This song came roaring back to me this afternoon as I was noodling about with Fare Well To The Gold.  I have a friend who loved the song but thought it needed a verse.  I won't argue whether it needed one or not.  But I'll add Ed's verse in where he now sings it and if any of the original posters are still around I'd love their thoughts.


THE STABLE LAD
w. Peter Cape, m. Phil Garland 1975

When (G)Cobb & Co ran coaches from the Buller to(Am) the Grey
I (D)went for a livery-stable lad in a halt up Westport w(G)ay,
And I gave my heart to a r(AM)ed-haired girl, and le(G)ft it where she l(AM)ay
By the w(C)inding Westland h(G)ighway from the B(D)uller to the G(G)rey.

There's Neatsfoot on my fingers, and lamp-black on my face,
And I've saddle-soaped the harness and hung each piece in place,
But my heart's not in the stable, it's in Charleston far away,
Where Cobb & Co goes rolling by from Buller to the Grey.

There's a red-haired girl in Charleston, and she's dancing in the bar,
But I know she's not like other girls who dance where miners are,
And I can't forget her eyes, and everything they seemed to say
The day I rode with Cobb & Co from Buller to the Grey.

There's a schooner down from Murchison, I can hear it in the gorge,
So I'll have to pump the bellows now and redden up the forge,
And I'll strike that iron so very hard she'll hear it far away
In the roaring European that the road runs by from Grey.

Some day I'll be a teamster with the ribbons in my fist,
And I'll drive that Cobb & Co Express through rain and snow and mist,
Drive a four-in-hand to Charleston, and no matter what they say,
I'll take my girl up on the box and marry her in Grey.

    But the gold fields not a good place, not safe for life or wealth,
    Thieves will take your money and disease will take your health,
    And so it was with my red haired girl, took to sick and passed away,
    On the winding westland highway between Buller and the grey

There's a graveyard down in Charleston where the moss trails from the trees,
And the Westland wind comes moaning in from off the Tasman Seas,
And it's there they laid my red-haired girl, in a pit of yellow clay
As Cobb & Co went rolling by from Buller to the Grey.


Either with Ed's verse or not I think this is a perfect song.

Don Meixner