Two years ago, South Australian muso Josh Lynagh was the victim of a brutal coward punch attack. Yesterday, on Australia Day, he dropped a powerful song called Australia Fair, in which he calls for the end of “tough guy” culture.
In his new track, 27-year-old Lynagh (who makes music as Streamlyne) tells of being punched at the Mount Gambier Hotel on 26th January 2014 after he approached a man who had been harassing his then-girlfriend. Lynagh says the man shoved him against a wall before he was hit on the head by a friend of the man and fell to the ground, where he was hit again.
Rapping in Australia Fair (below), Lynagh recounts the effects of his injuries, saying, “It hurts and it’s all because someone decided quick that it wasn’t a problem to put my life at risk… What a man, what a real fuckin’ man. Taking the fact that your victim can’t see you as the upper hand.”
Later in the track, Lynagh raps, “I shouldn’t have to say this shit, but now I must. Don’t call it a king hit when it’s just a coward punch… You’re not a hero, you’re a weak piece of shit and you need to know that kind of tough guy image just needs to go.”
Lynagh, was believes he was lucky not to end up in hospital after the attack, has told The Advertiser that a psychologist diagnosed him with post traumatic stress disorder following the coward punch attack.
“You don’t consider that two years later you will be struggling to get to sleep because of it,” he says. I really didn’t understand that you could get PTSD from something like this.”
Lynagh, who is a father of one and a Mt Gambier City councillor, says he suffered from anxiety and has been on several medications to help deal with the ongoing affects of the assault, but as he says in Australia Fair, he hasn’t found relief.
Lynagh says the man who hit him hasn’t been found, but the man accused of harassing his girlfriend has been prosecuted.
Catch his moving performance of Australia Fair, below.
Watch: Josh Lynagh (aka Streamlyne) – Australia Fair
