The Story Behind the One Song Olivia Newton-John Wrote With Keith Urban

In the early 2000s, a songwriting retreat was held at the castle owned by record executive Miles Copeland, brother of the Police‘s Stewart Copeland and former manager of the band. Within the group of invitees were Olivia Newton-John and Keith Urban, who admitted to feeling like a “fanboy” when they first met.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m meeting Olivia Newton-John,’ and it was surreal to meet her,” remembered Urban. “And she couldn’t have been more down-to-earth, kind, friendly, warm, funny—everything I thought she would be; she was exactly that. And then we got to write a little more over the years.”

During the retreat, the two soon discovered that they were reading the same book, In a Sunburned Country. Written by American author Bill Bryson, the 2001 book is a humorous and insightful look at the inhabitants and landscapes of the continent of Australia. The novel inspired Urban and Newton-John to co-write and record a song together of the same name.

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“Sunburned Country”

“Sunburned Country” appears on Newton-John’s 2002 duets album (2), and is a tribute to their upbringing in Australia and their devotion to their sunburned country—Forever will be home to me / Oh that’s where my heart is truly free.

I carry her with me
I carry her pride
Whenever I speak her name
My soul it comes alive

She taught me to be strong
She taught me to fight
And I am who I am today
Because she raised me right

In a sunburned country
Her magic and her mystery
In a sunburned country
Forever will be home to me
Oh, that’s where my heart is truly free

The creeks and the rivers
The dust and the mud
All of us understand
This land gets in your blood

Newton-John later re-recorded “Sunburned Country” for her 2008 album, Olivia Newton-John & Friends: A Celebration in Song. 

Urban and Newton-John’s friends lasted for decades until her death in 2022 from cancer at age 73. Newton-John was even responsible for introducing Urban to his future wife, Nicole Kidman, during a G’Day LA event in 2005, where he was being honored. That night, Urban was asked if he wanted anyone in particular to introduce him, and he chose Newton-John.

“I had just written with Olivia, so I asked Olivia if she would do it for me, so she was the person who introduced me that night, that fateful night when I met my wife,” said Urban. “So she holds that very special role in our past.”

He added, “Olivia is one of those people that for so many Australians, particularly, has just always been part of the fabric of life. She was there in the ’70s and has kinda just been there for all of my life.”

Photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage for Capitol Records