HUMPING THE DRUM

I've humped my drum from Kingdom Come
To the back of the Milky WaY
I boiled my quart on the Cape of York
And I starved last Christmas Day

I cast a line on the Condamine
And one on the Nebine Creek
I've driven through bog, so help me bob
Up Mungindi's main street

I crossed the Murray and drank at Cloncurry
Where they charged me a bob a nip.
I worked in the Gulf where the cattle they duff
And the squatters they give 'em tip

I've worked from morn in the fields of long corn
Till the sun was out of sight
I've cause to know the Great Byno
And the Great Australian Bight

I danced with Kit, when the lamps were lit
And Doll when the dance broke up
I flung my hat on the Myall Track
When Bowman won the Cup

I laughed aloud with the merry crowd
In the city of the plains
I sweated too on Omdooroo
While bogged in those big bore-drains

I wheeled me bike from the shearers' strike
Not wanting a funeral shroud
And I made the weights for the Flying Stakes
And I dodged the lynchin' crowd

I've carried a gun through World War One
Then went to the track again
From Omeo to Bendigo
To Bourke and back again

I lost some tears in the hungry years
When jobs were short and few
And I picked up me swag and me old tucker bag
There was nothing else to do

There are various versions of this song, but the above is what Danny Spooner sang on his final album 'Home'.

Danny noted:

I like the way that each verse seems to be sung by another travelling character ... these words were adapted by Graham Seal.

I first heard the song on an old Larrikin LP by a group named 'Steam Shuttle' of which Graham Seal was a member - 'Steam Shuttle Larrikin LRF-018. Unfortunately, I am unable to play it to check the lyrics against Danny's version as my record player is stuffed. However, the note on the LP sleeve reads:

A recitation from Stewart and Keesing's revision of Banjo Pateron's 'Old Bush Songs'. A few verses have been cut out, a couple added and the whole thing set to an Irish tune. As it now stands, the song is essentially a potted history of itinerant labour in Australia up the 1930s. 'Humping the drum' is one of the many terms for carrying a swag.

--Stewie.