Lyr Req/Tune Add: Bundaberg Rum

Subject: Tune Add: BUNDABERG RUM
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 05 Oct 99 - 12:50 AM

I only have the first verse and chorus, plus the tune. There are two or three more verses. Can anyone help please?

Bundaberg is a sugar town on the Central coast of Queensland, and is the preferred drink of those in the tropics of Northern Australia. Regards, John

God made the sugar cane grow where it's hot,
And teetotal abstainers to grow where it's not,
Let the sin bosun warn of perdition to come,
We'll drink it and chance it so bring on the rum.
Chorus
Bundaberg Rum and it's overproof rum,
Will tan your inside and put hair on your bum,
Let the blue ribbon beat on his empty old drum,
Or his waterlogged belly, but we'll stick to our rum.

MIDI file: bundy.mid

Timebase: 96

Text: Produced using SharpEye (Unregistered)
Key: G
Tempo: 150 (500000 microsec/crotchet)
TimeSig: 3/4 72 8
Key: G
Start
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End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

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ABC format:

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M:3/4
Q:1/4=150
K:G
D5D|G2G2G2|BBB4|A2B2c2|E4G2|F2FFF2|E2D3D|
D2c2c2|B4DD|G2G2G2|B2B2B2|A2B2c2|E4G2|FF3F2|
E2D2D2|cB4A|G6|G3GG2|D2D2D2|B2B2d2|d4d2|G3GG2|
G2F2G2|A2A2F2|D4DD|G2GG3|B2B2B2|A3Bc2|E4GG|
F3FF2|EED2D2|c2B2A2|G6|-G6||

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From:
Date: 05 Oct 99 - 04:36 AM

Thanks for that, John. I had a colleague who used to tunelessly sing the line, "Bundaberg Rum puts hair on your bum", and I wondered if there was more to it. He couldn't recall any more, or where he learned it. Do you know its history? Who made it up, etc. I hope somebody comes up with more of it.

BTW Bundaberg Black Label is great sipping stuff.

Murray

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: Bruce from Bathurst
Date: 05 Oct 99 - 05:00 AM

There are another two verses. The song was written by John in Brisbane's fellow banana-bender (aka 'person from Queensland') Bill Scott. Bill is a folklorist, poet and all round important person in Australia's folk scene. I don't have the book in front of me, but I'm sure the words are in 'The Penguin Book Of Australian Humorous Verse' which Bill compiled in the 1980's.

If you're in Brisbane, ask Stan Arthur and The Wayfarers to sing it some time.

Bruce

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From:
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 05:23 AM

The last verse is

On the day of judgement when the sky rolls back
we'll stroll from our graves up the long winding track
and our voices will resound thruout kingdom come
as we toast the archangels in Bundaberg Rum.

Another verse has the line

we shave with our axes and sleep on old bags.

I'd appreciate hearing the missing verse.

Leigh Callinan

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 05:44 AM

That's about all I can expect from anyone who calls Bunderberg a RUM - their ginger beer is almost OK, but the rum? It's an Aussie 'Unedrerarm' deodourant!!

says Sam, in NZ, who's ducking for cover and covering his slip so he doesn't feel sillu (mid on or off) VBG

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 06:57 AM

Unfortunately Stan is no longer with us.

The 1999 link above to the Miditext SW is no longer current.

Now, Billy the Bus, I grew up in Bundaberg, related to half the town and all, and me mate's Dad was the Engineer at the Mill there...

The best and most affordable is the Bundaberg O.P. Rum. (Over Proof!)

Yum! Sipping only ...

Robin

Subject: Lyr Add: BUNDABERG RUM (Bill Scott)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 12:42 PM

BUNDABERG RUM is in Hey Rain - The Bill Scott Songbook.

I found this posted by a tourist who said he got the "definitive wording" from a book he got at the distillery:

BUNDABERG RUM
Bill Scott

God made the sugar cane grow where it's hot,
And teetotal abstainers to grow where it's not.
Let the sin bosun warn of perdition to come;
We'll drink it and chance it, so bring on the rum.

CHORUS: Bundaberg rum, and it's overproof rum,
Will tan your inside and grow hair on your bum.
Let the blue ribbon beat on his empty old drum
Or his waterlogged belly, but we'll stick to our rum.

We're men who drink it, oh yes, men indeed,
Of the bushranging hairnecked olden time breed.
We shave with our axes. We dress in old rags.
We feed on old boots and we sleep on old bags. CHORUS

Dull care flies away when our voices resound,
And the grass shrivels up when we spit on the ground.
When we finally die and are buried in clay,
Our bodies are pickled and never decay. CHORUS

On the Morning of Judgment, when the skies are rolled back,
We'll stroll from our graves up the long golden track,
And our voices will echo throughout Kingdom Come
As we toast the archangels in Bundaberg Rum. CHORUS

* * *
For good measure, here's The Bundaberg Rum official website but it doesn't mention the song.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 12:46 PM

I'd appreciate it if an Aussie would explain "sin bosun" and "blue ribbon".

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 01:39 PM

Sin bosun reminded me of the western US term- sky pilot (traveling preacher). Am I right?

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 07:25 PM

Not all Aussie slang - especially the older stuff - is comprehensible to all Aussies either these days, especially since we now have a large proportion of immigrants from other cultural backgrounds here nowadays.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 07:54 PM

Thanks for the full words after all these years. While it's fairly obvious that 'sin bosun' and 'blue ribbon' refer to some kind of temperance preachers, I don't know the real historical reference.

While not exactly common slang the religious people who knock on front doors are referred to as 'God botherers'.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 08 Nov 04 - 02:24 AM

Q, your's was a very fine piece of deduction/intuition. At http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/angela764/military/jargon.html is an Index of Royal Marine Jargon. 'Sin Bosun' is described as 'A naval padre'.

The 'blue ribbon' still eludes me however.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: LYR REQ/Tune ADD: Bundaberg Rum
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Nov 04 - 08:36 AM

A guess/deduction

I think the blue ribbon was a badge of the Temperance Society - thus obviously (perhaps an ex-military man) - a drummer - (a reformed drinker) - come along to beat up (with the drum!) an audience for the Temperance Speakers.