THE GOOD OLD CONCERTINA
Henry Lawson (1867 - 1922)Music,Bob Bolton

Twas merry when the hut was full of jolly girls and fellows,
We danced and sang until we burst the concertina's bellows.
From distant Darling to the sea; from the Downs to Riverina,
Has e'er a gum in all the West not heard the concertina?

'Twas peaceful round the campfire blaze, the long white branches o'er us;
We'd play the tunes of bygone days, to some good old bush chorus.
Old Erin's harp may sweeter be, the Scottish pipes blow keener;
But sing an old bush song for me to the good old concertina.

'Twas cosy by the hut-fire bright when the pint pot passed between us;
We drowned the voice of the stormy night with the good old concertina's.
Though trouble drifts along the years, and the pangs of care grow keener,
My heart is gladdened when I hear that good old concertina.

Notes:
Darling: The Darling River runs south west along the western reaches of New
South Wales
and pretty much defines where it peters out into the Central Australian deserts.
Downs: The Darling Downs; a rich pastoral and grazing area around Toowoomba, in
south
eastern Queensland (just above the northern border of New South Wales).
Riverina: The area along the southern border of New South Wales, where there is
extensive irrigation from the waters of the Murray and Murrimbidgee Rivers.

This all means, of course, that the area described is from the western side of
New
South Wales to the Eastern coast and from the northern border of New South Wales

to the southern - that is; all of New South Wales (the other states don't matter

to Henry Lawson ... a true son of NSW!).

This tune won the Bush Music Festival 1986 1st prize for Best Original Tune to
Existing
Verse. To hear it at its best, it should be played two-handed on an Anglo
concertina.

filename[ CNCRTINA
TUNE FILE: CNCRTINA
CLICK TO PLAY
Feb07
mudcat.org

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