Lyr Req: The Old Bullock Dray

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Bullock Dray
From: alison
Date: 12 Dec 99 - 11:48 PM

Bob , if you have any MIDIs you want posted.. feel free to send them to Alan or I and we'll post them at Mudcat MIDIs

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Bullock Dray
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 12 Dec 99 - 12:12 AM

G'day again,

Looking at those words, I decided a few might need translation for those who don't live around here, in Aus.

Paddy-melon (strictly pademelon): This is, in fact, a wallaby thylogale spp, a native name assimilated to familiar (but meaningless) English words.

Depot: The Women's Convict Prison at Parramatta. Women convicts arriving in the colony on minor charges (eg, theft of a blanket to care for their family) would be housed at Parramatta until assigned to a colonist as servant. Any free settler could apply for a female servant and, in a colony short of women, something more intimate would often be the result. Marriages could be held on the spot, if necessary.

Barramundies: Our bullocky obviously ranged well north, the Barramundi is an excellent fish of the northern inland rivers.

Damper: Rough bread, cooked in a camp oven if you have one ... or just buried in the coals, if not.

Stringybark: Common local eucalypt, good tough timber for makeshift farm buildings.

Greenhide: Local, untanned leather. A mainstay of primitive building, repairs and development. (~Rawhide)

Jack Robertson: New South Wales politician who opened up small holdings for "Free Selectors", who could "select" Government land and pay for it in instalments while carrying out specified clearing and improvements. His vision was the development of a "sturdy yeomanry" in the colony. Our bullocky seems to think he can quickly render the whole programme redundant!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Bullock Dray
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 11 Dec 99 - 10:47 PM

G'day ...

Oops, I'm going to have to stop looking at this site after I should have packed up and gone to bed ... I went off and found the file on The Drover's Dream instead of The Old Bullock Dray.

The version quoted above by Chris may be that cited by Ron Edwards as coming from the the Hurd Collection of 1894-97, - for which Ron collected a tune (see <200 Years of Australian Folk Song, INDEX, 1788 - 1988 Ron Edwards, 1988) and published in his Overlander Song Book in 1969.

The first field-collected version was probably that published in 1956 in Singabout, Journal of Australian Folk Song v.1, #1, p16 and on the other side of Alan Scott's 78rpm Wattle record - the one and only folk song record to penetrate the local hit charts ... in 1956. (And which seems to have been missed by Ron, in his otherwise magnificent index.)

This version was collected from Stan Wakefield and is essentially the same as Chris quoted above, except for the change of one stanza for another and the fact that a few phrases seem to flow more easily - or it may just be that they are the more familiar versions today. The tune is also the same as Ron Edwards published 13 years later; essentially the "A" part of Old Zip Coon or Turkey in the Straw slowed right down:

The Old Bullock Dray

Oh! the shearing is all over and the wool is coming down
And I mean to get a wife, boys, when I go up to town,
Everything that has two legs represents itself to view,
From the little paddy-melon to the bucking kangaroo>

Chorus:
So, it's roll up your blankets and let's make a push,
I'll take you up the country and I'll show you the bush.
I'll be bound you won't get such a chance another day,
So come on and take possession of my old bullock dray.

I've saved up a good cheque I mean to buy a team,
And when I get a missus, boys, I will be all serene,
For, in calling at the depot they say there's no delay,
To get an off-sider for the old bullock dray.

Oh, we'll live like fighting cocks, for good living I'm your man,
We'll have leather-jacks, johnny cakes and fritters in the pan,
And if you'd like some fish, I'll catch you some soon,
For we'll bob for barramundies round the banks of a lagoon.

Oh, yes, of beef and damper I'll take care we'll have enough,
We'll boil in the bucket such a whopper of a duff,
And our friends will dance, in the honour of the day,
To the music of the bells of the old bullock dray.

Oh, we'll have plenty girls, yes, you must mind that,
There'll be flash little Maggie, and Buck-jumping Pat,
There'll be Stringy-Bark Joe, and Greenhide Mike,
Yes, my colonials, just as many as you like.

Now we'll stop all immigration, we won't need it any more,
We'll be having young colonials, twins by the score,
And I wonder what the devil Jack Robertson would say,
If he saw us promenading round the old bullock dray.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Bullock Dray
From: Chris/Darwin
Date: 11 Dec 99 - 08:23 AM

Corinna

Ron Edwards collected two versions of this song, and many fragments. The version you are after is the most well known. Ron lists 10 verses in his "Overlanders Song Book". I will list the ones most commonly sung.

Oh! the shearing is all over and the wool is coming down,
And I mean to get a wife, boys, when I go down to town!
Everything has got a mate that presents itself to view,
From the little paddymelon to the jumping kangaroo

Chorus
So roll up your blankets and let us make a push
I'll take you up the country and show you the bush
You won't get the same chance, I'll be bound another day,
So come on and take possession of the old bullock dray.

And now I've got a big cheque I mean to buy a team;
And when I get a missus, boys, I will be all serene;
By applying all the depot I hear there's no delay
In getting an off-side partner for an old bullock dray

I'll take care of beef and damper that you'll have quite enough
We'll boil in the bucket such a whopper of a duff,
And our mates will all dance in honour of the day
To the music of the bells of the old bullock dray

We'll live like fighting cocks-for good living I'm your man
We'll have leather-jackets, johnny-cakes and fritters in the pan
And if you fancy fish I'll get them for you soon,
We'll bob for barramundi on the banks of the lagoon

I'll teach you with the whip the bullocks how to flog,
You shall be my offsider when we're stuck in the bog;
Cut about, right and left, all that comes in your way,
There'll be hair and skin flying round the old bullock dray

We'll have lots of picaninnies, but you mustn't mind that,
Flash little Maggie and Buckjumping Pat,
Stringy-Bark Joe and Greenhide Mike-
My Colonial, you can have just as many as you like.

I have heard versions sung that are shorter than this, and with variations of wording, but I guess that is folk music!

Regards
Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Bullock Dray
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 11 Dec 99 - 07:59 AM

G'day Coriander,

This one is a real classic (nearly potboiler) in Aussie folk song. The tune is Killaloo, about which there have been a few threads recently and I posted a few MIDItext variants the other week.

My old friend, the late Alan Scott, actually got a folk version of this onto the minor hit parades in 1955 with the archetypal "Bush Band" The Bushwhackers.

The version in my anthology Singabout - Selected Reprints, (Ed) Bob Bolton, Bush Music Club, Sydney, Australia, 1985, was collected from Bill Tovey in the 1950s.

One night while droving sheep, my companions lay asleep,
There was not a star to illuminate the sky;
I was dreaming I suppose for my eyes were nearly closed
When a very strange procession passed me by.
First there came a kangaroo, with his swag of blankets blue
A dingo ran beside him for a 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;
And the dear old bandicoot played the tune upon his flute,
And the native bears sat round all in a ring.
Then the possum and the crow sang a song of long ago,
And the frill-necked lizard listened with a smile;
And the emu standing near, with his claw behind his ear
Said The funniest thing I've heard for quite a while.

Some frogs from out the swamp where the atmosphere is damp,
Came bouncing in and sat upon some 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 the alligator danced the 'Soldier's Joy'
In the spreading silky oak then the jackass cracked a joke
And the magpie sang 'The Wild Colonial Boy'

Some brolgas darted out from the ti-trees all about,
And performed a set of lancers very well;
Then 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, of 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: 'Dreamy, where the hell are all the sheep?'

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: The Old Bullock Dray
From: coriander
Date: 11 Dec 99 - 03:23 AM

Following my request for The Drovers Dream, my Mum has asked me to find another song she learnt in Australia!!! The chorus is as follows "So it's roll up your bundle and let us make a push. I'll take you up the country, and I'll show you the bush. I'll be bound such a chance you won't get another day, so roll up and take possession of the old bullock dray.' Any ideas? corinna