Origins: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle) - 'cocky'

Subject: Missing word: 'Now I'm Easy'
From: Crazy Eddie
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 12:55 AM

Listening to this song on a CD, the first line is
For nearly sixty years I've been a ????????
The word I can't quite get sounds like "Crocky, Crockle, ....Croppy"
Clearly it means some type of farmer.
Any assistance with the word, and with it's more specific meaning (eg stockman, homesteader, squatter etc.) much appreciated. Eddie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Eric Bogle 'Now I'm Ea
From: Amergin
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 12:59 AM

It's in the DT Crazy Eddie....and it is "cocky"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Eric Bogle 'Now I'm Ea
From:
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 01:06 AM

A cocky is a farmer

Eric's one was probably a cow cocky

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Eric Bogle 'Now I'm Ea
From: Crazy Eddie
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 01:38 AM

Thanks guys!
Eddie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Eric Bogle 'Now I'm Ea
From: JenEllen
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 02:02 AM

Cockey. Australian sheep farmer, or so I learned it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Eric Bogle 'Now I'm Ea
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 03:33 AM

G'day all,

In its original sense, Cocky Farmer was a small farmer, either (according to version) growing or feeding cockies (cockatoos) - not a crop. Today the term can embrace farmers on large holdings - and be a sheep cocky or a cow cocky - but it always has a sense of not being a rich pastoralist. Eric's cocky has always been a battler. Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Eric Bogle 'Now I'm Ea
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 05:06 AM

Might as well have it from the man himself as well. From the notes to Now I'm Easy in The Eric Bogle Songbook Volume 2 CD:

"A 'cocky' is an Australian term for a farmer who farms land on a small scale and is therefore usually poor and battling to make ends meet. It is derived from the contemptuous term given to to these farmers of "Cockatoo Farmers' by the large rich graziers".

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Eric Bogle 'Now I'm Ea
From: Barry Finn
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 05:03 PM

It's been a long time since I heard Eric in concert, when I heard him sing this he first told the story of how he came to write this. While in a pub (some of his best work seems to come out of pubs) an old fella set at the bar next to him & started to relate his life's story to Eric every so often saying the line or part of the line"it's nearly over now & now I'm easy". As soon as the old fella left Eric says that he grabed something to write with & went out behind the pub to write it all down. He's said that he was practicly handed the song. When I first heard this it was love at first sight, can't remember when I did this last, forgot I even did it up till now, I'm gonna have to pull this back out of the dust bin, thanks, Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 04 May 08 - 06:06 AM

My elder sibling used to do this song.

He'd always sing 'For nearly sixty years I've been a copy!'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Bugsy
Date: 05 May 08 - 04:57 AM

I've often thought of writing a parody of this song, on the lines of
"For nearly sixty years I've been a Jockey'

But it's all over now Scoby Breazley"


Cheers


Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Flash Company
Date: 05 May 08 - 11:01 AM

Bugsy.....I love that idea, get working on it, otherwise I might!

FC

By the by, the Cocky also features in 'The Cocky from Bungaree' which is about the doubtful pleasure of working for one.

Flash

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Bugsy
Date: 05 May 08 - 06:00 PM

Go for it Flash!

Cheers


Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST,Ted From Australia
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 10:10 PM

NOW I'M EASY
(Eric Bogle)

For nearly sixty years I've been a cocky,
Of drought and fires and floods I've lived through plenty;
This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood,
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.

I married a fine girl when I was twenty,
But she died giving birth when she was thirty;
No flying doctor then, just a gentle old black gin,
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.

She left me with two sons and a daughter,
And a bone dry farm whose soil cried out for water;
So my care was rough and ready, but they grew up fine and steady
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.

My daughter married young and went her own way,
My sons lie buried by the Burma Railway;
So on this land I've made my own, I've carried on alone,
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.

City folks these days despise the cocky.
Say with subsidies and all we've had it easy.
But there's no drought or starving stock
On a sewered suburban plot
But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.
Yes, it's nearly over now, now I'm easy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 01:02 PM

Thanks, Ted. That's a good song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 02:15 PM

I wonder about the etymology. "Cow-cocky" means a cattle farmer in New Zealand, but NZ doesn't have cockatoos. You also don't get any other kind of "cocky", always cows.

Is there some phrase from the British Isles that could have been an antecedent?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST,Bill S in Adelaide
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 06:26 PM

Bit of a joke in the common genre, a poor farmer sows a heap of seed and goes to bed. He wakes up in the morning and thinks the seeds have grown into cockatoos as the field is full of them. Hence a cocky farmer is an unsophisticated small farmer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Mar 15 - 02:30 AM

Australian National Dictionary definition cocky

A farmer. In Australia there are cow cockies, cane cockies and wheat cockies. Cocky arose in the 1840s and is an abbreviation of cockatoo farmer. This was then a disparaging term for small-scale farmers, probably because of their habit of using a small area of land for a short time and then moving on, in the manner of cockatoos feeding.

=========

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: breezy
Date: 10 Mar 15 - 04:40 AM

thanks for the later enlightenment Bill an Sandra

My boy is returning from 21 months in OZ.

Hey Bill the fruit pickers get a raw deal in Loxton, !!!Sam got short changed, what does that tell intending packers ?

happy new year

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST,Bill S in Adelaide
Date: 10 Mar 15 - 08:50 PM

He is lucky there still are fruit picking jobs, the growers are being squeezed by imports especially China which has been sending us a bonus of Hep A in frozen fruit. Bit of an issue at the moment as NZ import fruit from China and process it as produce of NZ!
Not much of a living as a fruit cocky and slim pickings for the pickers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 07:11 AM

without the backpackers the fruit does not get picked ...

so many orchardists have destroyed their trees

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 04:48 PM

needs cleanup and consolidation

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 04:58 PM

Joe, WHAT needs cleanup an consolidation? The lyrics in the DT seem pretty done.

---

It's a reminder mostly to myself, written quickly during the singaround, that we need to have threads consolidated and a definitive version of the lyrics proofread and clearly marked. The thread title says there's a word missing, but I found the original poster is correct. Corrections below. The corrections are very minor, but I see no reason not to have the best transcription we can come up with.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Helen
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 05:37 PM

Because of COVID 19 the backpackers who usually come here and often do fruit picking are not travelling here so the fruit farmers are getting worried that their crops will rot on the trees. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement having backpackers here but only if the farmers are fair dinkum in paying them properly and making sure they are safe and not harassed.

Last year we had our first crop of olives on our tree in the garden but we didn't realise that we should have weighted the branches to keep them low enough to reach. The only ones picking the fruit on our tall tree were the very raucous cockatoos.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 06:38 PM

I'll just tip-toe away, because I'm not following this.
The thread started nineteen years ago because Crazy Eddie couldn't make out the word "cocky".
Five-ish years ago, someone posted the lyrics of the song.
Around that time, someone started talking about fruit pickers, which doesn't seem to have a lot to do with a song about a farmer getting close to the end of his life.

And Joe today says "needs cleanup and consolidation".

I still don't know what he's talking about, but I really can't figure out what fruit pickers have to do with the song. I should probably just quit trying to make sense of things. ;)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: GerryM
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 10:51 PM

Second line of the "City folks" verse –
Post from Ted From Australia, 08 Mar 15 - 10:10 PM goes,

Say with subsidies and all we've had it easy.

And that's how I often hear it sung. But I've also heard it sung (and seen it posted) as

Say with subsidies and dole we've had it easy.

I don't know which is the way Bogle wrote it. So far as I can see, there's no official Bogle website with lyrics.

---

Hi, Gerry - the Eric Bogle Songbook has it "and all."
Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Helen
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 11:48 PM

Cockatoos eat the fruit which the human fruit pickers should be picking so then the farmers are not harvesting the crops which they have nurtured all season and then they are not making the profit from farming that they should be given the time, energy, money and resources they have invested. A waste of time and effort if there is no harvest at the end of it. A lot of the fruit pickers here in Oz tend to be backpackers. It all fits in with the definition of a cocky farmer.

As Bob Bolton said on 24 Jun 01 - 03:33 AM:

"In its original sense, Cocky Farmer was a small farmer, either (according to version) growing or feeding cockies (cockatoos) - not a crop. Today the term can embrace farmers on large holdings - and be a sheep cocky or a cow cocky - but it always has a sense of not being a rich pastoralist. Eric's cocky has always been a battler."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 04:49 AM

For nearly sixty years I've been a jockey,
Over hurdles ditches and fences I've ridden through plenty;
This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood,
But it's nearly over now, I'm Scobie Breasley.

I rode a fine mare when I was twenty,
But she fell at the last cos she was thirty;
No accolades then, just a thirty day whip ban,
But it's nearly over now, I'm Scobie Breasley .

The A,L.F. these days despise the jockey.
Say THE JOCKEY CLUB and stewards have made it easy.
But there's bans for smoking pot
Or drinking double tots
But it's nearly over now, I'm Scobie Breasly.
Yes, it's nearly over now, I'm Scobie Breasley.

She left me at the first a refuser,
Near the the starter whose smelled of body odour ;
So my whip flew from my grip,hit the starter in his teeth
But it's nearly over now, I'm Scobie breasley.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 05:34 AM

Forgive me for being childish and puerile

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 05:53 AM

"Bit of a joke in the common genre, a poor farmer sows a heap of seed and goes to bed. He wakes up in the morning and thinks the seeds have grown into cockatoos as the field is full of them. Hence a cocky farmer is an unsophisticated small farmer."

"The only ones picking the fruit on our tall tree were the very raucous cockatoos."

I don't know the origin of cocky, but the image I get is a farmer who - despite his efforts - only manages to raise cockatoos.

Ring-necked parakeets are increasingly common in the UK.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 07:33 AM

In NZ cow cockies are not impoverished - cattle raising is the most profitable kind of farming. The Kiwis seem to have acquired the word without the backstory.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: rich-joy
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 08:47 AM

Over in the Aust/NZ song thread, a 28Sept posting of a song about Cockie Bell's sad demise in the WA wheatbelt, mentions :

“…..Cocky / Cockie arose in the 1870s and is an abbreviation of cockatoo farmer.
This was then a disparaging term for small-scale farmers, probably because of their habit of using a small area of land for a short time and then moving on, in the perceived manner of cockatoos feeding…..”
A.N.U. Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms

https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/c


R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Jeri
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 10:05 AM

Thank you, Helen and rich-joy, for the explanations. It makes sense now!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Helen
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 01:47 PM

On the subject of cockatoos, a large flock flying overhead or perching in trees and squawking at top volume can be an overwhelming experience. An Irish friend of my Hubby said that the first time he heard them he ducked for cover. He thought they were banshees wailing overhead.

They are a force to be reckoned with, and a smallhold struggling farmer would have no hope.

flock of cockatoos screeching

Note: the sound on the video is not giving the full effect.

large flock of cockatoos on a grassy area

As I added these links I heard a flock of cockies flying around outside squawking. Maybe they heard the video as I was playing it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: rich-joy
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 05:50 PM

for another parody, see the thread "Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia (and NZ)" on 3rd October at 10.07pm : Bob Townshend's "For Nearly 60 Years I've Been a Folkie" : /mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=168402&messages=602#4074128

R-J :)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Helen
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 01:09 AM

Coincidentally this article appeared in the news today:

Threatened black cockatoos are
'annihilating' WA apple crops

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: GerryM
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 01:46 AM

rich-joy Alan Foster also wrote a parody beginning "For nearly 60 years I've been a folky," it's at https://mudcat.org/thread.CFM?threadID=3004&threadID=3004#14373 and if that doesn't work it can be found under

Subject: Lyr Add: IT'S NOT EASY (Alan Foster)
From: Alan of Australia - PM
Date: 08 Oct 97 - 04:51 AM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Missing word: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 02:38 AM

Ha! Thanks for that, Gerry - my copy of Yorkie Bob's lyrics are dated by him as 01.06.04, so Alan's 1997 or earlier lyrics, certainly pip that!
Not that it matters; they're both amusing and it's a pretty easy song to parody, I guess!

Thanks again for that reference, Gerry (see you over in the Aussie/Kiwi thread?)

Cheers!
R-J

Subject: DT Correction: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 04:04 AM

Here are the original and Digital Tradition lyrics for "Now I'm Easy." I used the Eric Bogle Songbook and the studio recording as my basis for corrections. When there was a discrepancy between the two, I favored the recording.

NOW I'M EASY (DT Version) (Eric Bogle) For nearly sixty years I've been a cocky, Of drought and fires and floods I've lived through plenty; This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood, But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy. I married a fine girl when I was twenty, But she died giving birth when she was thirty; No flying doctor then, just a gentle old black gin, But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy. She left me with two sons and a daughter, And a bone dry farm whose soil cried out for water; So my care was rough and ready, but they grew up fine and steady But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy. My daughter married young and went her own way, My sons lie buried by the Burma Railway; So on this land I've made my own, I've carried on alone, But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy. City folks these days despise the cocky. Say with subsidies and all we've had it easy. But there's no drought or starving stock On a sewered suburban plot But it's nearly over now, now I'm easy. Yes, it's nearly over now, now I'm easy. Copyright Larrikin Music @Australian @pioneer @family filename[ IMEASY TUNE FILE: IMEASY CLICK TO PLAY GK apr96

NOW I'M EASY (corrected) (Eric Bogle) For nearly sixty years I've been a cocky, Of droughts and fires and floods I've lived through plenty; This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood, But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy. I married a fine girl when I was twenty, But she died in giving birth when she was thirty; No Flying Doctor then, just a gentle old black gin; But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy. She left me with two sons and a daughter, And a bone-dry farm whose soil cried out for water; So my care was rough and ready, but they grew up fine and steady But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy. My daughter married young and went her own way, My sons lie buried by the Burma Railway; So on this land I've made my own, I've carried on alone, But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy. City folks these days despise the cocky. Say with subsidies and all we've had it easy. But there's no drought or starving stock On a sewered suburban block. But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy. [repeat first verse] Yes, it's nearly over now, now I'm easy. Copyright Larrikin Music @Australian @pioneer @family filename[ IMEASY TUNE FILE: IMEASY CLICK TO PLAY GK apr96

---

Here's a studio recording by Bogle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIp5aJMzKbo

And a live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyCA1taV9dw

And a very nice 2018 live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYCPXVpO18w

Subject: RE: Origins: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle) - 'cocky'
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 09:04 AM

Joe, I don't know how this stuff works, but the dots that come up at the bottom of the song in the DT have the correct lyrics. So at some point, somebody got it right.

Subject: RE: Origins: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle) - 'cocky'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 02:36 PM

Yeah, Jeri, Dick Greenhaus painstakingly transcribed most or all of the melodies that appear in the Digital Tradition, usually with the first verse of the song. Those transcriptions are amazingly accurate, and are a testament to his talent and passion and precision. As for lyrics, he believed he should honor the efforts of those who sent him their transcriptions, so he usually included songs in the DT with little or no editing. That's why the accuracy of DT lyrics varies.

I'm really fussy about accuracy, so I try to ensure that threads have at least one transcription of a song that is documented as to source and is an accurate transcription of that source. And then I cross-link with the DT and other threads, and people can take their choice.

Subject: RE: Origins: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle) - 'cocky'
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 06:40 PM

I'm emailing a gold star to you, Joe.

I've had to explain to friends that Mudcat is not "inaccurate", that lyrics depend on the poster, some folks post what they remember & others find an original source. Check the source of the words.

When I've posted lyrics from Mudcat to the John Dengate Collection I name the poster & the date & time to get the version I want.

When I posted one of John's songs on the Mudcat Australian songbook, I went back to the original publication in 1982, which is different to the version he (& we!) sang this century. His wife & his oldest mate remembered different versions of one line from when it was new, but he was known to not sing the rude word with some audiences & to change other lines if appropriate!

sandra

Subject: RE: Origins: Now I'm Easy (Eric Bogle) - 'cocky'
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 09:46 PM

It ALWAYS bothered me that one person would send in lyrics, which would be "birdied" (harvested for the DT) immediately, with no chance of discussion. I was afraid I'd add lyrics, then catch a mistake a few hours later, but too late to correct. The problem is that those lyrics get propagated all over the net, because people who add them to sites all grab whatever lyrics they can, wrong or right. THEN you try to tell someone "those lyrics you're singing are wrong", and they cite the place they got them.

I guess it's just tough shit - that's the way things are.