Years ago I had a songbook, dating from the 30s, I think, with the above song. Now I'd like to resume singing it, but alas, the book is gone, gone, gone.

The song is about a sheep shearer, (Australian, I think) and it starts like this:

There once was a shearer, by name Billy Brink,
A dev-ill for work and a dev-ill for drink!
He'd shear his two hundred a day without fear
And drink without winking four gallons of beer!

Now Jimmy the waiter, who served out the rum,
He hated the sight of old Billy, the bum,
Who stayed much too late and who came much too soon
At morning, at evening, at night and at noon.

After some lines that further show what alienates Jimmy from the old drunk shearer, the story goes that one morning Jimmy was cleaning the bar with sulfuric acid. Billy "came yelling and bawling with thirst: "Whatever you've got, Jim, just hand to me first!" You guessed it, Jimmy hands him the acid, and Billy gulps it down.

The song ends with the last lines,

They say I like whiskey; you know I'm no liar,
But every blamed cough sets my whiskers on fire!

Can any great benefactor of the human race give me the lyrics in full, or direct me to them? I'd be eternally grateful.

Dave Oesterreich