After writing my previous post, Beryl Davis, formerly the editor of Spin magazine, has very kindly sent me a copy of the pages from Packie's article in Spin magazine from 1968. The song originally had a few more verses so I'll give the whole song again here. The song was published with a tune but I'm useless at converting staff notation so I hope Chris or somebody else will help me out here. I bet that somebody somewhere has got a tape of Packie singing this - if so it would make a great present to give him.

Highways and Byeways

or The Life of a Drover
Words and music by Packie Manus Byrne
Copyright © 1968 SPIN PUBLICATIONS

I am an old drover, I earn my pay
By tramping this country all over;
With nowhere to stop at the end of the day,
For that is the life of a drover.

CHORUS
And over the highways and byeways I plod,
My clothes are all tattered my feet are ill-shod,
But there isn't a roadway that I haven't trod
Being forty-five summers a-droving.

Some call me a tramp and say "no fixed abode",
Some say that my life I am squandering,
But I reckon myself to be King of the Road,
So I'll keep to my droving and wandering.
CHORUS:

Some times I feel tired and sleepy as well,
When drowsiness gives me the warning,
I lay myself down and sleep sound as a bell
Then I rise like a lark in the morning.
CHORUS:

When the weather is raining, the journey is long,
And the cattle get foot-sore and lazy,
Then I help them along with an old droving song,
And I hustle them careful and easy.
CHORUS:

I haven't a house, I haven't a home,
I haven't a friend or relation,
I was one of the kind that was born for the roam,
And anywhere's my destination.
CHORUS:

And when at the end Mr. Death comes around,
To tell me my days are all over,
As they bury my bones six feet deep in the ground
My ghost will appear as a drover.
CHORUS:

Thanks again to Beryl Davis for uncovering these words to a great song from a master singer and storyteller.

Matthew