Bob Bolton posted these in another thread. I thought I'd also put them here, so they stick with the other songs about Ned.
-Joe Offer-

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Thread #5671   Message #32481
Posted By: Bob Bolton
13-Jul-98 - 06:36 PM
Thread Name: ADD LYRICS: Hats ...
Subject: Lyr Add: HAT MCGINNIS WORE and HAT NED KELLY WORE

G'day,
These are Australian collected variants of "The Hat My Father Wore."
Regards,
Bob Bolton

THE HAT MCGINNIS WORE
Collected from Mrs. Susan Colley of Bathurst, NSW, by Alan Scott, 1965.

Good evening to you one and all, good luck to you I say,
I'm going to try to please you all before I go away.
I'm going to introduce to you bright memories of yore,
The relics of old days and scenes, the hat McGinnis wore.

Now McGinnis was an Irishman, from Newry town he came,
He fought in many a battle field and laid out in the rain,
Till a sudden bullet laid him low, all on the Shannondore,
And his widow she presented me with the hat McGinnis wore.

Now shipmates take this good old hat and treat it with respect,
Don't put it in your ditty box or kick it round the deck.
Or McGinnis's ghost will haunt you and the stormy billows roar,
You'll curse the day you trampled on the hat McGinnis wore.

THE HAT NED KELLY WORE
Collected from Mr. Alex Argus of Gumly Gumly, NSW, by Alan Scott, 1960.

Good evening to youse one and all, good luck to what I say,
I've just stepped in to see you boys before I go away,.
I've brought to you the relics boys, of the good old days of yore,
You'll curse the day you trampled on the hat Ned Kelly wore.

You may talk about your cheese cutters and your stiff brim panamas.
You may talk about your war caps all colours and bright stars.
I've searched the Chinese stations, from Hong Kong to Singapore,
And I never seen the equal of the hat Ned Kelly wore.

Source for both: A Collector's Songbook, Collected in Australia and compiled by Alan Scott, Bush Music Club, Sydney, 1970. Republished by Carrawobity Press, 1996.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 16-May-02.