G'day,

Eric Bogle's song Bushfire has been mentioned a couple of times in this thread. Here are the words and (MIDItxt of) the music. Note that it is copyright ... sing and enjoy – pay up copyright if you record it. If Wee Eric could persuade some publisher to republish, or anthologise his songs, we would not need to swap them around lke this.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Bushfire
Words and Music by Eric Bogle ©

About nine o'clock we saw the first smoke
stain the far horizon.
A soft rolling shroud of shifting white cloud
above the mountains rising.
Uneasy and afraid we watched and prayed
as the clouds grew ever higher.
But an before noon they blocked out the sun
and the mountains were on fire

And all through the gloom of that long afternoon (gleam in my text?)
the fire fed and grew stronger;
Driven by the wind it danced along the mountain rims,
roaring out its anger.
Fed by the breeze and the helpless trees,
consuming those who bore it
It raced pell-mell from the mouth of hell,
destroying all before it.

Our farm, our home and all that we owned
lay in the path of that fiery river.
We prayed for rain and we cursed the wind
as it drove our destruction nearer.
But no words of men can bring down the rain,
or set the wind to turning
And round midnight we'd lost the fight,
and our whole farm was burning.

Through the smoke and the heat came the crying of sheep
as the flames set their wool on fire.
They ran, terrified, they roasted and died,
their own fleece their funeral pyre.
So we packed up and ran while the fire's red hand
reached out to find us,
While so long and hard to build and so quick and easily killed
our dreams burned down behind us.

Arrogant man, he squats on the land,
he buys, he sells and zones it;
Pants his seeds, cuts down the weeds,
and imagines that he owns it.
For twenty years our land we cleared,
we ploughed and we sowed and we tamed it
But where the Bushfire has passed, there's only black ash,
and Nature has reclaimed it.

Source: the Eric Bogle Songbook, MS 1009, Music Sales Pty. Ltd., Artarmon, Australia, No date (but, presumably, before MS 1953, 1988 ... Probably about 1984/5, judging by textual references)

And here is the MIDItxt of the tune ... in Wee Eric's key; D (sagging, in a very Scots manner) into C:

MIDI file: bushfire.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 1/4 24 8
Tempo: 200 (300000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0000 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0384 0 62 064 0096 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0768 0 69 064 0912 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0384 0 69 064 0096 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 1344 0 67 064 0576 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0144 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 62 080 0384 0 62 064 0096 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0576 0 60 064 0144 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 1344 0 62 064 0336 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0384 0 62 064 0096 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 1344 0 69 064 0336 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 1344 0 67 064 0456 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0144 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 62 080 0384 0 62 064 0096 1 62 080 0384 0 62 064 0096 1 60 080 0576 0 60 064 0144 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 1344 0 62 064 0336 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 74 080 0576 0 74 064 0144 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 72 080 0384 0 72 064 0096 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 1344 0 69 064 0336 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0144 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0576 0 66 064 0144 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0096 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 62 080 1584 0 62 064 0336 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0384 0 62 064 0096 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 1536 0 69 064 0144 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 1344 0 67 064 0336 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0144 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0576 0 62 064 0144 1 60 080 0576 0 60 064 0144 1 62 080 1968 0 62 064 1872 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 62 080 1104 0 62 064 0576 1 60 080 0768 0 60 064 0192 1 59 080 0576 0 59 064 0144 1 59 080 0192 0 59 064 0048 1 59 080 0192 0 59 064 0048 1 57 080 1104 0 57 064 0336 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:4/4
Q:1/4=200
K:C
D2D4^F2|G2A6|-A8|A8|-A2A4G2|^F2G6|-G8|G2A6|
-A8|A8|-A2D4D2|C2C6|D2D6|-D8|D8|-D2D4^F2|
G2A6|-A8|A8|-A2A2B2G2|^F2G6|-G8|GA7|-A2A6|
A2D4D2|-D2C6|D2D6|-D8|A8|-A2A2A2d2|e2d6|A2c4B2|
G2A6|-A8|A8|-AAA6|B2A2^F4|-^F2G4^F2|D8|-D8|
D8|-DDD4^F2|G2A6|-A8|A8|-A2A2B2G2|^F2G6|-G8|
G8|-GGA2A4|-A2D2D4|-D2C6|D8|-D8|D8|-D8|D8|
-D8|D8|-D2E6|-E8|E4D4|-D8|D8|-D2C6|-C8|C8|
-C2B,6|-B,8|B,8|B,8|-B,8|B,2B,6|-B,4A,4|-A,8|
D8|-D3/2||