The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #168402   Message #4083029
Posted By: Stewie
11-Dec-20 - 08:35 PM
Thread Name: Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
Good one, Dave. Like Sandra, I look forward to more. Here is a Kiwi bullocky song from one their finest songwriters.

BULLOCKY
(Peter Cape)

Dat ol' brindle bullock wi t'e white wall eye
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree
He'll lead t'is team til t'e day he die
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree

Swing t'at maul and drive t'em dogs
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree
Chris' keep t'e tailers from a rollin' log
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree

Whitey an' Teufel is hardly broke
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree
Can't pull together in a double yoke
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree

Lancewood pole an' a nine-foot lash
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree
Whip t'rough the air but never touch flesh
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree

Some men got stones set up for the names
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree
But a good strainer post tells a bullocky's fame
Maul and wedges and a tot'ra tree

As noted in 'An Ordinary Joker', the song attempts to capture the accents of Bohemian/Dalmatian bush workers of North Auckland.

Chris' [Christ] tailers [timber workers]
Double yoke [pulling harness for bullocks]
Dogs [spikes which hold railway lines on sleepers]
Maul [wooden hammer] wedges [v-shaped steel wood-splitters]
Lancewood [small native tree]
Some men got stones [headstones on graves]
Strainer post [main post on a fence]
Whitey [bullock's name] Teufel [devil] is hardly broke [broken in - trained]
Tot'ra [totara tree]

Youtube clip

--Stewie.