THE ALBURY RAM

Numerous tunes - numerous choruses - numerous verses - even numerous towns titles   They abound for the British (and American) folksong “The Derby Ram” and from which song, Australia’s version comes!!!

SO MANY versions of that darn song on YT – whodathunkit??!! (even Archie Fisher has a version : Crikey! :)

The MainlyNorfolk website has LOTS of info on the song/s : https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thederbyram.html


The song [version 1] features in John Lahey’s Great Australian Folk Songs with 8 verses - and a tune arranged by P. Evans.
This is the version that the prolific Raymond Crooke uses : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavKdhHtz-g&t=4s


I was also after the version I knew, from The Twiliters’ 1965 recording of “The Albury Ram” – but their version has not yet been uploaded to YT, that I can find.
However, from memory, their tune is a slower version of this A.L.Lloyd one [version 2] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qiy9qcc3nJc


The Albury Ram (Victorian Folk Music Club’s collection) [version 1]


As I was going to Albury along the other day,
I saw the finest sheep, sir, was ever fed on hay.

Singing blow you winds to morning, blow you winds, hi-ho!
Blow away the morning dew, blow boys, blow.

The sheep he had four feet, sir, upon which he used to stand,
And every one of them, sir, it covered an acre of land.

The sheep he had two horns, sir, they grew so mighty wide,
They're going to build a bridge with them from Albury to Clyde.

The sheep he had a tail, sir, it grew so mighty long,
'Twas used to build a telegraph from Sydney to Geelong

The wool upon his belly, it bore him off the ground,
'Twas sold in Melbourne the other day for a hundred thousand pounds.

The wool upon his back, sir, it grew so mighty high,
The eagles built their nest there, for I heard the young ones cry.

A hundred gallons of oil, sir, were boiled out of his bones,
Took all the girls in Albury to drag away his frame.

The man who owned this sheep sir, he must have been mighty rich,
And the man who made this song up was a lying son-of-a-gun.



Dalby Ram - A.L.Lloyd [version 2]

As I was going to Dalby all on a market day
I met the biggest ram my boys that ever was fed on hay
And indeed my lads it's true my lads I never was known to lie
And if you'd been in Dalby you'd seen him the same as I

The wool on this ram's belly well it grew into the ground
Cut off and sent to the Sydney sales it fetched a thousand pound
The wool on this ram's back my boys grew so very high
The eagles came and built their nests and I heard the young 'uns cry

The horns on this ram's head they reached up to the moon
A little boy went up in January and he didn't get back till June
And indeed my lads it's true my lads I never was known to lie
And if you'd been in Dalby you'd seen him the same as I

The man that fed this ram my boys he fed him twice a day
And every time he opened his mouth he swallowed a bale of lucerne hay
The man that watered this ram my boys watered him twice a day
And every time he opened his mouth he drunk the river dry

Now this old ram he had a tail that reached right down to hell
And every time he waggled it he rung the fireman's bell
And indeed my lads it's true my lads I never was known to lie
And if you'd been in Dalby you'd seen him the same as I

The butcher that stuck this ram my boys was up to knees in blood
And the little boy who held the bowl was carried away by the flood
Took all the boys in Dalby to roll away his bones
Took all the girls in Dalby to roll away his stone the crows

Now the man that fattened this ram my boys he must have been very rich
And the man who sung this song must be a lying son of a .... so he is
Well now my song is ended I've got no more to say
So give us another pint of beer and we'll all of us go away


Believe what you will.

R-J