there isn't an accolade or cliche that doesn't apply to Jimmy Barnes. But long before Cold Chisel and Barnesy, long before the tall tales of success and excess, there was the true story of James Dixon Swan - a working class boy whose family made the journey from Scotland to Australia in search of a better life.

Working Class Boy is a powerful reflection on a traumatic and violent childhood, which fuelled the excess and recklessness that would define, but almost destroy, the rock'n'roll legend. This is the story of how James Swan became Jimmy Barnes. It is a memoir burning with the frustration and frenetic energy of teenage sex, drugs, violence and ambition for more than what you have.

Raw, gritty, compassionate, surprising and darkly funny - Jimmy Barnes's childhood memoir is at once the story of migrant dreams fulfilled and dashed. Arriving in Australia in the Summer of 1962, things went from bad to worse for the Swan family - Dot, Jim and their six kids. The scramble to manage in the tough northern suburbs of Adelaide in the 60s would take its toll on the Swans as dwindling money, too much alcohol, and fraying tempers gave way to violence and despair. This is the story a family's collapse, but also a young boy's dream to escape the misery of the suburbs with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to join a rock'n'roll band and get out of town for good.

Ratings and reviews

Thank you for sharing the good the bad and the ugly. You survived. You will never know the people this book will help. Thank you for just letting it be the raw story it was...... peace and love back at you.

I loved this book. I see similarities in my own life. Loved reading the story behind one of my favorite musicians who has provided part of the sound track to my life. Thank you.

Interesting and at times heart breaking read. Got a bit repetitive towards the end as the cycle of violence and drinking continued, but worthwhile read all the same.

About the author

Jimmy Barnes is a Scottish-born rock singer-songwriter who grew up in Adelaide. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist of the legendary band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most successful and distinctive artists in Australian music history. A prolific songwriter and performer, Jimmy has been a storyteller for more than forty years, sharing his life and passions with Australians of all ages at over ten thousand gigs throughout his adopted homeland. As a solo artist, and with Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes has amassed more number one albums in Australia than The Beatles. In his own right - with his iconic 1986 album, For the Working Class Man, his classic soul album, Soul Deep, Blue Christmas and many others - Jimmy has achieved the remarkable record of fifteen solo number-one albums, as well as six with Cold Chisel. Across his career Jimmy has sold over 12 million albums and he has been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame twice. Jimmy's childhood memoir, Working Class Boy, became a number one bestseller and won the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Biography of the Year in 2017. His sequel, Working Class Man, won him a second ABIA for Biography of the Year in 2018. He is the only author to win back-to-back ABIAs for a non-fiction title. Having sold more than 600,000 copies, the books have become Australian classics and established Jimmy as one of our finest storytellers. The Stories & Songs live production, based on the memoirs, sold out more than a hundred shows, attracted unanimous critical acclaim and inspired the documentary film Working Class Boy, which topped the box office in late 2018. In 2021 Jimmy published two more bestsellers -- Rosie the Rhinoceros (a children's picture book with illustrator, Matt Shanks) and Where the River Bends (a cookbook co-written with Jane Barnes). Jimmy lives in New South Wales, with his wife, Jane.