Lyr Add: Look Out Below (Charles Thatcher)

14 Apr 00 - 11:15 AM (#211676)
Subject: Lyr Add: LOOK OUT BELOW (Charles Thatcher)
From: GUEST,radriano

Here's a great little song about the Australian gold rush days:

Look Out Below

A young man left his native town
Through trade being slack at home
To seek his fortune in this land
He crossed the briny foam

And when he came to the Lachlan
His heart was in a glow
To hear the sound of the windlasses
And the cry 'Look out below'

Wherever he turned his wandering eyes
Strange sights he did behold
Of full and plenty in the land
And the magic power of gold

He says now I am young and strong
And a digging I will go
For I like the sound of windlasses
And the cry 'Look out below'

So now he's settled down again
With a charming little wife
He says there's nothing can compare
To a jolly digger's life

Ask him if he'll go home again
And he'll quickly answer no
For he likes the sound of windlasses
And the cry 'Look out below'
ABC notation:

X:1
T:Look Out Below
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:Charles Thatcher
R:Song
Z:Richard Adrianowicz
K:F
C2 | F3E F2G2 | F3F C2A2 | AAF2 A2B2 | c6A2 |
B3A G2(FE) | F3F C2(FE) | D2B,2 C2E2 | F6 ||


One of Charles Thatcher's songs from the goldrush days of the 1850's. Charles Thatcher was an English music hall entertainer during the gold rush period in Victoria. This version was given to John Meredith by Ida Fielding (a friend of Sally Sloane) of Dripstone NSW who got it from her father. The tune is from Sally Sloane and is also used for the ballad 'Peter Clarke'. Sally Sloane was a great old singer who was recorded in the 1950's and 1960's by folklorists searching for Australian songs. The Lachlan is a river in Australia.

If anyone needs a GIF for the music contact me at [e-mail] and I'll send one off to you.

The melody is also the same tune as the song Peter Clarke, which is in the Mudcat database.

radriano

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14 Apr 00 - 11:18 AM (#211679)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Look Out Below
From: GUEST,radriano

I forgot to add that this song and many other great Australian folk songs can be found at Mark Gregory's website of Australian Folk Songs. The address of the site is: www.chepd.mq.edu.au/boomerang/songnet/

radriano

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24 Jan 10 - 11:42 PM (#2820897)
Subject: Lyr Add: LOOK OUT BELOW (Charles Thatcher)
From: GUEST,Globecollector

My parents had a book and record, published in 1970 by Jacaranda Press, by Peter O'Shaughnessy, Russell Ward and Graeme Inson, titled "The Restless Years".

Peter O'Shaughnessy, Marian Henderson and Alex Hood sing the song by Charles Thatcher, titled "Look Out Below", accompanied by band members Ron Carson, Richard Brookes and Robert Iredale.

This version is very difficult to locate in Electronic Media, but it had a sweet, folky sound somewhat like Steeleye Span or The Strawbs with an Australian edge, a little akin to Sirocco.

The lyrics are more extensive than the ones in the thread above and I reproduce them here for comparison.


LOOK OUT BELOW
Charles Thatcher.

A young man left his native shores, for trade was bad at home.
To seek his fortune in this land, he crossed the briny foam.
And when he went to Ballarat, it put him in a glow,
To hear the sound of the windlass and the cry, "Look out below!"

Wherever he turned his wandering eyes great wealth he did behold,
And peace and plenty hand in hand, by the magic power of gold.
Quoth he, "As I am young and strong, to the diggings I will go,
For I like the sound of the windlass and the cry, "Look out below!"

Amongst the rest he took his chance, and his luck at first was vile,
But he still resolved to persevere, and at length he made his pile.
So says he, "I'll take my passage and home again I'll go,
And say farewell to the windlass and the cry, 'Look out below!' "

Arrived in London once again, his gold he freely spent.
And into every gaiety and dissipation went.
But pleasure, if prolonged too much, oft causes pain, you know,
And he missed the sound of the windlass and the cry, "Look out below!"

And thus he reasoned with himself: "Oh why did I return?
For the digger's independent life I now begin to yearn.
Here, purse-proud lords the poor do oppress, but there it is not so.
Give me the sound of the windlass and the cry, 'Look out below!' "

So he started for this land once again with a charming little wife.
And he finds there's nothing comes up to a jolly digger's life.
Ask him if he'll go back again, he'll quickly answer, "No",
For he loves the sound of the windlass and the cry, "Look out below!"


This version seems to contain a moral narrative alluding to the polarized class split in England, as opposed to the more "level socio-economic playing field" in Australia, the supposed land of the "fair go". Let's hope fervently that history does not repeat and the greedy and selfish do not erode this value away!

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30 Nov 11 - 02:44 PM (#3266247)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Look Out Below (Charles Thatcher)
From: GUEST

Look out below was a WW11 naval term. On a submarine riding atop the water and the sub was under air attack, the captain would yell out to the spotters on the conn, "Lookouts below!"

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