'' How to Make Gravy '' is a four-track EP by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly and was originally released on 4 November 1996 on White Label Records in Australia . The title track was written by Kelly and earned him a ' Song of the Year ' nomination at the Australasian Performing Right Association ( APRA ) Music Awards of 1998 . It tells the story of a newly imprisoned man writing a letter to his brother , in which the prisoner laments that he will be missing the family 's Christmas celebrations . The same character appears in Kelly 's earlier songs , " To Her Door " ( 1987 ) and " Love Never Runs on Time " ( 1994 ) . The gravy recipe is genuine – Kelly learnt it from his first father-in-law . It was covered by James Reyne on the 2003 tribute album , '' Stories of Me : A Songwriter 's Tribute to Paul Kelly '' and on Reyne 's 2005 acoustic album '' ... And the Horse You Rode in On '' . It has also been covered by David Miles , Luca Brasi , From Nowhere , Semicolon , Ghostwriters , Karl Broadie and Lawrence Agar . In September 2010 , Kelly titled his memoirs , '' How to Make Gravy '' . On 29 September 2012 Kelly performed " How to Make Gravy " and " Leaps and Bounds " at the 2012 AFL Grand Final
Music Awards of 1998
APRA Music Awards of 1998
How to Make Gravy