Chorus The more they try to keep me down The better I live in Sydney town, The more they try to keep me down The better I live in Sydney town.
Great grand-daddy walked along the street with a ball and chain around his feet and that's the way they'd like to see me walk just to give the toffs a chance to talk.
They rob me in the Parliament They charge me half my pay for rent They heard I was living on the Rocks So they pulled it down for building blocks.
The beer's gone up in the public bar And I can't afford a motor car But I keep six bottles In the fridge, And pay no toll on the harbour bridge
The jockies and the bookies cheat, The odds-on favorites all get beat So just to show them I'm no fool I go to Tommo's a Two-up school
They all throw heads when I back tails: I got no dough to 'bank on the Wales' But I'll get a job, it'll suit fine On the Eastern Suburbs railway line.
If I go on strike, I'll have good cause, Then I'll get hit with a Penal Clause, But I don't care, let the bosses rage, I'll fight for a rise in the basic wage.
The monopolies can all arrange To rig their shares on the Stock Exchange Through lottery tickets with my spouse I've got shares in the Opera House.
They won't lot you win on poker machines They show rubbish on the T.V. screens So for entertainment I go for Australian songs at the Troubador
Notes
Sydney Town was published in Australian Tradition, May 1964 with the note: This is the original version of Sydney Town as written by me. Folk singers and others who add new verses and variations do so at their own risk. Frank Hardy.