Aziz Ansari has turned to two enduring Australian recordings for the soundtrack to his feature film Good Fortune, selecting The Go-Betweens’ “Streets of Your Town” and Real Life’s “Send Me An Angel” to help shape the film’s nostalgic atmosphere.
by Paul Cashmere
Two Australian songs from the 1980s have found a new international audience after being featured in Aziz Ansari’s comedy fantasy film Good Fortune, with The Go-Betweens’ “Streets of Your Town” and Real Life’s “Send Me An Angel” both appearing in the movie.
The inclusion of the two tracks places Australian music alongside a soundtrack that also features artists including Beck, Salt-N-Pepa, Buzzcocks, Deee-Lite and Frankie Knuckles. While neither Australian recording appears on the official soundtrack album, both are used within the film itself, continuing a long tradition of classic Australian songs finding new life through cinema.
Written, directed by and starring Aziz Ansari, Good Fortune also features Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer and Sandra Oh. Reeves plays Gabriel, a low ranking guardian angel whose attempt to prove that money cannot buy happiness goes spectacularly wrong after he swaps the lives of a struggling gig worker and a wealthy technology investor.
The comedy uses music from multiple decades to reinforce its changing moods, with Ansari selecting “Streets of Your Town” and “Send Me An Angel” to complement the film’s nostalgic tone while contrasting the vastly different worlds occupied by its central characters.
For Australian audiences, the selections highlight two songs that have each developed enduring international reputations.
Released in 1988, “Streets of Your Town” became one of The Go-Betweens’ defining recordings. Written by Grant McLennan for the band’s acclaimed album 16 Lovers Lane, the song paired bright, melodic guitar pop with lyrics that hinted at the darker realities beneath suburban life.
McLennan reportedly wrote much of the song after working through the chord progression from The Church’s “Under The Milky Way”, while Amanda Brown contributed the distinctive vocal responses that became one of the record’s signature features. Brown’s classical guitar was also used by bassist John Willsteed to record the memorable Spanish influenced guitar solo that became unique to the studio version.
Although the single achieved only modest chart success on its original release, reaching No. 68 in Australia and No. 80 in the United Kingdom, it steadily grew into one of Australia’s most celebrated recordings. It later appeared in the Australian film The Black Balloon, was used in television campaigns and has regularly featured in lists celebrating Australia’s greatest songs.
Real Life’s “Send Me An Angel” has enjoyed an even longer history on international movie soundtracks.
Originally released in 1983 as the Melbourne band’s debut single from the album Heartland, the song became a Top 10 hit in Australia before breaking through internationally. It reached No. 1 in Germany and New Zealand and later entered the American Billboard Hot 100, while the 1989 re-recorded version became an even bigger US hit.
Its cinematic credentials were already well established long before Good Fortune. The song previously appeared in the films Rad, Teen Wolf Too and The Wizard, becoming one of Australia’s most recognisable synth-pop exports and a favourite of Hollywood music supervisors looking to evoke the sound of the 1980s.
Ansari’s decision to include both songs reflects the role music continues to play in defining character and atmosphere in modern filmmaking. Rather than relying solely on contemporary recordings, Good Fortune draws on familiar songs whose emotional associations immediately establish a sense of time and place.
The film marks Ansari’s feature directorial debut after production on his earlier project Being Mortal was suspended in 2022. Wanting to make a theatrical comedy, Ansari assembled a cast led by Reeves, Rogen, Palmer and himself, with filming eventually taking place in Los Angeles after delays caused by the 2023 Hollywood writers strike.
Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival before its theatrical release, Good Fortune continues a long tradition of Australian music finding an international audience through film. For both The Go-Betweens and Real Life, the placement introduces two landmark Australian recordings to another generation of cinema audiences, proving that songs recorded more than four decades ago remain as effective in setting mood and telling stories as when they were first released.
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