Lyr Req: The Drover's Dream

Subject: Drovers Dream
From: coriander
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 04:56 PM

Hello does anyone out there know the words to an Australian folk song called The Drovers Dream? My mum learned it when she was living in Australia years ago, and I remember her singing it, but neither of us can remember the words!! It starts with a line about when I was moving sheep, and I lay down to sleep.... and the next line has something about the stars illuminating the sky... Other than that, I know the drover dreams about animals (!!!!) corinna

Subject: Lyr Add: DROVER'S DREAM
From: bill\sables
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 06:51 PM

Hi Corinna Are these the words you are looking for

I was traveling with my sheep and my mates were fast asleep
No moon or stars were shining in the sky
I was dozing I suppose but my eyes had hardly closed
When a very strange procession passed me by
First came a kangaroo with his swag of blankets blue
He had with him a dingo for a mate
They were traveling pretty fast and they shouted as they passed
We've got to be getting home it's getting late

Then three frogs from out of the swamp where the atmosphere is damp
Came up and gently sat down on the stones
They unrolled their little swags and took from their dilly bags
A fiddle. a banjo and some bones
Then a little bandicoot played a tune upon the flute
Three koala bears came down and formed a ring
And the pelecan and the crane they flew in from the plain
And amused the company with a highland fling

Then three parrots in their joy sang the Wild Colonial Boy
A frilly lizard waltzed round with a smile
Then from out the old she oak a laughing jackass spoke
And spare me happy days he ran a mile
Then the emu standing near with his claw up to his ear
Sang Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep
I was underneath the cart, the boss woke me with a start
Saying Clancy where the hell are the flaming sheep

I am not sure who wrote it but I learned it from Ian Campbell in the early sixties.
^^
cheers Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 08:12 PM

Tune with minor word changes from Bill's posting is here: http://www.chepd.mq.edu.au/boomerang/songnet/032.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: coriander
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 05:46 AM

Thanks Bill! That's the one! All I need now is to learn the tune properly!! cheers corinna

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: bill\sables
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 06:02 AM

Hi Corinna, I can't post tunes but I'm sure Allan of Australia must know the tune and he can post it in ABC If not you could phone me and I could sing the tune into a recorder for you. I have done this for other catters and it seems to work. Cheers Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: coriander
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 11:08 AM

Bill, thanks for the offer, but I think that's what mothers are for - ie teaching you the tune to the songs they stuck in your head that bug you for the rest of your life!!!!! Corinna

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Willie-O
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 12:18 PM

I have somewhere on tape a recording from the radio of O J Abbott singing this song.

It's a great one.

Mudcat--the place to bring your memory fragments!

Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Susan of DT
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 12:20 PM

Also on Ian Campbell Group first record (no subtitle) on elecktra

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: wildlone
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 12:34 PM

The Drovers Dream is available on Cd:ESM CD 357.
This is a double album containing This is the Ian Campbell folk group and Across the Hills.
released by Transatlantic.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: coriander
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 04:55 PM

Thanks everyone! Although I have used Mudcat for lyrics for about a year, this is the first time I have posted a request! If I'd known you were all so quick and knowledgeable, I'd have saved hours of time spent trawling through books in the local library! :0) cheers all, Corinna

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 06:10 PM

G'day,
As Bill suggested, I do indeed know the tune - we sing it often for schoolkids.

For the tune in dot format and a set of words more likely to be sung in Oz go to the url provided by Stewie above or just click here

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 06:47 AM

G'day all,

Of course, the tune is that perennial favourite - used for several other songs in Australia, Killaloo ... probably more an English "Stage Irish" song than a real Irish one, But the Irish have habit other of taking up satirical song and turning them back on the British.

There was a thread on Killaloo some months back. It starts with the words:
I happened to be born, at the time they cut the corn
Quite contagious to the town of Killaloo.
and carries on into a punch-up, as a result of a misunderstanding of a new French teacher and various Irish students.

Another Australian song - about Larrikins ... street gangs of the late 19th century ... is a more direct parody, starting:
On the day that I was born, t'was a cold and frosty morn,
In that famous suburb, known as Woolloomooloo.

The Drover's Dream and Killaloo were both published in Singabout Journal of Australian Folksong in the late 1950s or early 1960s, but versions were known from earlier.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 10:28 AM

G'day,
Since you mentioned the Woolloomooloo Lair Bob, here's a link to an earlier thread where I pointed out that the tune was basically the same as the Drover's Dream. You'll even find a comment from an old friend of yours, Mandola Man.

The Woolloomooloo Lair

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 05:55 PM

G'day Alan,

Actually, I should have said:
"The Drover's Dream and Wooloomooloo Lair were both published in Singabout ..." .

The two songs were in successive issues of Singabout (and, I think, I put them on successive pages in my anthology Singabout - Reprints).

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 07:08 PM

Australian (?) band Rossavielle sings The Drover's Dream on its album 'Very F. Tricky', but they use a tune totally different from the usual one - the one the Ian Campbell Group use, for instance. Also, they use a slightly different set of lyrics. There is one word I can't make out. Is there an animal called 'drongo' in Australia? The line as I understand it is 'The drongo and the crow sang us songs of long ago'. BTW, I prefer this version to the traditional one. - Susanne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 07:44 AM

A.L. Lloyd sings this on Topic 12T118,"First Person" a vinyl album circa 1966.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 08:12 AM

G'day Suzanne,

The (Spangled) Drongo dicrurus bracteatus is a bird - a largish tropical bird that lives in the coastal forests of the north (Northern Territory and Queensland). It is also an insult for an idiotic person (alledgedly because the Drongo summers in the tropical north ... then flys SOUTH - to the colder regions - in winter).

I have not heard the tune used by the Ian Campbell group ... and have heard no other tune in Australia than Killaloo, of which it is a second generation 'parody'. In the sixties, a number of English groups sang collected Australian songs, garnered from material forwarded to the EFDSS as carbon copies of the correspondence between several of the main field collectors.

Of course, these had no tunes as they could not afford to send copy tapes. A.L. Lloyd and various friends set them to English tunes - as they were doing with old English songs known only from manuscript sources - and sang them ... to the chagrin of Australian collectors who knew the tunes that they had in this country. I suspect that this would be the case here. I would be interested to see a MIDI of the tune, if someone gets down the dots.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 07:52 PM

G'day yet again,

Oh yes ... Alan: Strictly the tune is derived from, rather exactly the same as Killaloo, certainly not the Killaloo I play as a Schottische tune - a rather brighter and bouncier tune learned from Sally Sloane.

I can post a MIIDtext file for each tune if I remember to set them up.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 07:58 PM

Bob, thanks a lot for educating me about the drongo. I'll put your posting in my database!

About the tune: Lloyd lived in Australia for years. Didn't he pick up the original tune there? Or maybe he and the people who learned from him use an English tune, and the one used by Rossavielle is 'Killaloo'? It's rather sombre, although the recording itself is very lively. Maybe someone comes across their CD and can let us know. - Susanne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From:
Date: 01 Dec 99 - 04:37 AM

The Ian Campbell Folk Group Songbook (1965), produced by Sing Productions and published by Heathside Music, London has (unsurprisingly) the version Bill posted.

A footnote adds "This song was featured some years ago in the Australian musical play 'Reedy River'. We learned it from the singing of A.L. Lloyd, who says it is very widely known down under."

Malcolm.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 01 Dec 99 - 07:22 AM

Funny, I'm not aware of the song being in "Reedy River". Certainly not in my copy of the RR song book, but I'm not an expert here.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 01 Dec 99 - 06:49 PM

Thank you, Malcolm - but what about the tune? Is it the original one used in Australia, or an English replacement?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 08:29 AM

G'day again;

Susanne (skw): Lloyd came to Australia under one of the Commonwealth experience/ assistance programmes, between the wars ... as a ypung bloke. He worked out on cattle and sheep stations and heard te old songs - but did not collect ... or even note them down. He was not then the folklorist that he became in later life.

In the 1950s, working at the EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society) on the Workers' Songs Project, he gained access to the carbon copies of the typed out words of the field-collected material of John Meredith, Nancy Stewart and Russell Ward. Drawing on distant memories of Australia ... and intense experience of British Song ... he recreated the past in the light of his present.

Interesting stuff ... but prone to get you into a barney in no time around the local folkies.

Regards

Bob Bolton

Subject: Tune Add: DROVER'S DREAM
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 08:41 AM

G'day yet again,

I'm having no luck posting these MIDItext files together so now (attempt #3) I'll send them separately!

This is the standard, local Drover's Dream (and Woolloomooloo Lair) tune:

MIDI file: drovrs_d.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 6/8 36 8
Tempo: 192 (312500 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0360 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0168 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0504 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0168 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0576 0 67 064 0504 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 71 080 0288 0 71 064 0072 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0504 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0168 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0576 0 67 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:6/8
Q:1/4=192
K:C
D6|G2AB2A|G3D2D|E2^FG2E|D3D2D|G2GG2G|G2G^F2G|
A6|-A3D2D|G2AB2A|G3D2D|E2^FG2E|D3G2A|B2BB2G|
A2AA2^F|G6|-G3G2A|B2BB2B|B3B2c|d2dd2B|G3D3|
G2GG2G|G2G^F2G|A6|-A3D2D|G2AB2A|G3D2D|E2^FG2E|
D3G2A|B2BB2G|A2AA2^F|G19/4||

Regards,

Bob Bolton

miditext link corrected Oct 7 '04 - joeclone

Subject: Tune Add: KILALOE
From: Bob Bolton (#3)
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 08:44 AM

Me again ...

This is the tune Sally Sloane played as a schottische - KILALOE (her spelling):

MIDI file: killaloe.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 4/4 24 8
Tempo: 120 (500000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0720 1 62 080 0064 0 62 064 0016 1 64 080 0064 0 64 064 0016 1 66 080 0064 0 66 064 0016 1 67 080 0144 0 67 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 62 080 0144 0 62 064 0036 1 62 080 0048 0 62 064 0012 1 64 080 0144 0 64 064 0036 1 67 080 0048 0 67 064 0012 1 66 080 0144 0 66 064 0036 1 64 080 0048 0 64 064 0012 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 74 080 0048 0 74 064 0012 1 72 080 0144 0 72 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0144 1 62 080 0064 0 62 064 0016 1 64 080 0064 0 64 064 0016 1 66 080 0064 0 66 064 0016 1 67 080 0144 0 67 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 62 080 0144 0 62 064 0036 1 62 080 0048 0 62 064 0012 1 64 080 0144 0 64 064 0036 1 67 080 0048 0 67 064 0012 1 66 080 0144 0 66 064 0036 1 64 080 0048 0 64 064 0012 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 76 080 0048 0 76 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 69 080 0144 0 69 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0576 0 67 064 0144 1 69 080 0144 0 69 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 72 080 0144 0 72 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 72 080 0144 0 72 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 76 080 0048 0 76 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 76 080 0144 0 76 064 0036 1 76 080 0048 0 76 064 0012 1 76 080 0144 0 76 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 74 080 0048 0 74 064 0012 1 72 080 0144 0 72 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 69 080 0576 0 69 064 0144 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 79 080 0048 0 79 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0144 0 67 064 0036 1 66 080 0048 0 66 064 0012 1 64 080 0144 0 64 064 0036 1 66 080 0048 0 66 064 0012 1 67 080 0064 0 67 064 0016 1 66 080 0064 0 66 064 0016 1 64 080 0064 0 64 064 0016 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 76 080 0048 0 76 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 69 080 0144 0 69 064 0036 1 72 080 0048 0 72 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0576 0 67 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:4/4
Q:1/4=120
K:C
D27/4E/2^F3/4|G3/2A/2B3/2A/2G2D3/2D/2|E3/2G/2^F3/2E/2D2B3/2c/2|
B3/2B/2B3/2B/2B3/2d/2c3/2B/2|A6D3/4E/2^F3/4|
G3/2A/2B3/2A/2G2D3/2D/2|E3/2G/2^F3/2E/2D2B3/2c/2|
d3/2e/2d3/2B/2A3/2c/2B3/2A/2|G6A3/2B/2|c3/2B/2c3/2A/2^F2D2|
d3/2e/2d3/2B/2G2B3/2c/2|e3/2e/2e3/2c/2B3/2d/2c3/2B/2|
A6B3/2c/2|d3/2g/2d3/2B/2G2G3/2^F/2|E3/2^F/2G3/4^F/2E3/4D2B3/2c/2|
d3/2e/2d3/2B/2A3/2c/2B3/2A/2|G19/4||

A nice,sprightly dance tune version.

Bob B

midtext link corrected Oct 7 '04 - joeclone

Subject: Tune Add: KILLALOO
From: Bob Bolton (release 1.04)
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 08:47 AM

Er G'day ... this time I'll get out of your way ...

This is the tune to Joe Cashmere's version of the song KILLALOO:

MIDI file: killaloo.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 6/8 36 8
Tempo: 180 (333333 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0360 1 57 080 0192 0 57 064 0048 1 57 080 0096 0 57 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 59 080 0096 0 59 064 0024 1 57 080 0288 0 57 064 0072 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 64 080 1008 0 64 064 0072 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 61 080 0096 0 61 064 0024 1 59 080 0192 0 59 064 0048 1 61 080 0096 0 61 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 59 080 0096 0 59 064 0024 1 57 080 0288 0 57 064 0072 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 61 080 0192 0 61 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 1008 0 62 064 0072 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 61 080 0288 0 61 064 0072 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 64 080 1008 0 64 064 0072 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0192 0 62 064 0048 1 59 080 0096 0 59 064 0024 1 57 080 0288 0 57 064 0072 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 61 080 0192 0 61 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 1008 0 62 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:6/8
Q:1/4=180
K:C
A,5A,|D2D^F2E|D3D2D|^F2ED2B,|A,3A2A|A2^FD2E|
^F2^F^F2^F|E6|-E3A2A|A2BA2^F|D3D2^C|B,2^CD2B,|
A,3A2A|A2BA2^F|G2E^C2E|D6|-D3E2^F|G2^FG2E|
^C3A2A|A2BA2^F|D3A2A|B2BB2^F|A2AB2^F|E6|-E3A2A|
B2BA2^F|D3D2E|^F2ED2B,|A,3^F2G|A2AA2^F|G2E^C2E|
D6|-D19/8||

Joe's words described the bloody conflict that results from getting a French teacher into an Irish rural town ... very English Music Hall!

Regards, Bob Bolton

miditext link correct Oct 7 '04 - joeclone

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 08:01 PM

Err G'day even yet again,

In the cold light of dawn (well, not too cold ... today is shaping up for 33º C / over 91º in Ark units) I relaise that I ran two names into one. (It was about half past midnight and I had had three attempts at sending on MIDItexts fall over.)

I gave one of the 1950s collectors as Nacy Stewart and that should have been Nancy Keesing, who worked with Douglas Stewart on the revision of 'Banjo' Paterson's 1905 book of collected material Old Bush Songs.

I'll get out of your way now!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: alison
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 09:14 PM

Bob,

email the MIDI files to Alan or myself... and we'll put them online at Mudcat MIDIs

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Dec 99 - 09:17 AM

G'day Alison,

As you will now see, above my last post (hmm ... has an ominous ring!) I did send them off - as separate postings. I hope the three variants have proved interesting to other Mudcaters.

This is coming from my home machine, which is a lot more powerful than my work kludge, but I am trialling AOL's100-hour/30-day free trial and their general performance is downright disappointing. I don't think I'n going to stay with them.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 17 Jan 00 - 06:34 PM

Alan, I meant to post this at the time: Notes from another Ian Campbell Folk Group album say the song featured in the ENGLISH stage version of "Reedy river", mounted by Unity Theatre in the fifties, which may explain why it isn't in your songbook. - Susanne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 17 Jan 00 - 06:54 PM

OK, that makes sense.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 17 Jan 00 - 10:47 PM

G'day Susanne,

Reedy River first played in Melbourne (early 1953?) but did not specify what old songs were suitable. It was the Sydney production (from December 1953) that introduced the (Heathcote) Bushwhackers [the prototype of all later bush bands] and put out a songbook (by David Millis and John Meredith) that became the accepted standard.

Despite this, the published script gave no songs and suggested that those wishing to perform the play should contact the Bush Music Club (founded in 1954 by members of the Bushwhackers and of the Australian Folklore Society) for suitable songs. The English production probably grabbed whatever they though suited and this was entirely in the "workshop" spirit of the play.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DROVER'S DREAM
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 05:21 PM

These are the lyrics of the Rossavielle version I mentioned above:

THE DROVER'S DREAM
(Trad)

One night when travelling sheep, my companions lay asleep
There was not a star illuminate the sky
I was dreaming I suppose, for my eyes were partly closed
When a very strange procession passed me by
First there came a kangaroo with a swag of blankets blue
And the dingo ran beside him as his mate
They were travelling mighty fast but they shouted as they passed
We'll have to jog along, it's getting late

The pelican and the crane they came in from off the plain
To amuse the company with a Highland fling
The dear old bandicoot played a tune upon his flute
And the native bears sat round him in the ring
The drongo and the crow sang us songs of long ago
And a frill-necked lizard listened with a smile
The emu standing near with his claw up to his ear
Said, Funniest thing I've heard for quite a while

The frogs from out the swamp where the atmosphere is damp
Came bounding in and sat upon the stones
They each unrolled their swags and produced from little bags
The violin, the banjo and the bones
The goanna and the snake and the adder wide awake
With an alligator danced The Soldier's Joy
In the spreading silky oak the jackass cracked a joke
And the magpie sang The Wild Colonial Boy

Some brolgas darted out from the tea(?) tree all about
And performed a set of lancers very well
The parrot green and blue gave the orchestra its cue
To strike up The Old Log Cabin in the Dell
I was dreaming I suppose, for these entertaining shows
But it never crossed my mind I was asleep
Till the boss beneath the cart woke me up with such a start
Yelling, Prithee me, where the hell are all the sheep

The only term I'm not sure about is the tea(?) tree in the last verse. However, if anyone would like to explain what a brolga or a goanna is, you're very welcome!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Stewie
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 07:47 PM

Susanne,

'Tea-tree' [the Maquarie Dictionary gives a hyphen, but the word is often seen in print without one] is 'any species of Leptospermum or any of several species of the allied genus Melaleuca'. Found in Australia and NZ, it is often developed as an ornamental with white, pink or red flowers. The oil of the tree is extracted for use as a natural germicide and fungicide. The word is sometimes spelt 'ti-tree' - for example, a town in the Northern Territory is named after it with this spelling. Evidently, the name 'tea-tree' stems from its use as a tea substitute in early colonial days.

Click for goanna

Click for brolga

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 08:17 PM

Enjoyed listening to Drover's Dream
Emerald Primary School

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 06:39 PM

Thanks, Stewie! I should have guessed, for 'tea-tree oil' is big as ecological skin care just now. It's just that I prefer growing old disgracefully ...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 08:17 PM

(Think I've just lost a message. If another version appears, that's folk-posting). I have four half-hours of Bert Lloyd Australian folksong radio progs off the BBC(60's I suppose).Dont know if they are all duplicated onLP or Cd, but I could make them available if they are not accessible elsewhere. never realised his tunes werent authentic. His DroversDream is certainly the same as what Bob Bolton posted here in abc(maybe not note for note, I just glanced through).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 11:59 PM

G'day Greg,

Quite a lot of Bert Lloyd's songs came out on LP in Australia as early as the later 1950s, with local pressings by Wattle Records, presumably from the Topic masters. Much of this was re-released on CD by Warren Fahey's Larrikin Records, before it was bought up by Festival.

Quite a lot of his material uses the correct tunes, because the originals were identified by the Australian collectors ... and because he remembered quite a lot of it from his stint out here as a young bloke. The only problems were the more obscure songs, many of which had their own peculiar tunes ... or had greatly modified some American or British model. Where Bert didn't know anything of the tune, he felt quite happy to use something familiar out of the British stock ... just as he was doing with old British songs.

In this case he would have immediately identified Killaloo because he knew the music hall stuff inside out ... and the published transcriptions of the (simplified) sung versions would have been in the EFDSS library, since we had a reciprocal swap deal on their Sing anmd our Singabout magazines.

I do notice a few textual oddities in the Ian Campbell versions above ... but Bert also did a bit of editing ... as did collector /arranger /publishers, such as John Manifold, in Australia. Nobody was being as fussy as the university trained folklorists of today would have liked them to be!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: bradfordian
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 02:11 PM

Hi folks,
On a similar theme, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this other Droving song below:-

CHORUS
Oh the droving days are gone
And the drovers way is run
For the railway's made
And they've taken the trade
And the droving days are gone

LAST VERSE
I'm old and there's no place at hirings for me
For who wants a bent broken man?
I wish God would bring back the days that we knew
When the drovers are on the road again

Regards Brad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: gnomad
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 02:22 PM

The Drovers, Words by the great Keith Marsden, tune courtesy of Vivaldi.

Don't have the words here, but they are available in "Picking Sooty Blackberries" ed. Val Marsden.

Available also on CD Doin' the Manch (Fellside FECD72) from Cockersdale.

A fine song IMO

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DROVER'S DREAM
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 04:29 PM

Lyr. Add: THE DROVER'S DREAM

Whilst traveling with some sheep,
While my mates were fast asleep,
Not a star or moon beneath the southern sky.
I was dozing, I suppose,
For my eyes were hardly closed,
When a very strange procession passed me by.
First there came a kangaroo,
With a swag of blankets blue,
A dingo followed closely for a mate.
They saluted me and passed,
They were traveling very fast,
Saying, "Let us jog along, it's getting late."

When the old bandicoot
Played a tune upon the flute,
A frilled-neck lizard listened with a smile.
An emu standing near
With its claw up to its ear
Said, "That's the sweetest thing I've heard for quite a while."
An opossum and a crow
Sang a song of long ago;
Three native bears came in and formed a ring;
The pelican and the crane
Came in from off the plain
And amused the audience with an 'ighland fling.

Three frogs from off the swamp,
Where the atmosphere was damp,
Came hopping in and sat upon some stones.
They laid down their swags
And took from out their bags
The violin, the banjo and the bones.
Then there came an awful crash,
As though creation had gone smash!
Waking up, I found I'd been asleep,
And the boss beneath the cart
He gave me an awful start,
He said, "Dreamy, where the fucking hell's the sheep?

Version by Chris Williams, a sheep shearer, from "Folk Songs of Australia, 1967, John Meridith and Hugh Anderson, pp. 202-203, with music.
The 2nd and 3rd verses differ from versions in the DT and posted.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 05:00 PM

G'day GUEST,Q,

That's an interesting variant, from Merro's first volume of Folk Songs of Australia and the men and women who sang them. John got quite a few variants over the years - it was obviously a popular song ... and drovers got all round the place.

bradfordian and gnomad: I take it that The Drovers, by Keith Marsden, would be a UK (probably English) modern song. Some of the terms, particularly "hirings" were not common in Australia and the general tone sounds "English" (to me, anyway). In an English context, would the term "drover" have had the same sense as in Australia - a person who escorted large groups of cattle or sheep over long distances - or would it have had a more general sense of a wagoner or carter?

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 06:18 PM

Don't know about England, but in the U. S. and Canada, drover used to have the same sense as in Australia- one who moves large herds. The word has gone out of usage since the time that cattle drives ceased many years ago. Now it seems mostly to mean a crowd of people.

The words by bradfordian, although English in some of the words, in tone sounds like the "cowboy poems" written in America in the last 80 or so years. I suppose the same type of nostalgic song is written in Australia.
A couple of American cowboy songs that I have seen had "drover" in the verses, but the word appears mostly in histories and descriptions of the American west written in the late 19th century and later.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DROVERS (Keith Marsden)
From: bradfordian
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 06:54 PM

Thanks for that lead gnomad. Further research has revealed:-

THE DROVERS by Keith Marsden (in Yorkshire, about as far away from Oz as you can get)

Oh, I was a lad when I saw the fisrt signs
The gahering of beast and of man
The ???? of the halter and dogs running free
For the drovers were on the road again

CHORUS
Oh the droving days are gone
And the drovers day is run
For there's railways laid
And they've taken the trade
And the droving days are gone

For we had the freedom of high moor and fell
No fences and walls bound us then
The meetings with old friends at farmstead or fair
And the drovers were on the road again

I'm old and there's no place at hirings for me
For who wants a bent broken man
I wish God would bring back the days that we knew
When the drovers are on the road again

From the Picking Sooty Blackberries CD (CR CD001)

additional verse
We cursed down the valleys, we cursed up the hills
We stumbled through marsh bog and fen
Each year was the last that we knew come the spring
That the drovers are on the road again

another verse perhaps?
BTW, drover does seem strange for an English term!
Great tune, Vivaldi you say?

Brad

---

See this thread for another transcription, which may be more complete.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 07:18 PM

Nothing strange about it. It was a common term until the practice ceased in England.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 08:37 PM

bradfordian's version has some differences from the version in the Picking Sooty Blackberries book and I've posted the version from there in the thread Lyr Add: The Drovers (Keith Marsden).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: gnomad
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 02:22 PM

Bob Bolton: Yes UK, Yes a modern song about a now outdated practice.

There are examples still in the UK countryside of old drove roads. These were used by the drovers for the movement of mainly sheep & cattle, sometimes over significant distances, in UK and cattle terms at least :-). Poultry, esp geese & ducks were also customarily driven to market on foot.

Many have now been metalled but some remain green. They can often be distinguished by having disproportionately wide verges, few ditches, and solid stock-proof hedges or walls. The idea being that the stock were kept from browsing the crops they passed, but could pick up some sustenance en route.

What has actually saved many of these old roads is their becoming redundant in the new railway age, as descibed in the song, leading to a sort of benign neglect. They make good footpaths where the latest craze of off-roading isn't finally doing for them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 07:56 AM

G'day gnomad,

Thanks for that information. I would have expected the Australian term to be an English one ... modified, as appropriate, for the new conditions.

We still have the (rough) equivalent of your "drove roads" in the thousands of kilometres of "stock routes" - usually wide, usually grassed, areas running besides motor roads, these days. Except in the really wild country, these would be fenced at property boundaries, sometimes broken up into sections by cross fences and, at least nowadays, cattle grids. At appropriate intervals (~ 16 km/10 miles) there will be stock pens, where stock could be closed in for the night.

Nowadays, these are used more for "working the long paddock" - taking starving/drough-affected stock onto the stock routes to garner a bit of green grass. The reqirement to travel each day limits the abuse of the 'long paddaock'.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From:
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:13 PM

The last line is (Ususally) "Yelling dreamy, where the hell are all the sheep"
Add yes, it it tea tree!
Cheers all . Arthur

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Drovers Dream
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 06:47 AM

G'day Arthur,

That last line is the usual sanitised version sung by folkies ... but what "GUEST,Q" quoted is what the old ex-shearer, Chris Williams, sang to John Meredith's newfangled tape recorder, back in the '50s. (incidentally, john only printed " ... two of his cleaner versions.")

Regards,

Bob Bolton