G'day again for the new year, century & millennium,

Here are the words I promised - in this case, the (lightly) Australianised version:

THE FORBES FLOOD

Another great disaster has came upon this land
Down where the Lachlan River flows on its way so grand.
T'was in the month of August, and the town was bright and gay,
And folks upon the Lachlan were happy all the day.

And then the skies grew cloudy and rain came falling down,
For days the mighty torrents came pouring to the ground.
The streams throughout the country kept swelling day by day
Until the angry Lachlan was roaring on its way.

And then there came a warning "the levees cannot stand"
And brave men fought and struggled to save their native land
But still the raging waters kept pounding at the shores
Until it broke the levee and into Forbes it poured.

Oh, many homes were flooded, and brave men knelt to pray
As all that they had cherished was madly swept away.
The world will gladly help them to pay the awful cost;
No-one can ever give them the treasures they have lost.

We can't explain the reason these great disasters come
But we must all remember to say "Thy will be done",
And though the good may suffer for other people's sins
There is a crown awaiting where eternal life begins.

Rob (Willis) recorded this song sitting on the front verandah of Ebb's house just after it had been inundated by the 1990 flood in Forbes. "This song was originally called the Mississippi Flood and I've altered the words to suit the Forbes flood. I would say it was about 1930 when I was a young fella that I first heard it.

from Ebb Wren, 1990 - Willis Collection.

I can't see much evidence of any structural change by Ebb. I presume you simply need to change Lachlan (the local River) back to Mississippi and insert the appropriate town name in place of Forbes (and possibly the correct month) to get back to something very like the original.
I know I have seen it in the Mississippi form, but that was collected from someone else and the words were just a handout at a festival workshop. I will try to find it ... but my filing system looks too much like a Mississippi levee bank and not enough like a filing system!

(Clean up filing – New Year, Century & Millennium Resolution?)

Regards,

Bob Bolton (my first post of the new millennium) ... now I can get up tomorrow and celebrate 100 years of Australia being a sovereign nation.

Here is Ebb Wren's tune for the song:

MIDI file: forbes-f.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 4/4 24 8
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0840 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 72 080 0057 0 72 064 0003 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0144 0 67 064 0036 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 60 080 0288 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:4/4
Q:1/4=100
K:C
G8|EEEFGc2c|cAFAG3C|EEEFGG2E|EEDCD3G|EEEFGc2c/2c/2|
cAFAG3G|cAFAA/2G3/2E2|FFEDC5/2||