Origin: The Outside Track (H Lawson/G Hallom)

Subject: RE: Origin: The Outside Track (H Lawson/G Hallom)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Jun 12 - 10:23 PM

Bob-

Good to have you chiming in again.

When we sing:

As I turn aside and raise my glass
And drink to the bar-room wall!

it's not lonely or resigned, it angry and bitter but that's our take on the song, and our voices go from soft to very loud. That's hard to get across in a poem or with lyrics.

But it's deeply sad when your gang breaks up for whatever reason.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Origin: The Outside Track (H Lawson/G Hallom)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 27 Jun 12 - 10:40 PM

G'day Charley,

I guess that I'm reading a bit ahead of the text ... knowing that Henry did follow onto the "Outside Track" - and, I guess, knowing that it didn't bring him, abroad, the success that depended on his fellow Australians' feeling for his (not yet entirely accepted ... ) Australian idiom.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Origin: The Outside Track (H Lawson/G Hallom)
From: stallion
Date: 28 Jun 12 - 02:57 AM

G'day Bob, it is strange and maybe Charley pointed us in that direction, that I see in the song there was a frustration that "I have stuck it out," maybe coloured by an abortive move to Western Australia, maybe he saw his roots in Australia and not in "the old country" of which he wasn't really part of but saw his literary mates ship out for the "greener grass". I think if there was a resentment it was because maybe he felt he had to follow the others rather than wanted to.

Subject: RE: Origin: The Outside Track (H Lawson/G Hallom)
From: stallion
Date: 28 Jun 12 - 03:34 AM

"And I can't but think that the times we had
Were the best times after all,
As I turn aside with a lonely glass
And drink to the bar-room wall."

I think that the line "And I can't but think that the times we were the best times after all" was Lawson making a U turn, he may have argued with his mates and extolled the benefit of sticking it out in OZ, maybe he was way ahead of his time, the next line was the glass that was lonely not him and saying cheers to the bar room wall is where the bitterness lies, it is a tacit acknowledgement that he was right to stay and the others were wrong and the final lines " So i'll try my luck for a cheque.......etc" is him being pissed off with a) the lack of oz to develop culturally (due possibly to the "talent" shipping out) and b) Angry at the fact that he has to reluctantly join the exodus to recapture his past stimulation, his literary mates and possibly his fortune. There is also a strong possibility that he sees the wealth and respect of people in Oz skewed towards the pioneers of agriculture and mining and cultural expertise pushed well to the rear in public recognition whereas in Europe it was centre stage. discuss!

Well that is how I read it, I think Charley pointed it out but it is there, I think all we (Charley and I )have done is make the song, rather allude to it, drive that sentiment home.

Subject: RE: Origin: The Outside Track (H Lawson/G Hallom)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jun 12 - 09:24 AM

And we all get a chance to sing on the chorus!

Unlike with Cicely Fox Smith's poems, there is abundant biographical information about Henry Lawson's life to help interpret what he was saying in particular poems. "The Outside Track" no doubt represents a major dilemma for the poet, well known and respected in Australia at the time but not financially well off, and hungry for international recognition. It's a dilemma that most of us in the folk music community can identify with!

It's almost the inverse of "The Mary Ellen Carter." There's little conviction expressed in "Outside Track" that all will be well again. But there is that sense of fellowship, even if it's full value is only appreciated in retrospect. Some sing this song as a dirge, which we think undercuts its impact. Here's a fresh link to how Roll & Go does it: click here for lyrics and MP3 Sample!

Looking forward to hearing how Two Black Sheep & a Stallion perform this one.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Origin: The Outside Track (H Lawson/G Hallom)
From: stallion
Date: 28 Jun 12 - 11:45 AM

It isn't a million miles away from the way Roll and go do it, similar tempo except without instruments the verse tends to ebb and flow time wise and the chorus is with some gusto, harmony is different but pace and words more or less the same. We learnt it from a master obi wan Ipcar. Like you say most versions I have heard are dirgeish which I think does the poem a diservice. I think, like you, there is some anger in it.