G'day again Gary T,

I see you are not the Gary T I suspected might have heard an Australian song and been chasing it. An Aussie singer, Gary Tooth, has crossed my path at odd moments from when I first met him at the "Folk Centre" in Brisbane, 1965, and I thought this might be another ... Anyway - on to the song (and a few running corrections).

I guess I should not trust so much on the crumbling remnants of my memory - even when it concerns matters in which I played a minor part. The song Wild Driver is not written BY Janet Wakefield but (sort of) ABOUT her. It was published in Singabout, Journal of Australian Folksong, volume 6, number 1, 1966 (the first issue with which I was slightly involved, doing three illustrations and writing out the music to one song).

This song comes from one of the most valuable sources of Australian traditional song and story during the heady days of the 1950s and '60s - Harold P. C. ('Duke') Tritton. 'Duke' was a thoroughly traditional singer ... meaning that he quite cheerfully wrote new words whenever necessary in a living tradition.I seem not to have selected it for inclusion my collection Singabout - Selected Reprints, Ed Bob Bolton, Bush Music Club, Sydney, 1985. I reproduce the words recorded by Janet Wakefield (and Janet's notes) below.

Wild Driver By 'Duke' Tritton
Tune: Wild Drover

(Duke wrote this in 1963 or '64 after a friend and I had driven him home several times after Club meetings. It is true that she once went through a red light and I through an orange one, but I'm sure that had nothing to do with Duke writing this song ... Janet Wakefield.)

I've been a wild driver this many a year
And always made sure I had plenty of beer
But now I must give the whole lot away
For an "on the spot copper" got me yesterday.
CHORUS:
So it's NO NO Never, Never no more
Never Never again shall I play the wild driver no more.

I had only ten schooners, which isn't a lot
And sixty was the top speed I had got
But I didn't give way to the man on the right
There was a crash and I got such a fright.

CHORUS:
:
I had swiped three cars and a two decker bus
And every one there made a terrible fuss.
They all seemed to think that I was to blame
And the way they abused me was a real shame.
CHORUS:

They threatened to lynch me, went looking for rope
Things looked pretty grim, I had given up hope
When the copper he came and he said, "Cut it out"
"Just leave it to me and I'll deal with this lout."
CHORUS:

Then the copper, he pulled out his book and did say
"It's fifty green smackers, the fine you will pay
And I'll cancel you licence for the rest of your life
And then I'll be sure that you'll keep out of strife.
CHORUS:

Perhaps some terms need explaining outside of the Australian context:
"on the spot copper" dates the song to around the introduction of . "on-the-spot fines", standardised penalties which could be paid rather than appear in court ... and trust to the mercy of the local magistrate.
"ten schooners" A schooner was (at least in NSW) a beer glass holding an alleged 15 ozs ... certainly a good half bottle. Ten schooners would have meant 5 bottles of good strong beer
. "sixty": Back then we still used miles per hour ... and the suburban limit was 30 mph.
"smackers": Pretty common worldwide English for a note of currency. The only note in Australia's old currency that was green was the pound note.

I hope this is the song that Gary T is looking for ... If not, I hope you all enjoy 'Duke' Tritton's gentle dig at his friends (and quite a few of his acquaintances).

Regards,

Bob Bolton