G'day Koala Lou,

I've been pondering this strange tale ... hoping someone closer to the time and place might come up with a good explanation. Anyway, it obviously deals with the halcyon days of the Melbourne folkmusic scene - roughly 1965 - early '70s ... when some UK singers (in this case Danny Spooner, Martin Wyndham-Read and Gordon McIntyre) made an impact on the local folk scene.

The writer seems upset about all sorts of issues ... and most of them get lost because the epic is just too clever by half (and, maybe, too long by three quarters!). I guess the nub of it is that Danny Spooner got some sort of academic position ... and the author didn't.

Maybe someone who was there (I was variously in Sydney / Tasmania / Snowy Mts / Tasmania / Sydney over the period of the piece) has a more coherent view of the story, but I don't think I would try singing it. (The last line suggests that the song it's modelled on might have been The Fine Old English Gentleman ... well, for that verse, anyway!

Regards,

Bob