G'day Coriander,

This one is a real classic (nearly potboiler) in Aussie folk song. The tune is Killaloo, about which there have been a few threads recently and I posted a few MIDItext variants the other week.

My old friend, the late Alan Scott, actually got a folk version of this onto the minor hit parades in 1955 with the archetypal "Bush Band" The Bushwhackers.

The version in my anthology Singabout - Selected Reprints, (Ed) Bob Bolton, Bush Music Club, Sydney, Australia, 1985, was collected from Bill Tovey in the 1950s.

One night while droving sheep, my companions lay asleep,
There was not a star to illuminate the sky;
I was dreaming I suppose for my eyes were nearly closed
When a very strange procession passed me by.
First there came a kangaroo, with his swag of blankets blue
A dingo ran beside him for a mate;
They were travelling mighty fast, but they shouted as they passed
'We'll have to jog along, it's getting late'.

The pelican and the crane, they came in from off the plain,
To amuse the company with a Highland fling;
And the dear old bandicoot played the tune upon his flute,
And the native bears sat round all in a ring.
Then the possum and the crow sang a song of long ago,
And the frill-necked lizard listened with a smile;
And the emu standing near, with his claw behind his ear
Said The funniest thing I've heard for quite a while.

Some frogs from out the swamp where the atmosphere is damp,
Came bouncing in and sat upon some stones;
They each unrolled their swags and produced from little bags
The violin, the banjo and the bones.
The goanna and the snake and the adder wide awake
With the alligator danced the 'Soldier's Joy'
In the spreading silky oak then the jackass cracked a joke
And the magpie sang 'The Wild Colonial Boy'

Some brolgas darted out from the ti-trees all about,
And performed a set of lancers very well;
Then the parrot green and blue gave the orchestra its cue
To strike up 'The Old Log Cabin in the Dell'
I was dreaming, I suppose, of these entertaining shows,
But it never crossed my mind I was asleep
Till the boss beneath the cart woke me up with such a start
Yelling: 'Dreamy, where the hell are all the sheep?'

Regards,

Bob Bolton