G'day,I did promise Marcus Campo Bellorum (aka Mark Campbell) in another thread that I would post the words, tune and some background to this song, collected in his native mountains of New South Wales.
This is a ballad describing the death of Fred Lowry, an Australian 'Bushranger' (an outlaw who lives rough in the bush) who was fatally wounded in an encounter with police in 1864 between Peelwood and Laggan, in the Great Dividing Range of New South Wales. Need I say that the official account of the affair ... and this song ... seem to describe entirely different events?
I have given a selection from the notes of John Meredith, who collected this version in 1983, at the end of the posting.
Regards,
Bob Bolton
THE DEATH OF FRED LOWRY
Come all young men and gentle maids,
Come listen now to me;
'Til I relate a cruel fate
Of one both bold and free,
Who fell while fighting the police,
He to the last was game;
A gallant fine young man he was,
Fred Lowry was his name.
It was in the month of August,
The troopers did him surround;
They told him to surrender,
To take him they were bound.
Your country's laws you've broken
And a trial you must stand
Before a country judge
And a jury of the land.
Surrender, that I'll never do,
I'll die first on the spot.
While ever ball and powder last
I'll give you shot for shot.'
While ever ball and powder last
I will not let you near;
Come on, he said, I'm well prepared,
My life I'll sell it dear.
The cowardly troopers placed themselves
Each man behind a tree;
They closely watched at every door,
Each window they could see '
They dare not show themselves for fear
A shot from Lowry's hand
Would lay that man a bleeding corpse
Upon that hollowed sand.
At length brave Lowry he stepped out
A pistol in each hand,
Saying, come on you cowardly troopers,
I'll fight you man for man.
I know it is my blood you want,
And that I'll freely give;
Fair play is all I ask for,
I care not for to live.
Right and left the balls flew round,
The troopers kept at bay
All for an hour and a half
Upon that blessed day.
Right manfully he stood his ground,
Right well he played his part,
Till a fatal ball from a coward's aim
Pierced Lowry near the heart.
Come on my boys, it's over now,
No mercy do I crave;
I never took an unmanly part,
I always acted brave.
The hour has come, my life is done,
It better pleases me,
To die a wild bushranger than
Upon a gallows tree.
There's one request I ask of you,
I hope you will comply;
A lovely maiden I love dear,
She was my only joy;
My reckless life prevented me
This maiden for to wed,
Just ask her to forgive and pray
For me when I am dead.
They quickly slipped the handcuffs on
The wounded dying man;
They sent straight for a doctor,
To save him was their plan.
It would better please those troopers
To lodge him safe in jail,
And get some information
Re the robbing of the Mail.
The doctor said there is no hope,
My skill is all in vain;
The ball has pierced a vital spot,
He'll soon be out of pain.
The dying man tried hard to speak,
His mouth was full of gore-
He closed his eyes and gave a sigh,
Fred Lowry was no more.
Here is the collected tune, in MIDItext form:
MIDI file: fredlwry.mid
Timebase: 240
TimeSig: 6/8 36 8
Tempo: 150 (400000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0600 1 57 080 0096 0 57 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 57 080 0096 0 57 064 0024 1 60 080 0288 0 60 064 0312 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0312 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 60 080 0288 0 60 064 0312 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0120 1 62 080 0105 0 64 064 0087 0 62 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 57 080 0096 0 57 064 0024 1 57 080 0192 0 57 064 0048 1 57 080 0288 0 57 064
EndThis 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:6/8
Q:1/4=150
K:C
A,6|C2CC2C|CE2G2E|DC2C2A,|C5G|A2Ac2B|AG2G2A|
EG2E2D|D5G|A2Ac2B|A2GG2A|E2GE2D|C5D|D2CDE2|
G2AG2E|D2CA,A,2|A,19/8||
Some notes from John Meredith's Folk Songs of Australia, vol. 2.
" ... Lowry was, of course, the bushranger who with his dying breath gave us the immortal message, 'Tell 'em I died game'. We found that there was still a great deal of local sympathy for the two outlaws, and one man told us that Fred Lowry was the Beau Brummel of bushrangers."
" Morton Gibbons
In January 1983 Chris Sullivan and I set out on a collecting trip to the south of Bathurst. One of my aims on this occasion was to try to record a version of the Fred Lowry ballad which I suspected was still sung In that area. At Black Springs we found Morton Gibbons and his wife, Berry, and her brother Keith Hotham, who used to know the ballad as a recitation in their younger days. They couldn't agree on the correct version, and were still discussing it when we left them. Meanwhile we journeyed on to Tuena, where we were successful in locating Mrs Thelma Cook, who, after many attempts, recalled the tune of the song as she had learnt it from her uncle when she was a girl.
Several weeks later I received in the post an almost complete version of The Death of Fred Lowry from the Gibbons family, with half a verse missing. Sullivan and I composed four substitute lines to fill the gap in the I text and I sent the result to a folk song journal, Stringybark & Greenhide. When it was published I forwarded copies of the article to all those who had helped in assembling the ballad, and to my surprise received back from the Gibbons's a longer and complete version which had been recalled by an older Hotham brother who learnt it from his parents as a recitation when he was a lad at Black Springs. This is the song using Kevin Hotham's words and Thelma Cook's tune."
To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.netClick to play (joeweb)