Subject: Lyr Add: GENTLE ANNIE From: Stewie - PM Date: 19 Jun 02 - 09:34 PM Hrothgar mentioned an Australian version of 'Gentle Annie'. In the Australian outback Foster's piece became a bird of a very different wing. There are several variants, but the text of an unusual one was given to Danny Spooner by Dave Lumsden who said his family tradition had that it was written for his grandmother's sister, but that he believed it was probably written for a friend - both girls were 15 at the time. The words were by Jack Cousens who was an itinerant worker around the Murray River in the 1890s. Cousens spent much of his time with the travelling steam-driven threshing machines that travelled from town to town. GENTLE ANNIE Now the harvest time is come, Gentle Annie And the wild oats they are scattered o'er the field And you'll be anxious to know, Gentle Annie How your little crop of oats is going to yield And we're travelling down the road into Barna And we're following the feeder, Billy Yates When we arrive and we see the donah She's the little girl we left at Tommy Waits' So we must meet again Gentle Annie As each year we're travelling round your door And we never will forget you, Gentle Annie You're the little dark-eyed girl we do adore Well, your mutton's very sweet, Gentle Annie And your wines they can't be beat in New South Wales But you'd better get a fence round your cabbage Or they'll all be eaten up by the snails And you'll take my advice, Gentle Annie, And you're bound to watch old Chaffie going away With a pack bag hung over his saddle For he stole some knives and forks the other day Yes, we must meet again Gentle Annie Each year as we're travelling round your door And we never can forget you, Gentle Annie You're the little dark-eyed girl we all adore Well, your little bed of oats is fresh, Gentle Annie And the bullocks they are yoked to go away You'll be sorry when we're gone, Gentle Annie For you'll want us then to stop and thresh the hay But we must say farewell, Gentle Annie, For you know with you we cannot longer stay But we hope one and all, Gentle Annie, To be with you on another threshing day --Stewie. More verses here .... plus I think there are other threads that discuss the Oz version too. R-J
|