G'day,

After chasing a few songs to find one sought by John in Brisbane, we settled on another ... but this one had surfaced from my memory - and it's a nice condensed summation of the (mostly) hard times of a working swagman, in this case a shearer who usually walks across the outback looking for a shearing job.

Ron Mantan was 70 when he sang this, back around 1955 ... and he learned the song when he was 7! It has been worn down from a longer poem called The Poor Bushman. The simple waltz tune turns up in other ballads in Australia.

First published in Singabout, Vol 3, #3,The Bush Music Club, Sydney, NSW, Australia. (Also in Singabout - Selected Reprints, (ed.) Bob Bolton, Bush Music Club, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 1985, p.52.)


HUMPING OLD BLUEY
(From Ron Mantan, Erskineville, NSW, Australia)

Humping old bluey; it is a stale game,
And that I can plainly see.
You're battling with poverty, hunger, sharp thorn,
Things are just going middling with me.

Now shearing's all over, and I'm such a swell ...
I'm riding a very fine hack.
If my friends were to see me - I'm not humping bluey,
I'm pushing a bit further back.

Humping your drum, and that after rum -
Wasting your young life away;
You're battling with poverty, hunger, sharp thorn,
Things are just going middling with me.

This is the tune in Alan of Aus's "No Longer Supported by Mudcat" MIDIText app. At least, you can extract the ABC notation from the end and convert that with any number of freeware sites and apps ... if you can't make MIDIText work!

Regards,

Bob

MIDI file: humping.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 3/4 24 8

Tempo: 128 (468750 microsec/crotchet)

Start

0480 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 69 080 0384 0 69 064 0096 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 64 080 0912 0 64 064 0288 1 67 080 0216 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 69 080 0384 0 69 064 0096 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 65 080 0192 0 65 064 0048 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 60 080 0912 0 60 064

End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1

T:

M:3/4

Q:1/4=128

K:C

G6|E2E2E2|G2G2G2|F2F2F2|A4A2|G2G2F2|D2G2F2|

E6|-E4G2|E2E2E2|G2G2G2|F2F2F2|A4AA|G2B2A2|

G2F2D2|C6|-C3/2||