G'day MCB,

One of the sad things that happens to a song like this is finding out too much of the real facts. The words, a poem by John Manifold, set out to glorify Ben Hall the bushranger, but the event described had some nasty overtones. The girls who accompanied the bushrangers, when they set fire to Morris's store, were only able to go to the ball because Mrs Morris had found and lent to them suitable dresses. It seems to be poor response for a helpful, friendly gesture.

If this were a folk song, I would accept that the song indicated a folk belief or attitude that may have denied the apparent facts ... but the poem was was polemic by John Manifold, arising more from a 1950s political view than the attitudes of the 1860s, when the event occurred.

That said, I still do the song ... and love to do the accordion break into John Warn's Crooked Corner Heel & Toe Polka ... it just leaves me a bit ambivalent.

Regards,

Bob Bolton