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Check out the thread for "Outside Track" for the background- including lyrics Chalrie Noble left on it.

Subject: RE: Outside Track - Henry Lawson
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:17 PM

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: OUTSIDE TRACK (Henry Lawson)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jun 03 - 08:07 PM

I'm not sure how much I've strayed from Gerry Hallom's tune. I have to admit becoming fascinated with finding fragments of "Roddy McCalley" and "Foggy Dew" embedded in his arrangement and I may have added a few other elements in what I've been doing. I've also done some relatively minor "folk processing" of the verses which look like this:

Words by Henry Lawson, 1896; original tune by Gerry Hallom © 1982
Primarily from the singing of Margaret Walters and John Warner,
Who Was Here?, Feathers & Wedge © 1997
Words and tune modified by Charlie Ipcar, 2002
Key: F (C/5)

The Outside Track

G----------D----------Em------------D--------G
There were ten of us there on that moon-lit quay
-----D-----------A--D--G
And one on the for'ard hatch;
----D---------Em---------D------------G
No straighter man to his mates than he,
----D---------G---D-A
No one could be his match;
-------------D----G—D--------------------G--D
"'Twill be long, old man, 'fore our glass-es clink,
----------------------------------------A
'twill be long 'fore we grasp your hand!"
----------D--------------Em----------D----G
Then we dragged him ashore for a final drink,
---------D------------A---------------G
Till the whole wide world seemed grand.

Chorus:
G--------D-----G----D------------------G----D
For they marry and go, as the world rolls back,
---------------------------------A
They marry and vanish and die;
-----------D-----------Em---------D-------G
But their spirit shall live on the outside track,
---D------------A-------G
As long as the years go by.

The port-lights glowed in the morning mist
That rolled from the waters so green;
And over the railing we grasped his fist
As the dark tide came between;
We cheered the captain, we cheered the crew,
And our own mate, times out of mind;
We cheered the land he was going to,
And the land he'd left behind. (CHO)

We roared Lang Syne as a last farewell,
But me heart seemed out of joint;
I well remember the hush that fell
As the steamer cleared the point;
We drifted home through the public bars,
We were ten times less by one,
Who'd sailed out under the morning stars,
Into the rising sun. (CHO)

And one by one, and two by two,
They've sailed from the quay since then;
I've said good-bye to the last I knew,
The last of the careless men;
And I can't but think that the times we had
Were the best times after all,
As I turn aside, raise my glass,
And drink to this bar-room wall. (CHO)

An MP3 sample of how I'm doing this can be accessed from my personal website: Charley Noble Personal Website
Cheerily,
Charley Noble