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Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream
DigiTrad:
DROVERS DREAM
DROVER'S DREAM
Related thread:
(origins) Origins: Drover's Dream (19)
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: GUEST,Jericho Date: 05 Aug 21 - 01:28 AM This has been bugging me forever but me Pa used to sing the chorus as "I was dreaming I suppose, of a time from long ago". Does anyone know where this version originates from? Cheers |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: Nigel Parsons Date: 27 Dec 13 - 05:40 AM No major variations in this version (as printed in the BBC's Singing Together), but enough minor ones to make it worth adding. As with the verse quoted by Ted Miller it has 'luminate in the second line (to keep the scansion). It also has heck in the last verse where others have hell or the dickens (presumably bowdlerisation by the BBC) I haven't chased through for other variations, but present it as found. THE DROVER'S DREAM Traditional Australian One night when trav'ling sheep my companions lay asleep, There was not a star to 'luminate the sky, I was dreaming I suppose, for my eyes were partly closed, When a very strange procession passed me by First there came a kangaroo with his swag of blankets blue, A dingo ran beside him as a mate, They were trav'ling mighty fast, but they shouted as they passed 'We'll have to jog along, it's getting late. The pelican and the crane they came in from off the plain To amuse the company with a Highland Fling, The dear old bandicoot played the tune upon his flute, And the native bears sat round them in a ring. The drongo and the crow sang us songs of long ago The frill-necked lizard listened with a smile, And the emu standing near with his claw up to his ear Said, 'Funniest thing I've heard for quite a while!' The frogs from out the swamp, where the atmosphere is damp Came bounding in and sat upon the stones They each unrolled their swags and produced from little bags The violin, the banjo and the bones. The goanna and the snake and the adder wide awake With an alligator danced The Soldier's Joy. In the spreading silky-oak the jackass cracked a joke And the magpie sang The Wild Colonial Boy. Some brolgas darted out from the tea-tree all about And performed a set of Lancers very well Then the parrot green and blue gave the orchestra its cue To strike up The Old Log Cabin in the Dell. I was dreaming I suppose, of these entertaining shows, But it never crossed my mind I was asleep Till the Boss beneath the cart woke me up with such a start Yelling: 'Dreamy, where the heck are all the sheep?' X: 1 T: The Drover's dream M: 4/4 L: 1/8 C: Traditional Australian Z: NP 27/12/2013 K: F C2| F>G A>G F2 C>C| D>E F>D C2 C>C| F>F F>F F>F E>F|G6 C>C| F>G A>G F2 C>C|D>E F>D C2 F>G| A>A A>F G>G G>E| F6 F>G| A>A A>A A2 A>B|c>c c>A F2 z>C|F>F F>F F>F E>F|G6 C>C|F>G A>G F2 C>C|D>E F>D C2 (F>G)|A>A A>F G>G G>E|F6|| w: One night when trav-'ling sheep my com-pan-ions lay a-sleep, There was not a star to 'lu-mi-nate the sky, I was dream-ing I sup-pose, for my eyes were part-ly closed, When a ve-ry strange pro-ces-sion passed me by First there came a kan-ga-roo with his swag of blan-kets blue, A ding-o ran be-side him as a mate, They were trav-'ling might-y fast, but they shout-ed as they passed 'We'll *have to jog a-long, it's get-ting late. Copied from Singing Together: Summer term first published 1990 reprinted 1993 NP |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: Bugsy Date: 26 May 12 - 07:59 PM Will do. Cheers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 22 May 12 - 10:36 AM Bugsy, I know everything (as long as you ask me the right question!) eek, I just noticed a typo in my last post - The Bushwackers were a later band which formed in 1970s - not the real ones, the Bushwhackers, who appeared in Reedy River & were the founders of the Bush Music Club in 1954. Bugsy, keep an eye on the following Bush Music Club blog as I'll be posting a few reminiscences of the early days of the Bush Music Club & the New Theatre (home of Reedy River) that were included in our workshop at this year's National - The Bush Music Club, the first 10 years. I've already posted pics of the show here in BMC's photo website |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: Bugsy Date: 22 May 12 - 03:57 AM Such knowledge Sandra.........I'm in AWE! CHeers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 22 May 12 - 02:40 AM Dave, Drover's Dream was a song collected from Mick Dolan by Ron Edwards. Sorry to rain on your parade. Mudcatter Cloudstreet sings Drover's Dream A popular song across Australia in it's day. This version collected by Ron Edwards from Mick Dolan (b. 1895). The tune is a variation of Killaloe, which is also the regimental quick march of the Royal Irish Regiment. Bugsy posted the version issued in the mid 50's which was the first traditional Australian song to make the Top 40. It was sung by the Bushwackers, who sang it in the musical play 'Reedy River' (first Australian play to feature Australian songs) in 1954 which popularised the songs & music of the settlers in the 19th century. sandra |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: Bugsy Date: 22 May 12 - 01:58 AM Here you go The Drovers Dream Cheers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: GUEST,Dave Smith. Date: 22 May 12 - 01:44 AM G'Day all i have been reading this thread with much interest, I am a Bush poet and the drovers Dream is some thing i do in Poem form. In my wandering I came across this which i think is the original poem, Enjoy. Cheers Dave. A Drovers Dream. Mick Dolan 1895 One night when travelling sheep, all my mates they were asleep The stars and moon illumined the summer sky My eyes they'd hardly closed, in fact I must have dozed When a very strange procession passed me by First there came a kangaroo, with his swag of blankets blue A dingo likewise followed for a mate While a possum and a crow said, "Come on, we'd better go, And hurry up before it gets too late." The goanna and the snake and the adder wide awake Struck up "The Old Log Cabin in the Dell" Then a parrot green and blue sang, "A Doodle, Doodle, Doo" And a platypus clattered with the bells A fox he came along and he sang a comic song And the audience gave a hearty cheer Then a big white cockatoo and a brolga dressed in blue Sang some songs we hadn't heard for many a year. A pretty young Galah played upon a steel guitar With twenty magpies dancing all the while Some plovers flew around to investigate the sound And a frill-necked lizard listened with a smile. A little bower bird said he'd like to have a word And whistled off "When Coming Through the Rye" Then a great big eagle hawk let out an awful squawk, As he swooped down from his place up in the sky. Three frogs from out the swamp, where the atmosphere is damp Came creeping up and sat upon some stones They unrolled their little swags and took from out their bags The violin, the banjo and the bones The sweet young bandicoot played a tune upon his flute Three native bears came in and formed a ring The pelican and the crane, they came in from off the plain And amused the audience with the Highland Fling A porcupine came along and he sang a comic song And a wombat played upon a mandolin While an Emu standing near with his claw up to his ear Said it was the finest thing he'd ever seen. Then there came an awful crash as if creation had gone smash And waking found that I had been asleep For the Boss behind the cart awoke me with a start Shouting, "Murphy, where the dickens are the sheep?" |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 24 Mar 10 - 07:13 PM G'day "GUEST" of 23 Nov 09 -0.5:37 AM, The lines (~) about: Two brolgas darted out, from the tea-trees all about, And performed a set of Lancers very well, ... probably deserve some comment on the mating rituals of the large crane grus rubicundus, the brolga of northern and eastern Australia. These large birds are often observed 'dancing' and 'bowing' in patterns and attitudes that suggest the steps of a stately quadrille ... such as the widely known and danced Lancers. Another poem / song Irish Lords ... written by C H Souter, in South Australia in the first decade of the 20th century - and set to a tune by Martin Wyndham-Read - has (describing the the apparent richness of the newly taken-up 'selection') "The Brolgas danced a minuet ..." - yet another stately dance. Regards, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: MartinRyan Date: 23 Nov 09 - 05:37 AM GUEST Click here to see what is meant. Regards |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST Date: 23 Nov 09 - 05:07 AM what does dance a lancer mean |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Rowan Date: 04 Dec 08 - 06:53 PM Goanna was queried a few years back as a word in a song and many of you will know this is a type of Lizard common in the outback. Well, where I come from "goanna" was what you called that musical instrument, up against the wall, with the 88 keys along the front. Monitor lizards (Varanus species) are often called goannas although there are other names around in Oz, such as Perentie, Lace Monitors etc. Such names should refer to particular, individual, species but are often casually mixed. Monitors even get to the Wallace Line as Komodo Dragons. Cheers, Rowan |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Joybell Date: 04 Dec 08 - 06:45 PM In the last verse -- Has anyone else noticed the 19th century Minstrel line-up of instruments "the violin, the banjo, and the bones"? The minstrels had a huge influence on music here in Aus. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,Alistair Banfield Date: 04 Dec 08 - 06:17 PM Just to add to things that were mentioned years ago. The recordings made by Lloyd in Australia were original Wattle recordings. Topic themselves licensed the recordings from Wattle rather than the other way around. Warren Fahey was able to use some of the recordings on Larrikin records. There is a wonderful book just coming out written by the (deservedly) highly-respected musician and author Dave Arthur, being the biography of A.L.Lloyd or Bert Lloyd to his friends. Goanna was queried a few years back as a word in a song and many of you will know this is a type of Lizard common in the outback. So common it is, that an Australian group took the name and produced (at least) one record which involved the production talents and musical talents of one Trevor Lucas, erstwhile friend of Bert Lloyd. Indeed the version Trevor sang on his first English solo LP of the song Waltzing Matilda owes much to Bert Lloyd. Another point of interest relating to Bert Lloyd is that his version is sung on the 1990s version of Encarta - Microsoft's multimedia encyclopaedia. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 21 Jan 07 - 08:01 AM G'day Ted, Your song is clearly a fairly standard version of The Drover's Dream. On what sort of "... recording of Australian Boy Scout Songs in 1966..." did you find it? My Dad was active in the Sydney Region - particularly with Campfire sessions at Waterfall Scout Camp ... south of Sydney, on the fringes of The Royal National Park. He often lugged into the Camp a large (7") reel-to-reel tape recorder (and a smallish [Mini-Minor]12 volt battery I bought from the British Leyland plant at which I worked) to play Australian folk songs for the Scouts - and to record the Campfire performances. I don't know if any of this ever was released - or distributed ... although what you have may be a commercial recording of a large Scout event, like their Annual Gang Shows. Regards, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,Ted Miller Date: 20 Jan 07 - 04:47 PM I found it on a recording of Australian Boy Scout Songs in 1966. Here's the first verse. One night while herding sheep, my companions lay asleep. There was not a star to 'luminate the sky. I was dreaming I suppose for my eyes were nearly closed when a very strange procession passed me by. First there came a kangaroo, with his swag of blankets blue, a dingo ran beside him for a mate. They were traveling might fast, but they shouted as they passed, "We'll have to jog along, it's getting late." I can look for the rest of the verses if you need them. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST Date: 30 Jun 06 - 09:57 AM |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 08 Oct 04 - 06:52 AM G'day Hothgar, I was just quoting the whole notes ... which I did not do in my 1985 anthology - precisely because I didn't think they added much to the case. The Singabout issue was May 1958, when the mag was editied by John Meredith, assisted by Alan Scott - so I couldn't imagine that remark had much to do with John Manifold ... who was something less that a close friend of either! However, it does come out of that desire to find that the apparent author has "pinched it" from the great unknown (and unwashed ... ?) folk. Admittedly, there are 'unauthored' songs closely related to Shearers' Dream ... obviously Australia's on the Wallaby comes to mind. Did SD descend from AotW ... or vice versa? ... Did the great anonymous folk take Lawson's poem and use it for a model for other purposes? (Although the tone of Australia's on the Wallaby might just suggest that it's a bit of Lawson incunabula!) Regard(les)s, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Hrothgar Date: 08 Oct 04 - 06:31 AM "It is doubtful whether THE SHEARER'S DREAM is an original composition of Lawson's" Bob, I can't help thinking this smacks of all those people who were determined to believe that "Waltzing Matilda" was not written by Banjo Paterson because they so much wanted it to be traditional. Especially if Manifold is involved... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 07 Oct 04 - 08:27 PM G'day Foolestroupe/Robin, I did mention that the tune's text form was: "(in Alan of Oz's no-longer-supported-by-Mudcat MIDItext program)." - I guess it is also "no-longer-supported-by-Alan". If you want to try the old version, you can PM to me an e-mail address to which I can send the (very small ... 69 kb) self-extracting file. Warning! A/ Your e-mail browser may reject the file, since it is named "MIDITXT.EXE" - so I may have to rename it and let you restore the name to install. B/ It never worked well for me on the reconversion of the text-string to a MIDI file ... and Alan never answered my help requests. C/ It may not work at all with the latest OSs ... (So what is[n't] new?) Regard(les)s, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 07 Oct 04 - 07:46 PM And a big 404 on that Miditext link too MM! It's just not my day! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,MMario Date: 07 Oct 04 - 02:01 PM foulestroupe - try http://miditext.8m.net/ for a miditxt download. or you can copy the abc portion to concertina.net. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts Date: 07 Oct 04 - 01:59 PM G'day Bob, And thanks for the above article. Fascinating stuff, and I'm inclined to agree that it's probaly traditional and he wouldn't have slipped in a lyric of his own that way. Barrie |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 07 Oct 04 - 10:22 AM That's a big 404 on that Miditext link BB... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Betsy Date: 07 Oct 04 - 10:02 AM Cheers Bob Cut , Pasted and Saved already - thanks for the "Dressed up like a page in a pantomime" explanation - it's too easy to sing lines like this without thinking / knowing what they mean. Many thanks again. |
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Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE SHEARER'S DREAM (Henry Lawson) From: Bob Bolton Date: 07 Oct 04 - 09:49 AM G'day Betsy, Here is the full text of the original publication in Singabout magazine (Complete with 1958 side notes on female shearer's rouseabouts ... in shorts!): Singabout Vol 2, No 4, May 1958 THE SHEARER'S DREAM Words: Henry Lawson Tune: Traditional Collected by John Meredith from the singing of Charles Ayger, aged 80, of Glebe, a suburb of Sydney. It is doubtful whether THE SHEARER'S DREAM is an original composition of Lawson's, or a traditional ballad which Lawson heard around the sheds and polished up for publication. It seems more likely that it is the latter. The singing of this song, described as a traditional ballad, is the highlight of a short story titled THE SHEARER'S DREAM, in the collection, SEND ROUND THE HAT. It is hardly likely that Lawson would introduce one of his own compositions in this way; but if he did write these verses, then he must have done so while still in his 'teens, for Charles Ayger learned the song at a time when Lawson would have been about 19 years of age. Mr. Ayger was born in 1877, and learned the song while going to school at Geurie, near Wellington, New South Wales. This singer says that the name of the air is THE SAXON TONGUE, and it closely resembles CASTLE GARDENS or COVENT GARDENS, (also known as CONVENT GARDENS) which is fairly well known to New South Wales folk singers, and is the air used f or THE BACK-BLOCK SHEARER (WIDGEEGOWEERA JOE). THE SHEARER'S DREAM is said to have been widely sung in the bush at the turn of the century, and another version is sung by Duke Tritton. Oh, I dreamt I shore in a shearin'-shed, and it was a dream of joy, For every one of the rouseabouts was a girl dressed up as a boy -- Dressed up like a page in a pantomime, and the prettiest ever seen They had flaxen hair, they had coal-black hair -- and every shade between. Chorus: There was short, plump girls, there was tall slim girls, and the handsomest ever seen -- They was four-foot-five, they was six-foot high, and every height between. The shed was cooled by electric fans that was over every shoot; The pens was of polished ma-ho-gany, and everything else to suit; The huts had springs to the mattresses, and the tucker was simply grand, And every night by the billerbong we danced to a German band. Our pay was the wool on the jumbuck's backs, so we shore till all was blue -- The sheep was washed afore they was shore (and the rams was scented too); And we all of us wept when the shed cut out, in spite of the long, hot days, For every hour them girls waltzed in with whisky and beer on tr-a-a-a-ys! There was three of them girls to every chap, and as jealous as they could be -- There was three of them girls to every chap, and six of 'em picked on me; We was draftin' 'em out for the homeward track and sharin' 'em round like steam, When I woke with my head in the blazin' sun to find 'twas a shearer's dream. (It is interesting to note that this year (1958), in New Zealand, Maori girls were employed for the first time as rouseabouts -- and they worked in shorts, "like a page in a pantomime"! The tune - clearly related to that of Widgeegoweera Joe - is as follows (in Alan of Oz's no-longer-supported-by-Mudcat MIDItext program). If you can't run Alan's program ... well, there is the included ABC format version, for fanciers of that format! Timebase: 240 TimeSig: 6/8 36 8 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
miditext link corrected Oct 7 '04 - joeclone |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Betsy Date: 07 Oct 04 - 07:13 AM Cheers Bob I appreciate your efforts - I'd like to dig the song out again !! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 07 Oct 04 - 06:06 AM G'day yet again Betsy & Barrie ... I ought to check these obscure sources more carefully: Singabout — Selected Reprints, Edited by Bob Bolton, Bush Music Club Sydney, 1985, p. 40. The Shearer's Dream Wrords: Henry Lawson Tune: Traditional Collected by John Meredith from the singing of Charles Ayger, aged 80 (May 1958 ... ?) of Glebe, a suburb of Sydney. The collected tune is, indeed, bright and breezy ... a close relative of that of Widgeegoweera Joe, which has been discussed her recently (and is in the DigiTrad ... but without tune!). Im expecting a bunch of musicians any moment ... but I'll try to post the tune (and Charles Ayger's words) later tonight ... Regards, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 07 Oct 04 - 12:08 AM Errrr ... G'day again Betsy and Barrie, I will get around to checking details on the collected and/or Lloyd tunes for The Shearers' Dream ... but the Bush Music CLub's Golden Jubilee festival is only three days off ... and I keep finding myself chasing up some new and previously unconsidered point ... like PA ... or performer /guest lists. I may get onto this tonight - before the music session - otherwise ... next week! Regard(les)s, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts Date: 06 Oct 04 - 01:48 PM Hello again Betsy, We can't keep meeting like this! You can e-mail me thro' my website at: www.barrieroberts.com or at my personal address: barrie.roberts2@btopenworld.com My breath is bated till then. Barrie |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Betsy Date: 06 Oct 04 - 12:51 PM Guest - ( I assuming it's Barrie ) why don't you send me a quick PM message and I'll have the patter with you - I've tried but can't send you a PM. Good to hear from you. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST Date: 06 Oct 04 - 11:07 AM G'day Bob & Betsy. Thanks for the additional info, Bob. Betsy, yes, I admit I used to run the Songsmiths Club at the Fitters Arms in Walsall, where I sometimes sang 'The Road to Mandalay'. I still live in Walsall but have descended socially to being a fulltime writer of true and fictional crime. If you want to relive the departed glories of the Fitters Arms, there is a Free Reed triple CD issued last year to commemorate their 25th anniversary. Its called 'This Label Is Not Removable' and carries a track of yours truly singing 'The Road to Mandalay' at the Fitters in 1974. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 04 Oct 04 - 10:28 PM G'day Betsy and Barrie, It's a setting of a Henry Lawson poem ... and I think the tune was one of those English tunes that A L Lloyd picked out of his diddy bag when he didn't have (or know) the Australian collected tune to start with. In this case I'm fairly certain the particular poem-as-song was collected - but with a fairly bright and cheery tune ... I'll check back when I get home. Lloyd was working mostly from photocopies sent to the EFDSS of the carbon copies circulated between several active Australian collectors - but there were no copies of the field tapes ... that would have been far beyond the personal budgets of unfunded collectors - in those days. The minor tune Lloyd produced does not seem to have been found or known in Australia ... but the power of a larger, overseas, music publisher gives it more penetration. A lot of Lawson's poems were sung ... indeed, 'Duke' Tritton, who went shearing in 1905 and was a very active singer said he heard Lawson sung much more often than he ever heard the poems recited. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Betsy Date: 04 Oct 04 - 03:30 PM Thanks Barrie - that's the one - had a line "and every night by the Billabong we'd dance to a German Band ".I'll check it out now I've got the right Title !!!! Daft question Barrie but I'll ask it anyway - did you ever sing "On the road to Mandalay" (apart from other songs of course) in the folk Clubs around Walsall. Cheers |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts Date: 04 Oct 04 - 02:22 PM Dear Betsy, The song you have in mind is 'The Shearer's Dream': I dreamt I shore in a shearing shed And it was a dream of joy, For every one of those roustabouts Was a girl dressed up as a boy. I can't jus now recall much more, but can do so if noone else beats me to it. Bert Lloyd certainly used to sing it and (from memory) I believe its in the Penguin Australian Folksongs. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Betsy Date: 04 Oct 04 - 12:25 PM What was the title of a Song that goes:- ( Chorus ) There were tall thin girls there were short fat girl - the prettiest I'd ever seen, They were four foot high they were six feet wide and every shape in between. Martin Whyndam-Read used to sing yonks ago - I always thought it was the "Drovers Dream" .Hell of a song also - really good tune. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 04 Oct 04 - 12:39 AM G'day JDC, Where ... and when ... was that? (If we aren't asking too many secrets!) I'm simply interested to know just how widespread this song was after The Bushwhackers Band recording of (~) 1955 managed to nudge the song, briefly, into the Australian popsong lists. I can remember their recording being played, 10 years later (and about 10 years before the "rocky / bush / folk" band that misappropriated their name), on 7SD - the Scottsdale (Tasmania) "Country Music" station. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,JDC Date: 03 Oct 04 - 11:34 AM My dad sang that song to me when I was a child. I had no idea it was so popular. Thanks for the lyrics, they take me back. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: breezy Date: 08 May 04 - 01:05 PM I collated a version subsequent to reasearching the song in the Vaughan Willie library and put it on cassette. Its avery educational song, get kids to count the animals mentioned and give em a mars bar -snack size -if they agree with your number. Its agreat collage project too I've got Val Marsden and the boys Graham and John aka Cockersdale appearing in St Albans on Fri 21st may at the Duke of Marlborough visit www.folk4all.net |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Nigel Parsons Date: 08 May 04 - 12:38 PM The 4 verse version also appears in one of the BBC's schools books "Singing Together" (ISBN 0 563 350 660) together with melody line and simple one line harmony. Available to scan in & e-mail if anyone would like to PM me for a copy Nigel |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 13 Nov 03 - 06:47 AM G'day Arthur, That last line is the usual sanitised version sung by folkies ... but what "GUEST,Q" quoted is what the old ex-shearer, Chris Williams, sang to John Meredith's newfangled tape recorder, back in the '50s. (incidentally, john only printed " ... two of his cleaner versions.") Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,ajdiesel@dodo.com.au Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:13 PM The last line is (Ususally) "Yelling dreamy, where the hell are all the sheep" Add yes, it it tea tree! Cheers all . Arthur |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 13 Mar 03 - 07:56 AM G'day gnomad, Thanks for that information. I would have expected the Australian term to be an English one ... modified, as appropriate, for the new conditions. We still have the (rough) equivalent of your "drove roads" in the thousands of kilometres of "stock routes" - usually wide, usually grassed, areas running besides motor roads, these days. Except in the really wild country, these would be fenced at property boundaries, sometimes broken up into sections by cross fences and, at least nowadays, cattle grids. At appropriate intervals (~ 16 km/10 miles) there will be stock pens, where stock could be closed in for the night. Nowadays, these are used more for "working the long paddock" - taking starving/drough-affected stock onto the stock routes to garner a bit of green grass. The reqirement to travel each day limits the abuse of the 'long paddaock'. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: gnomad Date: 12 Mar 03 - 02:22 PM Bob Bolton: Yes UK, Yes a modern song about a now outdated practice. There are examples still in the UK countryside of old drove roads. These were used by the drovers for the movement of mainly sheep & cattle, sometimes over significant distances, in UK and cattle terms at least :-). Poultry, esp geese & ducks were also customarily driven to market on foot. Many have now been metalled but some remain green. They can often be distinguished by having disproportionately wide verges, few ditches, and solid stock-proof hedges or walls. The idea being that the stock were kept from browsing the crops they passed, but could pick up some sustenance en route. What has actually saved many of these old roads is their becoming redundant in the new railway age, as descibed in the song, leading to a sort of benign neglect. They make good footpaths where the latest craze of off-roading isn't finally doing for them. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,MCP Date: 11 Mar 03 - 08:37 PM bradfordian's version has some differences from the version in the Picking Sooty Blackberries book and I've posted the version from there in the thread Lyr Add: The Drovers (Keith Marsden). Mick |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 11 Mar 03 - 07:18 PM Nothing strange about it. It was a common term until the practice ceased in England. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE DROVERS (Keith Marsden) From: bradfordian Date: 11 Mar 03 - 06:54 PM Thanks for that lead gnomad. Further research has revealed:- THE DROVERS by Keith Marsden (in Yorkshire, about as far away from Oz as you can get) Oh, I was a lad when I saw the fisrt signs The gahering of beast and of man The ???? of the halter and dogs running free For the drovers were on the road again CHORUS Oh the droving days are gone And the drovers day is run For there's railways laid And they've taken the trade And the droving days are gone For we had the freedom of high moor and fell No fences and walls bound us then The meetings with old friends at farmstead or fair And the drovers were on the road again I'm old and there's no place at hirings for me For who wants a bent broken man I wish God would bring back the days that we knew When the drovers are on the road again From the Picking Sooty Blackberries CD (CR CD001) additional verse We cursed down the valleys, we cursed up the hills We stumbled through marsh bog and fen Each year was the last that we knew come the spring That the drovers are on the road again another verse perhaps? BTW, drover does seem strange for an English term! Great tune, Vivaldi you say? Brad See this thread for another transcription, which may be more complete. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: GUEST,Q Date: 11 Mar 03 - 06:18 PM Don't know about England, but in the U. S. and Canada, drover used to have the same sense as in Australia- one who moves large herds. The word has gone out of usage since the time that cattle drives ceased many years ago. Now it seems mostly to mean a crowd of people. The words by bradfordian, although English in some of the words, in tone sounds like the "cowboy poems" written in America in the last 80 or so years. I suppose the same type of nostalgic song is written in Australia. A couple of American cowboy songs that I have seen had "drover" in the verses, but the word appears mostly in histories and descriptions of the American west written in the late 19th century and later. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream From: Bob Bolton Date: 11 Mar 03 - 05:00 PM G'day GUEST,Q, That's an interesting variant, from Merro's first volume of Folk Songs of Australia and the men and women who sang them. John got quite a few variants over the years - it was obviously a popular song ... and drovers got all round the place. bradfordian and gnomad: I take it that The Drovers, by Keith Marsden, would be a UK (probably English) modern song. Some of the terms, particularly "hirings" were not common in Australia and the general tone sounds "English" (to me, anyway). In an English context, would the term "drover" have had the same sense as in Australia - a person who escorted large groups of cattle or sheep over long distances - or would it have had a more general sense of a wagoner or carter? Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE DROVER'S DREAM From: GUEST,Q Date: 11 Mar 03 - 04:29 PM Lyr. Add: THE DROVER'S DREAM Whilst traveling with some sheep, While my mates were fast asleep, Not a star or moon beneath the southern sky. I was dozing, I suppose, For my eyes were hardly closed, When a very strange procession passed me by. First there came a kangaroo, With a swag of blankets blue, A dingo followed closely for a mate. They saluted me and passed, They were traveling very fast, Saying, "Let us jog along, it's getting late." When the old bandicoot Played a tune upon the flute, A frilled-neck lizard listened with a smile. An emu standing near With its claw up to its ear Said, "That's the sweetest thing I've heard for quite a while." An opossum and a crow Sang a song of long ago; Three native bears came in and formed a ring; The pelican and the crane Came in from off the plain And amused the audience with an 'ighland fling. Three frogs from off the swamp, Where the atmosphere was damp, Came hopping in and sat upon some stones. They laid down their swags And took from out their bags The violin, the banjo and the bones. Then there came an awful crash, As though creation had gone smash! Waking up, I found I'd been asleep, And the boss beneath the cart He gave me an awful start, He said, "Dreamy, where the fucking hell's the sheep? Version by Chris Williams, a sheep shearer, from "Folk Songs of Australia, 1967, John Meridith and Hugh Anderson, pp. 202-203, with music. The 2nd and 3rd verses differ from versions in the DT and posted. |
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