Australian Christmas Carols

Subject: Lyr Add: UPSIDE DOWN CHRISTMAS (Shirley Murray)
From: webfolk
Date: 11 Oct 05 - 08:20 AM

This hymn was written by Shirley Erera Murray, who is in fact a New Zealander, and goes under the title 'upside down Christmas'and will fit to many tnes found in standard hymn books (11,10,11,10)

Carol our Christmas, an upside down Christmas;
Snow is not falling the trees are not bare.
Carol the summer, and welcome the Christ Child,
Warm in our sunshine and sweetness of air.

Sing of the gold and the green and the sparkle,
Water and river and lure of the beach.
Sing in the happiness of open spaces,
Sing a nativity summer can reach!

Shepherds and musterers move over the hillsides,
Finding, not angels, but sheep to be shorn;
Wise one's make journeys whatever the season
Searching for signs of the truth to be born.

Right side up Christmas belongs to the universe
Made in the moment a woman gives birth;
Hope is the Jesus gift, love is the offering,
Everywhere, anywhere, here on the earth.

webfolk - part of "bit on the side"

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: GUEST,bill
Date: 11 Oct 05 - 07:48 AM

hi all

I love the ongoing discussion. I conduct several choirs and we will be singing this and other carols shortly.

HAs any one an alternative to the words of the 1st line "Blythe and Gay" in the 3 Drovers?

Maybe "3 drovers ridng on their horse and dray"

Cheers

Subject: Lyr Add: MERRY CHRISTMAS (Wheeler/James)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 04:06 AM

G'day even again,

Now I'm at home ...

GUEST,[e-mail]: Here are the words for Merry Christmas, by John Wheeler & William G James - from their books of Australian Christmas Carols:

Merry Christmas

Sun gleams bright, hearts are light, Merry, merry Christmas.
Bells ring out, children shout, Merry, merry, merry Christmas.
Sheep in fold, shine like gold, as the day is dawning,
Riding by, stockmen cry, "Welcome Christmas morning".

Golden day, when we say, "Merry, merry Christmas".
In the street, when we meet, Merry, merry, merry Christmas.
And with pride, far and wide, all our homes adorning:
Earth and sky, sound the cry, "Welcome Christmas morning".

So with joy, man and boy, sing with us together;
On this morn, Christ was born; Merry, merry, merry Christmas.
Raise the song, loud and strong, in the shining weather,
Joy bells ring, Christ is King, Merry, merry, merry Christmas.

I have six of the most popular Wheeler & James carols set into easy to play keys:
Carol of the Birds (D)
Christmas Bush for His Adorning (D)
Christmas Day (C)
Merry Christmas (D)
Sing Gloria (G)
The Silver Stars are in the Sky (D)
The Three Drovers (D)

and I will e-mail the sheets to you ... in TIFF format (slightly more compact than GIFF ... ?

Christine:

I'm a bit busy, with the last music session of the year / Christmas Party of Backblocks ... but I get back to see if I have the words you need ... maybe ...

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Dec 04 - 10:06 PM

G'day again,

Lesley / GUEST,[e-mail]: I just refreshed my memory by searching for an ad for the Wheeler & James Australian Christmas Carols (The Australian Music Centre has a single volume, which is presumably an amalgamation of the 3 booklets I have had for decades ... piano arrangements & up to 4 parts: $27 Australian ... about US$20 ... plus post/pack) and I see that their Merry Christmas is in the "Third Set", whis is my third booklet.

I'll send off a GIFF of the song simply arranged in more accessible key (for folkies ... not pianists!) and just the main melody ... if you want more ... well, it's all back in print, from the Australian Music Centre! I'll also include the simple MIDI of the basic tune - generated off my music program.


GUEST,Christine @ [e-mail]: I'm not sure what MIDI you mean ... I have MIDIs of simple tune transcriptions from my music program ... done when I rearrange the Aussie Carols for people at my Workshops. The songs you want are more "Christmas songs" than real Christmas Carols ... but I'll check a few books - and I should be able to scan in the words. (Actually, I would be very surprised not to find the words somewhere in a Mudcat thread ... if not yet on the Digital Tradition (DT) database.)

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From:
Date: 22 Dec 04 - 07:16 PM

Hey guys

Im looking for as many christmas songs as i can because I have a Belgium student staying with me until June and I wanted to make a cd for him to take home to his family and friends.
i tryed downloading this MIDI thing you all keep talking about but it just doesn't go any where - it says it can't find the site. so i was wondering if any of you could email me some mp3 files or another sort that i can play on Windows XP and i also run MUSICMATCH Jukebox.
I am asking everyone here, especially Bob, he seems to be in the know-how of it all. The two main songs I have are 6 White boomers and Australian Jingle Bells. I do have their lyrics to.
Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Christine

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Dec 04 - 06:04 PM

G'day ... and Merry (impemding) Christmas,

GUEST,[e-mail]: If that "Merry Christmas" is the one from the "Wheeler & James" Australian Christmas Carols (mentioned by me above ... 07 Dec 98 - 05.43 PM) I would have the words and tune done up as "sheet music" for use by various groups I occasionally exhort to sing carols about Christmas ... instead of northern European Saturnalia / pagan forest rites / etcetera syncretised into Christmas songs. (They are probably good fun and topical in a freezing northern hemisphere festival ... but bear as little relation to Australia as they do to biblical Palestine!)

I'll check what I have on file, when I get home, and I can probably give you a GIFF image of the words and music plus a simple MIDI file of the tune.

GUEST,Irene: See above ... if you are after the "Wheeler & James" Australian Christmas Carols, I do have the books ... and actively promote about half of them ... the rest are less popular (the five in their first book are generally considered the best!).

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: GUEST,Irene
Date: 22 Dec 04 - 06:50 AM

DOes anyone know where to get the midi file for Australian chrismtas songs?
Irene

Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA
From: PennyBlack
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 06:50 AM

Roaring Jellies:- (DtG)

CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA.

Spoken:-
Forget your snow and reindeer and all that there malarky
'Cause down here Father Christmas wears a pair of shorts.---- Khaki.


Christmas in Australia, is Christmas in paradise,
Christmas in Australia is basically, 'Bloody Nice',
Bruce goes steady with Sheila, and Sheila goes steady with Bruce,
And if you don't have a Christmas suntan, you're a 'Pommie' and you ain't no use

It's ninety in the shade at Christmas, the sun's a blazing 'phew',
So grab a tube of Foster's and a slice of cold kangaroo.
Bruce is waxing his surf board, and waxing his Shiela too,
It's a great Australian Christmas, ya-hoo.

Chorus.

It was a lovely sunny Christmas, we had a party on the beach,
Sang Australian carols, you should have heard us screech.
Our 'Silent Night' was a burst of light and the likes are heard only seldom,
Of 'Once In Royal Bruce's City', in a little town called Melbourne.

Chorus.

Bruce and Sheila disappeared round the far side of the truck,
They were gone for quite some time, we shouted, "Are you stuck?"
Then I had a bright idea, said, "I know what I'll do,
I'll play 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful' on Bruce's didgeridoo.

Chorus.

As the afternoon wore on everyone got paralytic,
A drunken brawl developed from a friendly game of cricket.
Rolph Harris turned up finally to distract us from our combat,
By painting a lovely picture of Rudolf the Red Nosed Wombat.

Chorus.


we recorded it as a Early Christmas special in '99 for Radio Lancashire! and it was released as a single and on an album (Now deleted!!) - sadly we had to change the chorus from "Bloody" to "Blooming" to suit the BeB, due to the time of day etc. Not quite the same!!

we'll be doing it on Tues at the Christmas Session/Party.

PB

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From:
Date: 18 Dec 04 - 08:41 PM

Merry Christmas all,
Can anybody help me with the lyrics to "Merry Christmas"from the australian Christmas carols? Thanks Lesley

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 24 Nov 04 - 11:49 PM

Well, Dave Ferguson has supplied two MIDIs (with and without didgeridoo) which are now accessible through my hymnal:

Out on the plains the brolgas are dancing

Enjoy!

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: GUEST,Rachel
Date: 24 Nov 04 - 07:46 AM

I LOVE THE OZZIE JINGLE BELLS (very Funny but true)

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 11:52 PM

Thanks, Dave. I've sent you email (twice; the first one was an accidental brushing of the "enter" key before I'd written the text). Or you can click on the link to my email about six messages up in this thread...

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From:
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 09:14 PM

To Haruo, Happy Xmas dude. I had a listen to that single line of Carol of the birds. I have added guitar, pad, lagerphone and didgeridoo. Then I tripled it's length and finished it off with a lingering didge note. I even added the lyrics for those of you with Cakewalk or something similar. I just can't figure out how to attach it to this message, so just email me if you want a copy.
Dave

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 20 Nov 04 - 06:56 AM

G'day all,

Does anyone heve the words for The Workers carol?

Would appreciate this hel.,


Mark

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: JennieG
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 01:42 AM

I have always liked these songs - we had them drummed into us at school. When I joined the Bush Music Club it was lovely to hear them again!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 10:44 PM

Got the files, thanks! Will definitely sing it this Advent. If you have PDFs of any of the other AuXmas carols posted here I'll surely not be saddened to receive them. (And I'm still looking for the tune to "Christmas in the Alice".) I put a MIDI to the text in my hymnal; does it sound right? (It's just the melody; I'll add chords someday.)

Out on the plains the brolgas are dancing

I'll add authorship info etc. soon.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 09:29 PM

G'day Haruo,

I'm afraid I'm not surprised if the MIDItext posted by Alison, along with the words to Carol of the Birds, had some internal errors. I never got Alan of Australia's program to reliably work for me - perhaps because it was written on older operating systems.

Anyway, I'll send off the PDF image ... this is the text and tune straight from the book ... set in D (I'm not sure what is is in the book - but I notice that Alison's MIDItext had it in C). I'll include my MIDI file ... it's practically microscopic, compared to the sorts of things we cheerfully send by e-mail these days!.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 08:36 PM

G'day and thanks for the various comments, Bob. I now have a working MIDI of "Carol of the Birds" (melody line only, made from the miditext at the "Carol of the Birds" thread — turns out it was only the miditext at the Australian Christmas Carols thread that was defective, i.e. the one in this thread). When I open the defective MIDI in NoteWorthy Composer I find that the tune is intact up through "Faint in the..."; followed by one cacophonously dissonant chord. The reason it's inaudible and lasts less than a second is that the tempo is given as "909090" instead of what I presume ought to be "100" or maybe "90". Obviously anything with a crotchet equal to 909,090 is going to be faster than sound.

I would be very grateful if you'd email me the PDF ([e-mail]).

Haruo (= the quondam Liland)

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 06:58 PM

G'day Haruo,

I don't remember ever chasing up the prize-winning tune for Santa Claus in the Bush from the Bush Music Club records. I'll put it up on the noticeboard and see what I can find. (Maybe I should dig it out and pop it into the December issue of Mulga Wire, on which I am presently working.)

I have dug out the music sheet for Carol of the Birds (in PDF format - although I can save it to any image format you prefer) and a simple, melody-line, MIDI that definitely works, at my end. If you PM to me a suitable e-mail address, I will send those on to you.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 06:21 PM

G'day Cats,

You raise a good point about "Australian" carols: apart from consciously composed modern carols that set out to place the biblical nativity story into an Australian landscape, rather than a northern European / northern American landscape, liberally littered with the hastily buried remnants of older, pre-christian beliefs and rites - there must be several bodies of "carols from the old country".

Your Cornish miners would be a fine example of the sort of tight-knit group that preserved their old customs in a new country. Another that immediately comes to mind is the "Barossa Deutsch" - the descendants of (~) 1830s religious refugees from the area that is now modern Germany. Within their own community (much of it around that fine wine-growing area of South Australia, the Barossa Valley) I understand that they maintain a large body of old music - mostly religious.

I would assume that includes "carols" - or analogous Christmas songs. I have seen a short video of film coverage of their religious songs by the late Australian folklorist John Meredith. I must ask younger collectors of the Australian "Germanic" traditions, such as Mark Schuster and Maria Zann, whether they have explored that area (in between chasing their real interest in the dance music!).

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Cats
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 12:47 PM

I have a really good book of Carols sung in the mining towns in Oz whivh were taken out from Cornwall by the Cornish miners who went out there. I'll unpack it and try to have a look for something really amazing.

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 11:06 PM

G'day again Haruo,

This time I got to the "screwed up" MIDI of Carol of the Birds ... and the file is missing most of its data. My MIDI player says the length of the file is 00.01 (< one second ... ?) and I get no sound at all. Notepad shows a bit more text that I've been getting when I try to decode MIDItext with the old application .... but not enough for a valid MIDI.

Do you work from real music (dots ...) ? I can e-mail to you a music page with the tune written out in standard format - if that helps. I don't have any ABC application that can code / decode for you - currently. If you PM to me a suitable e-mail address, I can send off the music page - and a MIDI saved directly off my music program.

BTW: The version of The Carol of the Birds that Alan of Australia posted in 1998 is in the DT ... and appears to have a MIDI available - except that my browser reports, after I click on "Play MIDI", that it is unable to open "media.mudcat.org". Perhaps that is just temporarily off-line ... or perhaps, like MIDItext, it is 'no longer supported'.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:49 PM

Try the link again.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:28 PM

G'day again Haruo,

I just noticed your reference to "orana" and "brolgas". Orana is discussed way up in this thread, but it is an Australian Aboriginal language word for "dawn" or "welcome".

The Brolga is an (eastern & northern) Australian crane, grus rubicundus ... grey with red features, and noted for the formal "dance" of its courtship behaviour.

I can't help you with the Esperanto versions ... we did have some keen Esperantists about the Bush Music Club in decades past ... but not currently!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:16 PM

G'day,

Christine Kirk: I presume it's me that you are asking about the " ... full set of Australian Christmas Carols by John Wheeler and William James ..." ... Well, I have only the one set of the three ("sheet music book-format") books (5 carols per book) and they are not for sale. I did a quick check with my best supplier of good Australian secondhand music books (Da Capo, Glebe, Sydney suburb [www.dacapo.com.au/]) and got no hits ... but I would need to check their stock physically to be sure!

I also have a single book with all 15 carols arranged for organ ... but I'm hanging onto that as well. I presume that the carol books are out of print (and fashion) ... but I do like to teach the carols to my music croups, so I have reset (most of) them into better keys for 'folkie' types and produced my own music sheets. If you PM me a suitable email address, I can send you these images.

Haruo: I'm also rather frustrated that the old MIDItext ~.exe files don't seem to work on my computers, these days. It may be the Alan of Australia based the code on older Windows versions with underlying DOS ... or just that they are not in 32 bit form for the latest computers. Unfortunately we have not heard from Alan for some time ... and MIDItext is "no longer supported by Mudcat" ... for obvious reasons.

If you have a good ABC format processor, you could just grab out the ABC component generated in the (19)98 program and handle it as ABC ... which is, apparently, quite capable of all the things you need. I must get hold of a good ABC program, myself, and see what it does for me.

BTW: I could not get your link to open ... so I can't comment on the problems with the file.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:08 PM

Incidentally, I've just posted Carol of the Birds and Christ was born in Bethlehem in my online hymnal (New Arrivals Page). In English, yet, at least if "brolgas" and "orana" are English. Of course if anyone has an Esperanto version of either (or any other) I'm ready to post that, too.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: bbc
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:08 PM

This is a kind of nice site, w/ midis:

Everything Australian

I came across this recording:

How Far to Bethlehem

Is anyone familiar w/ it? Is it any good?

Thanks,

bbc

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: bbc
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:43 PM

Are there any recording available of Australian carols? I'd be interested.

bbc

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:42 PM

Also, has anybody got the tune to Christmas in the Alice? (Also the tune for "Santa Claus in the Bush"?) Both texts are in this thread but I don't see a tune. ("key c" is slightly insufficient for me)

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:37 PM

When I try to make a midi out of the "Carol of the Birds" miditext in this thread, I get something that deteriorates drastically in the middle of the line "Faint in the dawn light", roughly at the word "dawn". Up to that point it's fine, aside from being impossibly fast; after that point it's garbage and dead air. Here's a link to what it comes out as:

Carol of the Bzx#@!!?%

Anybody got a decent midi file (or a corrected miditext version)?

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: GUEST,Christine Kirk
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 02:52 AM

Hi!

Am responding to your message that you have the full set of Australian Christmas Carols by John Wheeler and William James. Are they available for sale? If so, please could you give me a price, and describe the condition of the book/s.

Thank you

Sincerely
Chris Kirk

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Hrothgar
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 10:06 PM

... and, for the benefit of our Northern Hemisphere cousins - the north wind in Australia is usually hot. When it is not hot, it is hotter.

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 05:50 PM

refresh and renew request for MIDI of "Christmas in the Alice"

Haruo

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 02:22 PM

(except it's the North wind, which might be why you couldn't find it)

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 02:21 PM

Look here to find the lyrics and miditext.

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols: The west wind is
From:
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 01:58 PM

Can you help with words and music of The West Wind is tossing the leaves?

Thank you.

Tom Marriott

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 12:00 PM

Can't remember who sang it but I still remember the chorus -

Christmas in Australia is Christmas in paradise
Christmas in Australia is, basicaly, bloody nice!
Bruce is going steady with Sheila
Sheila's going steady with Bruce
If you haven't got a Christmas suntan
Your a Pommie and your no bloody use!

Definiteley someone Antipodean at our club once. I can only think of Paul Metzers but it doesn't seem his style and I think he's a Kiwi annyway.

May come to me after the Festive beer has all gone;-)

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 12:26 AM

Based on data supplied by Bob, I have posted The Three Drovers, with a rough MIDI, in my online hymnal. And here is a picture of the melody (w/ chords and lyrics).

Liland

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: allie kiwi
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 02:35 AM

Genie, it is ga-LAH (or rather pronounced sort of gi-LAH) and it's a bird. Reknowned for it's strange call, there is a saying 'Stop being a great galah' where you are scoffing at someone for being silly...

Allie

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE THREE DROVERS
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 02:15 AM

G'day again,

Sorry about the duplicated posting ... (?!?).

Here is the Aussie Carol (Actually, I suspect that I may have posted a number of these around ( December 1998 ...?):

THE THREE DROVERS
Words: John Wheeler
Tune: William G James

Across the plains one Christmas night, three drovers riding blythe and gay,
Looked up and saw a starry light, more radiant than the Milky Way;
And on their hearts such wonder fell, they sang with joy "Noel! Noel!
Noel! Noel! Noel!

The black swans flew across the sky, the wild dogs called across the plain,
The starry lustre blazed on high, still echoed on the Heavenly strain;
And still they sang "Noel! Noel!, those drovers three "Noel! Noel!
Noel! Noel! Noel!

The air was dry with summer heat and smoke was on the yellow moon;
But from the Heavens, faint and sweet, came floating down a wond'rous tune,
And as they heard, they sang full well, those drovers three "Noel! Noel!
Noel! Noel! Noel!

MIDI file: 3-drovrs.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 6/8 36 8
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0600 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 73 080 0048 0 73 064 0012 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 73 080 0192 0 73 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0144 0 69 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 64 080 0552 0 64 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 73 080 0192 0 73 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 73 080 0144 0 73 064 0036 1 74 080 0048 0 74 064 0012 1 76 080 0096 0 76 064 0024 1 69 080 0552 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 62 080 0144 0 62 064 0036 1 64 080 0048 0 64 064 0012 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 64 080 0144 0 64 064 0036 1 62 080 0048 0 62 064 0012 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0456 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:6/8
Q:1/4=100
K:C
D6|A2AB3/2^c/2d|^c2A^F2E|D2E^F2G|A3/2B/2AG2^F|
E5E|^F2ED2E|^F2GA2A|B2AG2A|B2^cd2d|^c2AB2B|
A2^FG2G|^F2GA2B|^c3/2d/2eA3|-A2AD3/2E/2^F|
E3/2D/2ED3|-D3/4||

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Genie
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 02:14 AM

Ted from Australia ,

What is the tune to Christmas In The Alice?  Do you have a MIDI of it?
It's such a great song, I'd love to sing it.  (I do a Christmas Around The World program, and it would be a great addition.)
 

Art Thieme,
Pleas do post "Santa Claus In The Bush!"
 

Alison,
Tha Aussie version of the Twelve Days of Christmas is wunnerful--much better than the original, I think!

(Is it galahs or galahs?   And what the heck are galahs, anyway?

Slainte,
 

Genie

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 02:07 AM

G'day Liland,

I just noticed that this thread had been refreshed. I will get together the words and MIDI information and post The Three Drovers shortly. If you PM me an e-mail address, I can send you a tidy little TIF of the words and music, as I have a selection of the most popular 6 of Wheeler & James's 1940s/50s 15 carols - set into more comfortable 'folkie' keys (C, D, G &c) that I taught at my workshop this year, as in years past.

It is interesting that, in the mere 50 years since this one was published, the protaganists have slipped into folklore. Cattle were commonly moved about Australia by drovers, working on horseback, right up to the Vietnam War era. When the Cold (and sometimes hot) War era underlined the poor transport facilities outback, the Government rushed through a string of military transport roads. Inevitably, road trains - high power trucks with many trailers full of stock, quickly replaced the old-style drovers, so that very few young Australians will have seen drovers at work anywhere but on an historical film!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Haruo
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 01:37 AM

In the Australian brushfires thread of 25 December (that'd be December 25 here in the Northern Hemisphere ;-) ) Bob Bolton posted a Christmas lyric with a lot of "Noel Noel Noels" in it, but no tune. I was looking for the tune. Don't see it in this thread which seemed the obvious place to look...

Bob, you out there? Can you post it (or provide a link here to where you previously posted it)?

Thanks.

Liland

PS The only southern hemisphere Christmas carol I've seen in a (Northern) hymnal is Carol Our Christmas, Our Upside Down Christmas, by Shirley Elena Murray (sp?) of New Zealand. It's in the UCC's New Century Hymnal.

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 08:50 PM

Amazon sells Rolf Harris "Best of Rolf Harris" with Six White Boomers for $11.99. You also should be able to order it through any large recording dealer.

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Genie
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 07:59 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Dec 98 - 05:06 PM

G'day all,

As our warm, antipodean Christmas looms and I struggle through the party round, I must be getting overly picky. I was singing the "Aussie Jingle Bells", the same as that which Alison posted back around 7 December, and I realised that I am always annoyed to notice that the writer is obviously a city type, because the song talks of being in a rusty Holden ute (utility = pickup for our American friends) with an "Esky in the boot (portable cooler ... for the beer of course ... in the trunk) but: A/ a ute has no boot, only an enclosed tray area! and B/ It's not likely to be rusty, if it has spent its life in the dry outback ... of course, vehicles owned by soft city types drive along our coast line and get riddled with salt and rust copiously. The old wisdom was that you bought a country owned vehicle for body parts - the motor would be clapped out but the body panels would be free of rust.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 20 Dec 98 - 11:39 AM

Art- Christmas in the Bush sings well to Star of the County Down, Tramps and Hawkers and Rolling Down to Old Maui. Only problem I see is that there seem to be two lines missing; I guess one could always repeat the tune's part B.

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Musicman
Date: 19 Dec 98 - 02:44 AM

Thanks Alison.

Paul

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: alison
Date: 18 Dec 98 - 10:12 AM

Hi,

I don't know about Canada...... but there's Rolf harris's greatest hits (it's on it.)

good luck

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Australian Christmas Carols
From: Musicman
Date: 18 Dec 98 - 04:43 AM

Hi there, Can anyone recommend a recording for Six White Boomers that might be had in Canada? I've got someone asking for a recording and I mentioned this great resource that I have available (they're not online!) and would see what I could do.

thanks.