EUABALONG BALL


Oh, who hasn't heard of Euabalong Ball
Where the lads of the Lachlan, the great and the small
Come bent on diversion from far and from near
To cast off their troubles for just once a year

Like stringy old wethers, the shearers in force
All rushed to the bar as a matter of course
While waltzing his cliner, the manager cursed
'Cause someone had caught him a jab with his spurs

There were sheilas in plenty, some two or three score
Some two-tooths, some weaners, some maybe some more
With their fleeces all dipped and so fluffy and clean
The finest young shearlings that ever was seen

The boundary-riders was friskin' about
But the well-sinkers seemed to be feelin' the drought
If the water was scarce, well, the whisky was there
And what they couldn't drink, boys, they rubbed in their hair

There was music and dancin' and goin' the pace
Some went at a canter, some went at a race
There was buckin' and glidin' and rootin' and slidin'
And to vary the gait, some couples collidin'

Oh, Euabalong Ball was a wonderful sight
Rams among the two-tooths the whole flamin' night
And many young girls will regret to recall
The polkas they danced at Euabalong Ball.



"Euabalong is on the Lachlan River some forty miles west of Condobolin, and the song was still around in those parts when I worked there in the early 1930s. A more genteel version than ours, called The Wooyeo Ball, was printed in Rob Webster’s The First Fifty Years of Temora (Temora, NSW, 1950), but the song belongs to the West, not the South. Webster puts the date of his version as 1888. In the course of more than thirty years singing the song, I’m sure I’ve tinkered around a lot with the tune.
- A. L. Lloyd"


I was after the version by Australia’s “The Wild Colonials” bushband (which originated with Declan Affley c.1969), with Jacko Kevins singing lead, but I have lamented their YT dirth before in this thread.
[So far I have only come across one offering : “Canine Catastrophe” (aka The Dog’s Festival) : maybe that one should be posted???]
BtW, I note that I incorrectly referred to them in my September 12th post as “The Wild Colonial Boys” but that is the Canadian band. The Aussie ones were “The Wild Colonials”.

Anyhoo, despite the lyrics and notes above being taken from A.L.Lloyd’s recording on “The Great Aust’n Legend” LP, here is a version by The Cobbers : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeFihol-TbE                 

R-J