Joy Durst
016   THE OLD KEG OF RUM (trad)

My name is old Jack Palmer, and I once dug for gold,
And the song I'm going to sing you recalls the days of old,
When I'd plenty mates around me, and the talk would fairly hum,
As we all sat together round the old keg of rum.

Chorus: The old keg of rum, the old keg of rum,
As we all sat together round the old keg of rum.

2. There was Bluey Watt, the breaker, and old Tom Hynes,
And little Doyle, the ringer, who now in glory shines,
And many more hard doers, all gone to Kingdom Come,
We were all associated round the old keg of rum.

3. When the shearing time was over in the sheds on the Bree,
We'd raise a keg from somewhere, and we'd all have a spree,
We'd sit and sing together till we got that blind and dumb
That we couldn't find the bung-hole of the old keg of rum.

4. There was some would last the night out, and some would have a snooze,
And some were full of fight, boys, but all were full of booze,
Till often in a scrimmage I have corked it with my thumb,
Just to stop the life from ebbing from the old keg of rum.

5. Well, now my song is ended, I've got to travel on,
Just an old buffer skiting of days dead and gone,
But I hope you youngsters round me will, perhaps in years to come,
Remember Jack Palmer and the old keg of rum.

no source - dots here

folkstream - dots & source Related to 'The Old Bark Hut' this song was printed in Paterson's Old Bush Songs
   
audio- Oz Folk Song a day A version of this song was published in Paterson's Old Bush Songs. This version is from An Anthology of Australian Poetry to 1920 , edited by John Kinsella in 2007