G'day again Rose:

These are the words that Australian poet Henry Lawson wrote ... in tribute to the (typically 'Bush' players' usually ...) 'Anglo-German (the 'push-pull 'folk-style) concertina:

The Good Old Concertina

Henry Lawson, 1891

'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 it hears
That good old concertina.

Quite a few years abck ( ... - 1990s) I decided to compose a tune ... to let me sing it. My wife listened ... and said: "I've always liked "The Curly-Headed Plough-Boy ... ! H...mmm... so I went back and composed a more original tune!

If you can give me a postal ... web address, I can send you a PDF of the words and tune as a song / tune sheet!

Regards,

BobB