One Of The Has Beens by Don Henderson I'm one of the has-beens A folksong I mean. In oral tradition I once was serene. Illiterate agrarians my worth would avow, but you may not believe me 'cause they don't do it now. Chorus I'm as awkward as a new one, much more cap and gown than a blithe air of arcadia; I've been written down Eluding the Banjo, Vance Palmer, Bert Lloyd, Jones, Durst and O'Connor I did likewise avoid. Manifold, Mredith, Tate, de Hugard, both Scotts, all found finding me was too hard. chorus One day while engrossed in making a whip, my current custodian let his version slip. Ron Edwards was on hand and wrote down all that, while feigning description of the sixteen strand plait. chorus Oh, it's no use complaining, I'll never say die, though the variant days for me have gone by. Now captured in MS, stave and magazine, I merely have told you just what I have been chorus. Don Henderson (Australian Dictionary of Biography) folk-singer, composer, poet, and musical-instrument maker & a lot more All the names are of collectors - poet Banjo Paterson put out the first collection of Australian songs in 1905. Bert Lloyd was collecting in the 20s, and most of the others started collecting in the 50s, with John Meredith getting 2 Orders of Australia for his collecting, publishing & disseminating. Percy Jones collected songs in the 1940s. Widespread collecting started in the 50s. Norm O'Connor & Joy Durst collected in Victoria, John Manifold & Bill Scott in Queensland, John Meredith, Alan Scott, & Brad Tate (60s onward) & Dave de Hugard (60s onward) in New South Wales. Ron Edwards was a collector and publisher of folk songs, yarns and bushcraft. One of his many books was on leather! Brad Tate & Dave de Hugard are still performing.
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