Lyr Req: The Dying Bushman

Subject: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:05 PM

I am seeking help with lyrics to 'The Dying Bushman' a New Zealand song that Phil Garland had from Ken Hart of Palmerston North who had first heard it in the Otaki area in the early 1930s.

I have put question marks beside the words I am seeking in the transcription below. I have searched sites on the Net related to NZ timbers, but came up zilch with some - I have spelled them as they sound. A 'sasha' (or whatever) may be a timber cutting tool of some kind, but it's not a term I've ever come across. The word before 'door' sounds like 'worry' but that makes no sense.

Any assistance with making this transcription accurate will be greatly appreciated.


THE DYING BUSHMAN

I've knocked around the logging camps since early boyhood days
I've seen the famous axemen come and go
Now me chopping days are over, I shall swing that axe no more
On the hillside where the native timbers grow

Chorus
For me sasha (?) is all rusty, and my axe handle's broke
I've laid them both behind the worry (?) door
For the rata and the rimu have got so goddamn tough
That I really cannot cut them any more

The tramways in the valley I shall never tread again
No more I'll hear the hauler's whistle blow
Well, oft times I look back as I travel down the track
Please don't take me from the only home I know

Chorus

I'm a poor old worn-out bushman and my chopping days are done
Soon this world shall know I'll be no more
Down the valley of the shadow I'll soon be on the track
Where oft times I've seen bushmen go before

Chorus

And when I sleep that last long sleep, I pray that it may be
Where the tawa and the matai and the pine
And the gino (?) and the nyall (?) and the kuramiko (?) tree
Grow forever by that lonely grave of mine

Chorus

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 11:27 PM

G'day Stewie,

This obviously relates to our cousins on the eastern side of the Tasman Sea, but I'll check this, tonight, against some NZ glossaries. (However, I do reckon your (worry ?) is probably whare, the Maori word for 'hut' or 'house' ... roughly "wory" ... with the vowel sound as in 'hot' - although the intitial sound of the intitial consonant is a bit tricky for us pakehas!)

Incidentally, I know that the Oxford Australian Words Project ... from the early '60s ... was compiling word lists from Australian trades - so I suspect they were doing something similar in New Zealand around the same time, since there is an NZ equivalent to The Australian National Dictionary (i>The New Zealand National Dictionary ... ?). There may be someone at OWLS (Oxford Word and Language Service ) - they are at the Australian National University, in our case - who can access the specialised lists.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 11:58 PM

Bob, 'whare' sounds like it may be the ticket. Thanks for your help.

Regards, Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:31 AM

G'day again Stewie,

The 'trans-Tasman' texts I was able to check did not help much. Someting like the OWLS trade-word lists might help - if you can locate NZ version. (Or find a Phil Garland lyrics site ... ?)

It does occur to me the sasha (?) could be "slasher" .., perhaps a bill-hook, or similar, device for clearing around the tree to be chopped ... but I can't summon up any learned defense! The later terms are all woods / trees - like rata and rimu in an earlier verse ... but I can't help with details on the "gino (?) and the nyall (?) and the kuramiko (?)".

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:34 AM

Whoops ...!

As I sent the last, I remembered ngaio - a small NZ tree withedible fruit and good timber ... pronounced ~ "ny-oh" (and the first name of mystery writer!). Sounds like the sort of tree to grow near a grave ... ?

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:34 AM

Phil doesn't have many lyrics on his site, but you could try to contact him.


http://www.philgarland.co.nz/index.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 09:18 AM

Bob, thanks for going to that trouble. I appreciate it. You have solved two puzzles at least. I can't hear any 'l' sound in the 'sasha' word.

Sandra, thanks for the address for Garland. I will attempt to contact him.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Little Robyn
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 01:54 PM

It's not a song that we're familiar with but slasher and whare are words I'd have chosen. And the native trees - ngaio and koromiko are obvious but I don't recognise gino. There is one native tree missing from that list - rimu (ree moo). Could that be what you're hearing Stewie?
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 05:34 PM

Robyn, thanks for confirming Bob's 'whare' and 'ngaio' and for 'koromiko'. That only leaves the 'gino/geeno' sounding one - it is definitely not 'rimu' which is in the chorus. I doubt 'slasher' because, as I indicated above, there is no 'l' sound at all in the word which is articulated clearly enough.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:38 PM

G'day again Stewie ... and Little Robyn,

I guess that I should have asked if "gino" had a 'soft g' or a 'hard g' ... ~ 'jino' or 'gino'. (Unfortunately, the web doesn't let me type in IPA [International Phonetic Alphabet] - and nobody would read it, anyway, without a cheatsheet!). The sound of that name could suggest a differently spelled word. (Come to think of it ... is the 'I' long [as in 'time'] or short [as in 'tin' ... ?)

As far as "slasher" goes, I only suggested it as an outside chance - I can't see a timbergetter of that period making use a lot of use of a brush-hook - any area that was that much overgrown would have to be cleared by the timber haulers before they could take out the felled trunks.

I think Phil Garland is going to be the only one who can really answer all the questions. Things have changed a lot in the timber game since this song first saw the light ... it's all chainsaws and bulldozers today!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:46 PM

G'day Bob,

The 'i' sounds like 'ee' - I should have put 'geeno' (hard 'g') in the first place to give a better idea of the sound of the word. I have sent an email to Phil - hopefully, the addy on the site given by Sandra is still current. I will let you know what I find out if I get a reply.

Regards, Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From:
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 11:12 PM

gidday Stewie

I think you're pretty safe with slasher, mate.

Could the odd one out possibly be "miro" otherwise known as the black pine

Jack

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From:
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 11:31 PM

Perhaps "mangeao" will fit the bill for you. The back end of it sounds right

Jack

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Feb 04 - 12:46 AM

Thanks for the input, Jack. Another vote for 'slasher'. That is possibly what it is, but I can't hear it. The odd one out doesn't sound like either of your suggestions.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help with 'Dying Bushman' (NZ)
From: Uke
Date: 04 Feb 04 - 03:33 AM

I've got the lyrics to 'Dying Bushman' from Phil's 'Singing Kiwi' songbook here in front of me. Slasher and Whare are the words in the chorus. Slashers are definitely pretty handy in the NZ bush - there can be lots of tough undergrowth, vines etc.

The words in the final verse are mostly native trees with Maori names:
Tawa, Matai, Pine, Hinau, Ngaio and Koromiko. So that puzzling one is 'Hinau' (Elaeocarpus dentatus).

Incidentally there's quite a few versions of this song that have been collected in NZ going right back to the 1950s. According to those singers it goes back to the 1920s.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DYING BUSHMAN
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Feb 04 - 04:12 AM

Uke, thank you. 'Slasher' it is then. I'll have to get my ears cleared out. I will post a corrected version below in case Joe should ever want to harvest it for the DT.

Many thanks to all for your assistance. It is much appreciated.

THE DYING BUSHMAN

I've knocked around the logging camps since early boyhood days
I've seen the famous axemen come and go
Now me chopping days are over, I shall swing that axe no more
On the hillside where the native timbers grow

Chorus
For me slasher is all rusty, and my axe handle's broke
I've laid them both behind the whare door
For the rata and the rimu have got so goddamn tough
That I really cannot cut them any more

The tramways in the valley I shall never tread again
No more I'll hear the hauler's whistle blow
Well, oft times I look back as I travel down the track
Please don't take me from the only home I know

Chorus

I'm a poor old worn-out bushman and my chopping days are done
Soon this world shall know I'll be no more
Down the valley of the shadow I'll soon be on the track
Where oft times I've seen bushmen go before

Chorus

And when I sleep that last long sleep, I pray that it may be
Where the tawa and the matai and the pine
And the hinau and the ngaio and the koromiko tree
Grow forever by that lonely grave of mine

Chorus

Source: transcription from Phil Garland 'Under The Southern Cross' Kiwi Pacific Records CD SLC-239.

--Stewie.