CATTLE AND CANE

Robert Forster / Grant McLennan

As performed by Brisbane’s “The Go-Betweens”, 1983

I recall, a schoolboy coming home
through fields of cane
to a house of tin and timber
and in the sky
a rain of falling cinders
from time to time
the waste, memory-wastes

I recall a boy in bigger pants
like everyone
just waiting for a chance
his father's watch
he left it in the showers
from time to time
the waste, memory-wastes

I recall, a bigger brighter world
a world of books
and silent times in thought
and then the railroad
the railroad takes him home
through fields of cattle
through fields of cane
from time to time
the waste, memory-wastes
and the waste, memory-wastes

spoken interlude

further … longer … higher … older …


The Go-Betweens, 1983 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCbyByY-A6w

Line-up for this song : / Grant McLennan (bass, vocals / Robert Forster (guitar, vocals) / Lindy Morrison (drummer, backing vocals).

WIKI on the song : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_and_Cane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i76J4kO8eCA Cattle and Cane, as sung in 1999 by Aboriginal singer, Jimmy Little   
Here is Jimmy’s Hit of “Royal Telephone” on Bandstone in 1963 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPVjJaa8fXI       
WIKI on Jimmy Little : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Little


R-J