audio- Oz Folk Song a day

095 THE STOCKMAN'S LAST BED
audio- Oz Folk Song a day

see Ian Turner, Edgar Walters & Wendy Lowenstein in "Tradition" Sept. 1968

1. Be ye stockman or no, to my story give ear,
Alas for poor Jack, no more shall we hear
The crack of his stockwhip, his nag's lively trot,
His clear "Go ahead, boys", his jingling quart pot.

Chorus:
For we laid him where wattles their sweet fragrance shed,
And the tall gum trees shadow the stockman's last bed.

2. While drafting one day, he was horned by a cow,
"Alas!" cried poor Jack, "It's all up with me now!
For I fear I shall never my saddle regain,
Or bound like a wallaby over the plain."

3. His whip, it is silent, his dogs they do mourn,
His horse waits in vain for his master's return,
No friends to bemoan him, unheeded he dies,
Save Australia's dark sons, none knows where he lies.

4. Now, stockman, if ever on some future day,
After wild cattle you happen to stray,
Tread softly the creek-bed where trees make a shade,
For it may be the spot where poor Jack's bones are laid.

From the Queensland Native Companion Songster (1865). Recorded by Burl Ives on his 1958 album, Australian Folk Songs.