Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Mar 21 - 08:56 PM

Fair go, Sandra. In response to raredance's posting of a list of songs in 'Song of a young country', you commented that we have 'a few'.   Of the 51 songs in the book, I have posted 26.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Mar 21 - 09:32 PM

well done! gold star on it's way!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Mar 21 - 09:57 PM

Thanks, Sandra. I got your email with gold star. I merely wished to point out that 'half' is more than 'a few'. I had to copy- type a goodly number of them.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Mar 21 - 03:07 AM

I only recognised some, & I also try not to type up words but sometimes there is no option.

I asked a friend to make an OCR scan of a long song & then I copied & pasted the words, that was so much easier.

sandra

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Mar 21 - 02:06 AM

I'm cleaning up my drafts (some are unsent emails dating back cough, cough, years), others are interesting stuff I found in various places, including mudcat

It was published in Singabout, Journal of Australian Folksong, volume 6, number 1, 1966

This song comes from one of the most valuable sources of Australian traditional song and story during the heady days of the 1950s and '60s - Harold P. C. ('Duke') Tritton. 'Duke' was a thoroughly traditional singer ... meaning that he quite cheerfully wrote new words whenever necessary in a living tradition. I seem not to have selected it for inclusion my collection Singabout - Selected Reprints, Ed Bob Bolton, Bush Music Club, Sydney, 1985. I reproduce the words recorded by Janet Wakefield (and Janet's notes) below.

WILD DRIVER By 'Duke' Tritton, tune: Wild Drover

(Duke wrote this in 1963 or '64 after a friend and I had driven him home several times after Club meetings. It is true that she once went through a red light and I through an orange one, but I'm sure that had nothing to do with Duke writing this song ... Janet Wakefield.)

I've been a wild driver this many a year
And always made sure I had plenty of beer
But now I must give the whole lot away
For an "on the spot copper" got me yesterday.

CHORUS:
So it's NO NO Never, Never no more
Never Never again shall I play the wild driver no more.

I had only ten schooners, which isn't a lot
And sixty was the top speed I had got
But I didn't give way to the man on the right
There was a crash and I got such a fright.

CHORUS:

I had swiped three cars and a two decker bus
And every one there made a terrible fuss.
They all seemed to think that I was to blame
And the way they abused me was a real shame.

CHORUS:

They threatened to lynch me, went looking for rope
Things looked pretty grim, I had given up hope
When the copper he came and he said, "Cut it out"

"Just leave it to me and I'll deal with this lout."
CHORUS:

Then the copper, he pulled out his book and did say
"It's fifty green smackers, the fine you will pay
And I'll cancel you licence for the rest of your life
And then I'll be sure that you'll keep out of strife.

CHORUS:

Perhaps some terms need explaining outside of the Australian context:
"on the spot copper" dates the song to around the introduction of "on-the-spot fines", standardised penalties which could be paid rather than appear in court ... and trust to the mercy of the local magistrate.
"ten schooners" A schooner was (at least in NSW) a beer glass holding an alleged 15 ozs ... certainly a good half bottle. Ten schooners would have meant 5 bottles of good strong beer
. "sixty": Back then we still used miles per hour ... and the suburban limit was 30 mph.
"smackers": Pretty common worldwide English for a note of currency. The only note in Australia's old currency that was green was the pound note.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Mar 21 - 02:14 AM

oops, I copied Bob's typo - tune Wild Drover is really Wild Rover, & left off the video - Wild Rover by The Seekers

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: raredance
Date: 08 Mar 21 - 03:05 AM

Hi,
I did not see an obvious songbook thread for the New Zealand book where it would not effectively disappear because no one would look for it there. In the for what it is worth department, I have two other volumes that are related to this thread. One is the Penguin Book of Australian BAllads by Phillip Butterss and Elizabeth Webby. It has about 150 entries that includes both folk song lyrics and other verse that may never have been sung. There is another Penguin Book of Australian Ballads by Russell Ward. I do not know the relation between the two. The other volume is Great Australian Folk Songs by Ron Edwards. It has over 300 entries. The latter book has tunes, the former does not. I have no knowledge of how many items in those two books are already in MUdcat or in this thread. Perhaps someone here has one or both of those books. I do not plan to put those contents here. This thread is already unwieldy with no alphabetical list of what is in it. Adding 450 lines of list would be insane.

Rich R

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Mar 21 - 09:44 AM

THE COUNTRY SONG c. Martin Pearson & John Thompson

video Written and sung by John Thompson (left) & Martin Pearson (right). National Folk Festival 2008 & I was there! Note -the video does not include the 3rd verse, but all the other stuff included makes up for the lack of verse 3.

Mama, get the hammer, there's a fly on Papa's head.
I've been roped and thrown by Jesus in the Holy Ghost corral.
I fell in a pile of you and got love all over me,
But who bit the wart off Grandma's nose?

Chorus: I wanna whip your cow; I wanna whip your cow,
'Cause you just can't play a sad song on a banjo, anyhow.
You done tore out my heart and you stomped that sucker flat.
You made toothpicks from the timbers of my heart.

If the jukebox took teardrops, I'd cry all night long.
You stuck my heart in an old tin can and shot it off a log.
Well, I guess if you can't feel it, then it ain't really there,
And the last word in lonesome is "me."

Repeat chorus

If I can't be number one in your life, number two on you.
I can't get over you, 'til you get out from under him.
I'm so miserable without you, it's almost like you're here,
So I flushed you down the toilet of my heart.

Repeat chorus until tired, light blue touch paper and retire

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Mar 21 - 08:30 PM

raredance - if you'd like a copy of the spreadsheets listing the songs, PM me with your email address & I'll send them to you.

#Alphabetical Listing of Oz-NZ songs-15Aug-31Dec2020 (625 entries)

#Date Posted Listing of Mudcat Oz-NZ songs-from 01Jan2021 (172 entries)

Penguin Book of Australian Ballads by Philip Butterss and Elizabeth Webby, 1993
Penguin Book of Australian Ballads by Russel Ward. 1964
Great Australian Folk Songs by Ron Edwards 1991 (originally published as Big book of Australian folk song,1976)

These are all classic books, Russel Ward was an academic involved in the folk revival of the 50s & Ron was a very early publisher (Rams Skull Press 1952-date) & collector. A biography of Ron is due out next year.

sandra

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Mar 21 - 08:21 PM

I HUGGED MY MATE
(Andrew London)

Well I’m a kiwi through and through
I’m an All Black follower just like you
and I grew up watching Pine Tree on TV

He’d score a try between the posts
and trot on back with the other blokes
with no display of joyfulness or glee

and I was brought up similarly
we don’t emote spontaneously
and we try to avoid displaying affection publicly

but something happened the other night
that I’d like to share with the group tonight
that signifies a strange anomaly

I was having a beer with a mate, you see
or a shandy it might have been actually
and he told me things were grim as they could be

He’d lost his job at the florist’s shop
and got pulled over by a traffic cop
who booked him on the spot for DIC

and his wife had run off with his kids
and shacked up with a friend of his
who was consequently behaving quite aloof and rather smug

well I don’t know what came over me
but just as we got up to leave
well, bugger me, I gave my mate a hug

You hugged a mate? I hugged a mate
You hugged a mate! I hugged a mate

By the time I realised what I’d done, it was just a bit too late
He was big and he was hairy, and he was understandably wary
and it was scary, but I hugged my mate

‘What’s that for?’ he said to me
and I mumbled about solidarity
and being there for your mates when times get tough

so he wandered off and I fretted a bit
but he seemed to soon get over it
and things got back to normal soon enough

but I was down the pub just after that
having a Pimms with another chap
on a Thursday when they do that excellent dill and salmon quiche

well he seemed distracted as we dined
so I said, ’What’s on your mind?’
he said he’d heard I’d hugged my mate, and what was it like?

well I said at first it was rather strange
and we both felt awkward at this rearrangement
of the traditional way that kiwi blokes behave

but I said that a moment of intimacy
had been enjoyed by my mate and me
and it might have been even nicer actually, had he shaved

and I said I thought we should be allowed
to show affection, even in a crowd
and not be afraid to let it out so everyone can tell

well he looked confused and a little sad
and told me how he missed his dad
well stone the crows, I hugged this bloke as well

You hugged a mate? I hugged me mate
You hugged a mate! I hugged another mate

By the time I realised what I’d done, it was just a bit too late
He was big and he was hairy, and he was understandably wary
and it was scary, but I hugged my mate

so we’ve all gotten used to it now
we seldom fret anymore about how
we show affection indiscriminately

and we get together, put the world to rights
on our weekly Downton Abbey nights
in the spa pool with a tall banana daiquiri

and as Dave and I drove home last week
from the ballet, I began to speak
about how sensitive and caring we renaissance chaps can be

and he agreed we certainly had progressed
said he rather liked the way I dressed
changed gear, and put his hand back on my knee

You hugged your mate? I hugged my mate
You hugged your mate! I hugged my mate

By the time I realised what I’d done, it was just a bit too late
He was big and he was hairy, and he was understandably wary
and it was scary, but I hugged my mate

Yeah, I was sensitive and caring and I hugged my mate
So get out there, you blokes, and hug your mate

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 09 Mar 21 - 10:10 PM

DREAMS MORE REAL

Mark Gillett

I was travelling endlessly on the road, as in dreams I’ve often known myself to do
When the feet found a friend, the path of well-worn stone, when I found myself hand-in-hand with you,
The cool green air washed us free of care and its sweet smell floated on the breeze (on the breeze)
And the light seemed to shine out from everywhere as it poured down golden through the trees.

   And if I dream of me, if I can dream of you
   If you should have to go, would you dream me too
   And if I passed you by, you I didn’t recognise
   Sometimes dreams can seem more real than Life.

We sped on up the track, I couldn’t hold you back, you pulled me on, said we really had to go
And ahead I spied past the round hillside, lofty mountains shimmering with snow,
And it seemed to me like reaching out for a strawberry, almost taste it on your tongue (on your tongue)
Such a promise of plenty and endless happiness, good times really just begun.

   And if you dream of me and if I can dream of you
   If you should have to go, would you dream me too
   And if I passed you by, you I didn’t recognise
   Sometimes dreams can seem more real than Life.

In the wink of an eye, the time to say goodbye, you were gone, lovely dream was swept away
And I tried in vain to find you again, down city streets weary and grey
By the factory gates stood a fairground with travellers, pitched their tents to make a stand (make a stand)
And a glad voice cried to me as if they knew me and a bonny young stranger took my hand,
“You’re still searching, I see” is what he said to me “Won’t you rest with us for just a day” (just a day)
“There’ll be music so sweet; share with us to eat, find beauty and comfort where you may.”

   And if you dream of me, if I can dream of you
   If you should have to go, would you dream me too
   And if I passed you by, you I didn’t recognise
   Sometimes dreams can seem more real than Life.

Well I looked at the sideshow, the coloured lamp glow, the trash and the drab and the poor,
And the smile on your face in that high, bright place, t’was a memory I could not ignore
When I shook my head, the stranger said “We’ll meet again, as you roam” (as we roam)
“May your courage endure and your love stay pure and your one true dream bring you home”,
And as ever I seek a glimpse of the peak, or the high, bright country it surrounds (it surrounds)
There’s a thing yet I know, where e’er I go, you will be there, you’ll be waiting to be found.

   And if you dream of me, if I can dream of you
   If you should have to go, would you dream me too
   And if I passed you by, you I didn’t recognise
   Sometimes dreams can seem more real than Life.



Mark sings, accompanied by guitar and playing his banjo – but not yet found online :(



R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 09 Mar 21 - 10:36 PM

Mark Gillett [ NZ 1953 – 2007 QLD ] – see Mudcat obit.

A sort of bluesy, down-home, banjo groove, that was a Mark favourite – but not yet found online!
It was a bit of a travelling number, with verses as remembered – or made up - at the time of singing!!


DAGGIN’ ROUND SUGARTOWN

Mark Gillett

Dag-Dag Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga, Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga, Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga.....

Cut cane while days are bright, crush it and cook it right
Mills roarin’ through the night
Old Sugartown Namba,
There’s Ted from up the hill, workin’ at Moreton Mill
All dressed in ~King-Gee drill
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Chorus :
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

Tourists with a vide-cam, takin’ snapshots of the sugar tram
~Lorry Loco’s goin’ bam-bam
Old Sugartown Namba,
They’re tryin’ not to stare, at that safari-suited lair
With a beer gut and surfie hair
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

Steppin’ out for pizza snacks, across the railway tracks
In Ugg boots and trackie daks~
Daggin’ round in Namba,
That Westie’s off his face, he’s decked out in perfect taste
Checked shirt around his waist, he’s
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

A victim of the piercin’ craze, rings and studs in his face
His Dad thinks he’s a disgrace, he’s
Daggin’ round in Namba,
A young girl with style to spare, pants got one little tear
Sure enough, that tattoo there, she’s
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

Street childrens doin’ wrong, window glass in their thongs
Spray cans and OJ bottles, they’re
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Down by Petrie-side, banks all wet and wide
Long grass where the travellers hide
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

Black smokestack paints the sky, cinder flakes floatin’ by
They bring tears to my eye, I’m
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Where did the good times go, don’t ask me coz I don’t know
My memory’s as black as snow, I’m
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

I’m goin’ back some day, hope and sometimes I pray
Like I never went away, to go
Daggin’ round in Namba,
I will forget my cares, don my kaftan and flares
Boogie on down to Cemetery Square, I’ll be
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

I’ll do just what I please, hang it all out in the breeze
Just like the 70s, I’ll be
Daggin’ round in Namba,
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown
Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round – Daggin’ Round in Sugartown

Dag-Dag Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga
Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga Dagga ……………………… YEAH!



‘Namba’ (officially, Nambour*), on Petrie Creek in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, was known for its landmark Moreton Central Mill – crushing the sugar cane in the centre of town. Until 2003, the cane ‘trains’ ran regularly in season through the town’s streets, carrying the cane from the outlying farms to the crusher. The strong smell on the air, belching steam, noise and night lights when the Mill ran 24/7 in the Crushing Season (July-December) ….. and the smoke and cinders when the farms were burning the cane thrash* ….. all the traffic giving way to the whistle of the little haulage trams, trundling along the tramway in the centre of the road - it’s all consigned to history now.
And the farms? Well, some are now wasteland (but still with venomous snakes) – while many are turf farms, light industry, or particularly, housing estates optimistically built on the flood plains :) And the Mill (crushing for 106 years), is now a supermarket site, while many vacant shops line the town’s streets and the regional hospital is rebuilt elsewhere. However, a few rail engines and parts of the Mill history were saved for the Museum, built on the nearby old school site https://nambourmuseum.org.au/look-inside/ and the steel Crushers and enormous cogged wheels, have been welded into street sculptures!   Nambour's a little sultry (surrounded by hills); but a town where daggy dressing and cumfy flannos (checked flannel shirts) were unashamedly okay - it's just the way it was …….
Namba wouldn’t die though and there are signs of it at last regenerating ……. perhaps even as a Regional Centre for The Arts, with performance venues and galleries, plus quirky shops and more cafes now opening up – so could be interesting!!

* the name “Naamba” is from an Aboriginal word describing the bark of a prolific red-flowering bottlebrush.
* just like in that great Mary Gauthier song “(Burning the) Sugar Cane” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIQgzCai3EQ
~King Gee – is an iconic, longtime Aussie workwear brand.
~trackie daks – comfortable track suit pants (often worn low-slung, resulting in an “attractive” baggy bum! :)
~Lorry Loco - from kids storybook, plus : https://www.bundysugar.com.au/education/kot.html

A song by Penny Davies for Nambour, which she sings here with partner, Roger Ilott : “Don’t Let ‘Em Close Our Mill (the Sugar Mill’s the Heart of Town)” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHKl1n-mIc0

Just found this documentary called “The Last Crush : Closure of the Moreton Sugar Mill” and the flow-on effects of, first up, global issues (falling price of sugar) - plus all the rest - on the millworkers, the cane farmers, and the town itself : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHKl1n-mIc0

On a historical note, from 1863-1904, some 62,000 South Sea Islanders (men, women, children - known as Kanakas, from Melanesia) were mostly kidnapped/tricked/blackbirded to forcibly work the canefields, cottonfields, coffee plantations of Qld and Nthn NSW. Due to the new Aust'n Federation laws in 1901, the majority were forcibly deported after 1906. By all accounts, life did not improve for those who were shunted back to an island (not necessarily their original one), nor for those who got to stay :   https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/discover/exhibitions/australian-south-sea-islanders


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 09 Mar 21 - 11:02 PM

Forgot to say what “Daggin Round” refers to!

A Dag is pretty much the same thing in New Zealand and Australia, but perhaps the Kiwi descriptor may be a tad more complimentary?!   I believe Stewie posted a Fred Dagg (John Clarke) song from EnZed, here last year?
But in both countries, “Jeez, yer such a DAG!” implies that you are still accepted and loved - despite your different / quirky, appearance, habits, or behaviour!

From the ANU : https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/d
dag
An unfashionable person; a person lacking style or character; a socially awkward adolescent, a 'nerd'. These senses of dag derive from an earlier Australian sense of dag meaning 'a "character", someone eccentric but entertainingly so'. Ultimately all these senses of dag are probably derived from the British dialect (especially in children's speech) sense of dag meaning a 'feat of skill', 'a daring feat among boys', and the phrase to have a dag at meaning 'to have a shot at'. The Australian senses of dag may have also been influenecd by the word wag (a habitual joker), and other Australian senses of dag referring to sheep (see rattle your dags below). Dag referring to an unfashionable person etc. is recorded from the 1960s.

1983 Sydney Morning Herald 24 September: Has it helped them feel more relaxed with the boys in their PD group. 'Well, most of them are dags', Julie laughs, 'but at least they're easier to talk to'.

2011 Australian Financial Review (Sydney) 11 July: Christian, while your budget may appear to be reasonable .. your dress sense is nothing less than appalling. Never ever wear a striped suit, a striped shirt and a striped tie together - just dreadful ... You look like a real dag.

dag: rattle your dags
Hurry up, get a move on. Dags are clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end. When a daggy sheep runs, the dried dags knock together to make a rattling sound. The word dag (originally daglock) was a British dialect word that was borrowed into mainstream Australian English in the 1870s. The phrase is first recorded in the 1980s.

1984 S. Thorne Battler: C'mon Mum, rattle yer dags - the old girls are hungry!

2010 Countryman (Perth) 11 February: Rattle yer dags, woolclassers, time's running out to re-register yourselves with the Australian Wool Exchange.


WIKI also has some interesting history and variations :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dag_(slang)


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 10 Mar 21 - 10:07 PM

WARNING: the songs in this post contain racist components.

In his 'Big Book of Australian Folk Song', Ron Edwards published a trio of songs that were popular in the Northern Territory: 'The Buffalo Shooter's Song', 'Fanny Bay' and 'The Combo's Anthem'. All three songs reference Fannie Bay in Darwin and reflect widespread contemporary attitudes towards Aboriginal women.

In his splendid presentation at the 2000 National Folk Festival in Canberra - 'White on Black: in the spirit of reconciliation' - Keith McKenry gave context to these songs. Keith has kindly given me permission to reproduce his introductory remarks:

No matter where you prick a map of Australia, when the Europeans first arrived there the predominant, and often the only, source of females for male sexual gratification was Aboriginal. It didn’t take long therefore for the term ‘Black Velvet’ to enter the colonial vernacular.

The craving in colonial society for women as sexual playthings became –as it has across the world – a factor in the economic interaction between communities, and a catalyst for violent confrontation, with rape commonplace, and murder and retribution not far behind. Syphilis and gonorrhoea, smallpox and measles, and other diseases previously unknown to Indigenous Australia followed as well, with catastrophic results.

Despite the fear in the popular imagination of sexual violation of white women by blacks – the unspoken sub-text of The Romance of Runnibede, for example— there is scant evidence of it happening. Even in the Governor murders there was never any suggestion the women were sexually assaulted. But violation of black women by white men was so commonplace as to be hardly worth remarking upon.

The supposed loose morals of black women, and their supposed desire, too, for white males, provided a fertile basis for rationalisation. As the next group of songs, from the Northern Territory states, it was just ‘a little bit of nonsense’.

Keith explained earlier in his presentation that 'The Romance of Runnibede' was a 1928 silent film:

Time now to return to the silver screen, and to the making in 1928 of a silent feature film based on a story by Steele Rudd, creator of the beloved characters Dad and Dave. It stars an American, Eva Novak in the role of the virginal white maid Dorothy Winchester, and Dunstan Webb, daubed with black paint, as the evil Witch-doctor Goondai ...

In the same year this film is made, 1928, Fred Brooks, a dingo shooter is killed in the Northern Territory. The murderers are thought to be Aborigines. In retaliation whites, led by Constable William George Murray go on a rampage shooting dead an admitted 31 Aborigines and possibly as many as a hundred or more. Most, if not all, the Aborigines shot have no connection whatever with the killing of Brooks. A court of inquiry finds the shootings ‘justified’.

In the towns and cities few people would have the faintest knowledge of the killings in the Territory. But many would go to the cinema to see the lovely Dorothy rescued from the murderous black savages in Runnibede.

The 'Governor murders' relates to the July 1900 brutal killings of Mrs Mawbey, her 2 daughters, her 2 sons and a governess by 3 Aboriginals:

Jimmy Governor

THE BUFFALO SHOOTER'S SONG
(w.Anon/m.A.Colahan)

If you ever go up north among the buffalo,
Then maybe at the closing of the day,
You will sit and listen to those flamin’ mossies
And watch the sun go down on Fanny Bay.

For again to hear the crying of the curlew,
And the lubras in their nagas salting hides,
And to sit around the campfire by an evening
And listen to those shooters telling lies.

For the gins come down from Oenpelli Mission
All wrapped up in Jesus when they come,
But they soon forget about those Ten Commandments
When you hit ’em with a snort of O.P. rum.

And the strangers came and tried to take our lubras—
So we waited while they had their fun,
For they might have tried to catch the old red dingo
Or rape a flamin’ emu on the run.

And if ever there should be a piccaninny,
You can bet your boots it won’t be all real black,
For those shooters like their little bit of nonsense
Along the Alligator River Track.

Note by Ron Edwards:

'The Buffalo Shooter's Song' was composed by a group of shooters at Nourlangie in the Northern Territory in 1948. It is in the tradition of 'Fanny Bay' and 'The Combo's Anthem' and other Territorian ditties. It goes to the tune of 'Galway Bay' and comes from 'The Green Eyes are Buffaloes' by Allan Stewart.

'Galway Bay' was composed by Dr Arthur Colahan. Allan Stewart was a well-known Territory character. He was a bit of a tosser. I recall that he once stood for the Territory parliament and had his surname changed by deed poll to Allan-Stewart so that he would have first place on the ballot paper. He still lost comprehensively.

FANNY BAY
(w.Anon/m.A.Colahan)

With a couple of little drinks to make us happy,
And a couple of little beers to make us gay,
And a couple of little gins to keep our strength in,
You’ll find yourself at last in Fanny Bay.*

Some are white and some are black and some are yellow,
And some are old and some are young and gay,
But what costs you thirty bob in Castlereagh Street,
You can get for two and six in Fanny Bay.

Note by Ron Edwards:

'Fanny Bay' was one of the slightly bawdy songs that the late Bill Harney used to enjoy singing, partly perhaps to shock the city types that he met when he came south for a holiday from the Northern Territory ... Bill did not know who had composed the song, but he said that it was very popular around the Territory.

Keith McKenry also drew a distinction between these bawdy pieces and the 'thoroughly repugnant ballads of race hatred'.

Fannie Bay is the registered spelling for the suburb and bay. This excerpt from NT Place Names Register is interesting:

Click

THE COMBO'S ANTHEM
(Anon)

When the stock panel slants to the last narli beast,
And the smoke signals rise we will ride to the feast,
Where the pandanus fairies are singing their song,
And the black ducks are mating, by quiet billabong.

’Neath black velvet banners we’ll carve our way through,
As we march to the strains of a didgeridoo,
We love and we laugh as pale introverts sigh,
We sneer at Protectors, whose laws we defy.

We know each girl’s name by her track on the sand,
The girls of the desert, the girls of inland,
The maids of the mountains, and Lord I forgot-
The sirens of seashores, the best of the lot.

They are comely and dark, and the glint of their eyes,
Are as dew drops that gleam on a wintry sun’s rise,
And the firm rounded breasts that seductively tease,
Are like seed pods that sway on squat baobab trees.

So hail Borroloola! The old V.R.D.
The ‘Nash’ and the hill for a cracker old spree,
We are riding with cheques and we sing as we come,
For a gut full of wooing, a gut full of rum.

Let gin-shepherds watch when the rain clouds appear,
And the ring of horse-bells tells his girls we are near,
He may lock up his studs, but we’ll steal them away,
To our smouldering fires till the breaking of day.

So green is the grass when the early rains fall,
And pull off pack bags as we answer the call,
We will ride down bush tracks, and old friendships renew,
To the beat of a tab-stick and didgeridoo.

Ron Edwards supplied a tune at page 92 of his big book. He noted:

'The Combo's Anthem' was collected from the late Bill Harney in 1957. A combo is Territorian slang for one who lives with an Aboriginal woman. Although he described it as a 'real old nostalgic one', it is probably no older than the middle of the late thirties.

It was not only white men who referred disparagingly of Aboriginal women, I once worked with a part-Aboriginal bloke, an ex-stockman, who called Aboriginal women in the bush 'spinifex fairies'.

William Edward Harney

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 08:13 PM

STEEL & SILVER
(Bob McNeill)

Alison, she said, walk with me tonight by the harbour
We will watch the stars
We'll dance among the stones
And you need fear no stumble
For I shall hold your hand
I shall hold your hand

And so with stealthy grace from town they slipped away like shadows
Silent in the dark
No priest or layman saw Alison led boldly
By hand and step, the sand beneath her wet
Between the waves and seawall
Between the waves and seawall

Alison, she said, let go your heavy vest
That we might skip more lightly
Let down your raven hair
That it might fall around you
Likewise your steel & silver
Likewise your steel & silver

And so she let them fall, and with them her resolve
Always to heed the ocean
And so upon the sand they laid their bodies down
And as they slept the silent ocean crept
The waves grew ever higher
The waves grew ever higher

Alison, she said, wake up the tide is high
And we are hard by the seawall
The waves are coming fast
And I fear we are lost
For we must brave the ocean
For we must brave the ocean

And so they turned away from the harbour wall to face the tide
The swirling grey black ocean
The water cold and dark pressed into their hearts
By hand and brine
Maidens intertwined
They found them so next morning
They found them so next morning
 
Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Mar 21 - 11:19 PM

NEW ZEALAND WHALES
(Anon)

Come all you whale men who are cruising for sperm
Come all you seamen who have rounded Cape Horn
For our captain has told us and he says out of hand
‘There’s a thousand whale off the coast of New Zealand’

T’was early one morning just as the sun rose
That a voice from the masthead cried out, ’There she blows’
Our captain cried, ‘Where away and how does he lay?’
‘Three points on our lee, sir, scarce two miles away’

‘Then call up all hands and be of good cheer
Get your lines in your rowboats and tackle-falls clear’
We sailed off the westwind and came up apace
The whaleboats were lowered and set on the chase

We fought him alongside, harpoon we thrust in
In just over an hour, he rolled out his fin
The whale is cut-in, boys, tried-out and slowed down
He’s worth more to us, boys, than five hundred pound

Our ship it is laden for home we will steer
There’s plenty of rum, boys, and plenty of beer
We’ll spend money freely for the pretty girls ashore
And when it’s all gone we’ll go whaling for more

Note:

These were the last days of the hand-harpoon, over a hundred years ago. Sperm and right whales were common in New Zealand waters, as they had been off the coast of Peru. The Spanish-American War meant the world’s whalers came south and Kororareka in the Bay of Islands became a busy whaling port. [’Song of a Young Country’ p 8].

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 15 Mar 21 - 12:12 AM

SAM HOLT
(w.G.H. Gibson/Air: 'Ben Bolt')

Oh! don’t you remember Black Alice, Sam Holt —
Black Alice, so dusky and dark,
The Warrego gin, with the straw through her nose,
And teeth like a Moreton Bay shark.

The terrible sheepwash tobacco she smoked
In the gunyah down there by the lake,
And the grubs that she roasted, the lizards she stewed,
And the damper you taught her to bake.

Oh! don’t you remember the moon’s silver sheen,
And the Warrego sand ridges white?
And don’t you remember those big bulldog ants
We caught in our blankets at night?

Oh! don’t you remember the creepers, Sam Holt,
That scattered their fragrance around?
And don’t you remember that broken-down colt
You sold me, and swore he was sound?

And don’t you remember that fiver, Sam Holt,
You borrowed so frank and so free,
When the publican landed your fifty-pound cheque
At Tambo, your very last spree?

Luck changes some natures; but yours, Sammy Holt,
Was a grand one as ever I see,
And I fancy I’ll whistle a good many tunes
Ere you think of that fiver or me.

Oh! don’t you remember the cattle you duffed,
And your luck at the Sandy Creek rush,
And the poker you played, and the bluffs that you bluffed,
And your habits of holding a flush?

And don’t you remember the pasting you got
By the boys down in Callaghan’s store,
When Tim Hooligan found a fifth ace in his hand,
And you holding his pile upon four?

You were not the cleanest potato, Sam Holt,
You had not the cleanest of fins.
But you made your pile on the Towers, Sam Holt,
And that covers the most of your sins.

They say you’ve ten thousand per annum, Sam Holt,
In England, a park and a drag;
Perhaps you forget you were six months ago
In Queensland a-humping your swag.

But who’d think to see you now dining in state
With a lord and the devil knows who,
You were flashing your dover, six short months ago,
In a lambing camp on the Barcoo.

When’s my time coming? Perhaps never, I think,
And it’s likely enough your old mate
Will be humping his drum on the Hughenden road
To the end of the chapter of fate.

This song was a parody of 'Ben Bolt', written in 1848 by Dr T.D. English. The tune was a German air arranged by N. Kneass. It was printed in the 'Melbourne Vocalist' 5th edition 1857. Charles Thatcher, the goldfields balladeer, wrote what he called a 'new version' which began:

Oh! don't you remember, sweet Alice, Ben Bolt -
Sweet Alice with hair hazel brown
She wept with delight when you gave her a smile
And trembled with fear at your frown

Thatcher also wrote a mining version titled 'Jack Jolt' that was similar in structure to 'Sam Holt'. In his 'Colonial Ballads', Hugh Anderson noted that 'Sam Holt' derived in part from 'Jack Jolt'. G.Herbert Gibson, whose pen name was Ironbark, wrote 'Sam Holt' which was published in 'The Western Champion' (Blackall/Barcaldine, QLD) in May 1881. It was prefaced by this sentence:
'Overlanding Jim apostrophiseth his quondam mate who hath made his pile and gone home'. It was printed in 'The Bulletin' in 1881. This printing gave 3 notes: 'flashing your dover' = 'taking pot luck with a sheath knife'; 'Towers' = Charters Towers; the original line was 'From the Barks down at Callaghan's store' and 'Barks' was vernacular for 'Irish'.

A.B. Paterson included 'Sam Holt' in his 'The Old Bush Songs' 1905. Strangely, Stewart & Keesing did not include it in their 'Enlarged and Revised' edition of 'Old Bush Songs'. It is included at page 34 of Hugh Anderson 'Colonial Ballads' 1962 edition. Anderson noted that 'Paterson, as in several other instances, took the words, not from newspapers, but from a collection of Gibson's poems'. You can also find it at page 120 of Ron Edwards' big book.

This rendition by Warren Fahey omits a few stanzas:

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 15 Mar 21 - 09:59 PM

This fine song gained the APRA award for song of the year at the 2021 Country Music Association of Australia golden guitar awards.

THE HIGH PRICE OF SURVIVING
(Shane Nicholson & Leyon Milner)

There’s been mistakes and there’ll be again
We’ll fall from grace every now and then
Loving and losing from pillar to post
The things we hold dear can hurt us the most

It’s just the price of surviving we pay
For sticking it out through another day
But it’s better than taking the other way out

Ghosts at the table, junkmail and trash
I bury myself in cigarette ash
I draw the curtain, there ain’t much to see
The world moves along and forgets about me

It’s just the price of surviving we pay
For sticking it out through another day
But it’s better than taking the other way out

Hope, carry me now
Hope, carry me now
It’s gonna take us the long way around

It’s just the price of surviving this life
Learning to breathe through the trouble and strife
When living is only being alive

Then it’s just the price of surviving we pay
For sticking it out through another day
But it’s better than taking the other way out

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 16 Mar 21 - 05:18 AM

a very new song by Phyl Lobl, written at 5am this morning which makes it a bit over 15 hours old.

Phyl has been singing Pete Seeger's 1966 version about LBJ for decades, video here, along with Len Chandler's original words (1964)


BEANS IN MY EARS, SLOMO’S VERSION by Phyl Lobl

Jenny says not to put beans in my ears, beans in my ears, beans in my ears,
Jenny says not to put beans in my ears, beans in my ears.

Why would I want to put beans in my ears, beans in my ears, beans in my ears?
Why would I want to put beans in my ears, beans in my ears?

Y’can’t hear the women with beans in your ears, beans in your ears, beans in your ears,
Y’can’t hear the women with beans in your ears, beans in your ears.

So y’can’t hear the words like NO & ENOUGH, NO & ENOUGH, NO & ENOUGH,
Y’can’t hear the words like NO & ENOUGH with beans in your ears.
Hey, Marise look at me, I've got beans in my ears beans in my ears, beans in my ears,
Hey, Marise look at me, I've got beans in my ears, beans in my ears.

What's that you say? I've got beans in my ears beans in my ears, beans in my ears,
What's that you say? I've got beans in my ears, beans in my ears

Yes too many Pollies have beans in their ears, beans in their ears, beans in their ears,
Yes too many Pollies have beans in their ears, beans in their ears.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 16 Mar 21 - 05:33 AM

I’d read of this happening to other Posters, but this is a first for me : my whole post just disappeared into cyberspace! :(

As I just started reading the *autobiography* of the lauded Aussie singer from Victoria, DIANA TRASK, I thought I’d add this “Country-Pop” hit of hers, regularly heard on Nostalgia Radio these days.
She was a familiar figure on early TV variety shows Down Under (also hosting her own), and could sing anything (she loved jazz), and became a well-known performer in America, friends with and singing with, many of the greats in Show-Biz.


OH BOY (The Mood I’m In)
Tony Romeo

It's so warm in here
Outside the night is clear
Think I need a walk
Have myself a little talk
Sleep, baby sleep
While your mama walks the street tonight
To think about your daddy

Boy, (oh boy) the mood I'm in
The pain I feel in missin’ him
Oh boy, (oh boy) I can't explain
He haunts my mind and racks my brain

I could comb every home, every neighbourhood bar
I could ride every greyhound or railroad car
Just to find him and say
Hey, wherever you are
Come on home, we love you, boy

So I walk and weep
Through the downtown streets I wander sadly

Boy, (oh boy) the mood I'm in
The pain I feel in missin’ him
Oh boy, (oh boy) I can't explain
He haunts my mind and racks my brain

I could comb every home, every neighbourhood bar
I could ride every greyhound and railroad car
Just to find him and say
Hey, wherever you are
Come on home, we love you

Boy, (oh boy) the mood I'm in
The pain I feel in missin’ him
Oh boy, (oh boy) I can't explain
He haunts my mind racks my brain


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4oHALmefko Diana Trask performing “Oh Boy” in 1975 on “Pop! Goes the Country”.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z8LJwzU4Oc   This is Diana on “Sing Along with Mitch Miller” in the very early 60s, beautifully singing the ultimate Stalking song!!

“ ….. In recent years, Diana has studied natural medicine and graduated with honours as a Master Herbalist ….. “    https://dianatrask.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeKgtj_MclQ an interview c. 2015 – after some 20 years, she’d gone back to singing and songwriting!
[BtW, she turns 81 this June……]

*Whatever Happened to Diana Trask* – a memoir by Diana Trask, with Alison Campbell Rate, published in 2010 : https://melbournebooks.com.au/uploads/product/156/diana_info_sheet.pdf



R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 16 Mar 21 - 07:11 AM

July 17, 2010 Federal Election announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. A Parody for the times.

HAS-BEEN HAZARDS by Phyl Lobl, 2010, Tune Trad: Cushy Butterfield/One of the Has-beens

I'm one of the has-beens, a Prime Minister ex,
I once used to advertise Ko-koda treks,
But I stayed far too long on the political trail,
I was put out to pasture by an up-start female.

Now I've been overlooked by the cricketing mob.(Aughh ughugh)
No that's not a cough, it's a strangulated sob.
The game that they served me it just wasn't fair,
You could not call it cricket but they didn't care.

NOW THERE* is a new chum in line for the Lodge, (* pause to emphasize each word in capitals)
But that straw-berry blonde has ex-PM's to dodge.
(Repeat last line with Audience participation as chorus)

I'm a has-been as well, or so the press say,
But my name is still fore-front by the hand of D'Alpuget
My silvery mane it still covers my head,
I do not wear budgies, I'm called one instead.

PAST PM's* are not helping the sheila it seems,
They are too busy trying to mend broken dreams.
(Audience repeats last line)

I'm another of the has-beens, I freed up the banks
I was all for getting rid of the Brits not the Yanks,
But at least I have a musical, and though it's not the top job
I still like to spar with a Budgie called Bob.

NOW THIS* stella, sheila new chum, some thought she was Red
But that Copper-top, that Ranga, looks blue now instead.
(Audience repeats last line)

I was not a PM, just up for the job,
I was feisty I was frantic to strike with a left lob.
But one blow too many and Howard won through,
I wish I had dyed my hair now, and called myself Blue.

YES THAT* Redhead is striking her light very well,
She a match for Tony Abbott the chief lib-er-al
(Audience repeats last line)

I'm Kevin from Queensland an ex-PM too,
My end it came suddenly, a bolt from The Blue
My life was up-turned I did not see the trend,
Unlike Mist-er Beckham I never learnt to bend.

God, if it was you who decided the coup
I don't understand 'cos she doesn't talk to you,

All those Sundays in church had me feeling secure,
Now I'm here in the wilderness, lost and unsure.

BUT SHE'S* a Redhead, a Coppertop, a Ranga, a Blue,
With a rival like that let's hope Abbott's gone too.
(Audience repeats last line

Cushy Butterfield by The Ian Campbell Folk Group

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 08:41 PM

Six decks to Darwin' won the 'Bush Ballad of the Year' category in the 2021 golden guitar awards. It is of particular interest to me as it references my hometown.

SIX DECKS TO DARWIN
(D.Perrett, K.Dixon, R.Garland)

Six decks to Darwin hauling up the Duncan Road
I just drove out of Newry with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

On the stations in the Top End they are mustering the steers
For live export out of Wyndham and the Darwin Harbour piers
So we got the roadtrains rolling and we’re heading out to load
In this fabled series Kenworth I power up the road

When the soft grey light of morning comes a-creeping through the sky
The trailers are a-rattlin’ as we load the cattle high
One eighty head of brahman beauties are ready for the ride
And to tell you that I love the job should come as no surprise

Yeah, I got six decks to Darwin hauling up the Buntine Road
Just drove out of Camfield with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

I glance back in my mirrors where the trailers track behind
I see a dust cloud risin’ and fillin’ up the sky
I’ll stop to check the cattle now and then along the way
Then when we hit the bitumen, the wind will fill our sails

From the red dust and the ranges to the ocean deep and blue
You’ll hear the old girl growlin’ as the gear shift changes through
There’s the song of travellin’ cattle to the rhythm of the road
While the horses ‘neath the bonnet knuckle down and bear the load

Yeah, I got six decks to Darwin hauling up the Barkly Road
Just rolled out of Lake Nash with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

Yeah, I got six decks to Darwin hauling up the Duncan Road
Just rolled out of Rosewood with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

Youtube clip

Dean Perrett recorded and wrote most of the song. He explains the background in this clip:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 09:42 AM

HOOKER REX by Don Henderson

Singabout 5(2), Jan 1963, lyrics & dots, p.20, info about record p.14

There's been a lot of talk and controversy,
'Bout the White Australia policy,
But there's lots of land and plenty more still,
If someone doesn't have it, L.J. Hooker will.

Chorus -
Everywhere we look we see Hooker-Rex,
Wonder where it's gonna pop up next,
Maybe one day we'll live to see
It inscribed on the back of our currency.

Yanks and the Russians racing to the moon,
In a space-ship and a rocket and a barrage balloon,
When they get there a sign said "Too late!",
The whole damn thing is now a Hooker Estate.

I've often though a better name would be ,
Green-belt Hooker Proprietary,
But Hooker-Australia is alright I guess,
Till they start to use that apostrophe 's.


published in - Oh, Pay Me. Blue & White Collar records ... For the first time in the history of Australia, a record has been issued with songs specifically aimed at promoting trade union demands. The A.C.T.U. , the Australian Council of Salaried and Professional Associations and the High Council of Commonwealth Public Service Organisations ...

Alas, this record does not seem to have survived in any library or collection,

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 09:58 AM

AUSTRALIANS LET US ALL REJOICE, by Geoff Francis & Peter Hicks 2004

Australians let us all rejoice
Fr we have tasted greed;
Our mortgage rates mean more to us,
Than mere humanity;
Our land abounds with credit cards
And John Howard took us there;
Don’t stop to count as your debts mount,
Advance Australia fair!
Don’t stop to count as your debts mount,
"Advance Australia fair!"


While refugees from terror sail'd,
To trace wide oceans o'er,
To Iraq with Little John we went,
To start a bloody war.
The sick, the old have all been sold,
Our children's future care;
They’re all worth nowt, so rise and shout,
Advance Australia fair!
They’re all worth nowt, so rise and shout,
Advance Australia fair!

do we really need this tune?

source of words, email 2012.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 10:01 AM

HOLD THAT LINE, ©1989 Geoff Francis and Peter Hicks, Revised March 2002

lyrics & audio

Oh, we're standing here together,
One for all and all for one;
And we'll keep right on here standing
Till our victory we have won,
We're united in our struggle,
No, there's none us can divide
We'll yield nothing to the enemy
'Cos we've justice on our side.

Chorus:
Hold that line!
Hold that line!
Sisters, brothers, never weaken,
Stand and hold that picket line!

Hold that line against the bosses
When they try to drive us back,
Hold that line against the coppers
And their armed baton attacks,
Hold that line against the government,
'Gainst all enemies of our class,
And hold that line against the scabs too,
No, we'll never let them pass.

Hold that line against the World Bank
And against the IMF,
Hold that line and keep on holding it
As long as we have breath.
Hold that line against their dogma
Hold that line against their creed
Hold that line to save the future
From their plunder and their greed.

Oh, we're standing with the millions
Reaching out across this world,
And with those who fought before us,
Our banners here unfurled..
But there's more room yet beside us,
If you'll come and join our cause,
For the chains that now enslave you,
They are all you have to lose.

Hold That Line already has quite a history. It was published in the most recent edition of the famous IWW song book. It was featured on the CD In Union is Strength. More recently this revised version was on the shortlist of six of the Wobbly Radio Workers Song Competition in 2002.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 10:41 PM

MY TONGUE GOES BUNGLING THROUGH GEORGIA
(John Dengate/Tune: Marching through Georgia)

Yes, I’m a local lad, I live in Cammeray
I’ve never travelled further than the beach at Byron Bay
But when I pick my guitar up, I’m off and far away
To Tennessee and California

Chorus:
Guitar! Guitar! I touch the finger board
Then my accent changes from Australian strong and broad
And my tongue goes bungling through Georgia

I go roaming through Wyonming on my tonsils every day
I play a chord and I’m abroad in sunny Santa Fe
And I’ve never left the kitchen of my house in Cammeray
As my tongue goes bungling through Georgia

Chorus

I think Australia’s very dull, our history is a bore
We should be like America and have a civil war
We could all kill one another and make movies by the score
In accents that make sense in Georgia

Chorus

I do not like Australian vowels, they sound all bloody wrong
They don’t go with my new blue jeans and don’t fit in my song
Ah wish ah was in Dixie, that’s the place where ah belong
That’s me, ma, going ‘wee-hah!’ in Georgia

Chorus

I know that it’s all bullshit and I know that I’m a sham
I don’t know why I do it, I just don’t give a damn
I’m a bloody little traitor, mate, that’s really what I am
As my tongue goes bungling through Georgia

Chorus

From John Dengate ‘My Shout Again’.

John noted:

Dedicated to all the deluded Aussies who sing in pseudo-American accents. There is a direct correlation between guitar strumming and this weird metamorphosis.

The song was written decades ago but, sadly, it still happens.

Marching through Georgia

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 12:12 AM

On a recent Music Show I was listening to an interview with a country singer who spoke Australian & sang American - admittedly she, like other country stars, has spent time in Nashville, some even live there!

I just emailed Dale asking if she would like to update it now that Ameralians spend time in Nashvile. (Nashvile was a typo & I was going to correct it, but left it!)

so here is the song about Ameralia, published in Singabout 1(3), Winter 1956. - no audio, only dots!

AMERALIA, words W.J. Mann, music Jennifer Mann

Down Darling's green banks I once happened to stray,
And met a young stranger was walking my way,
Black bearded like Kelly, and sunburnt and strong,
And all the time singing this quaint little song.

Refrain:
They've sent us their Marilyn and six crates of gum,
And they've copped all our oil and uranium;
Sing yankee sing doodle sing dinky-di dink,
We're the United States of Australia (Inc.)

I gave him a good day, and I said how'd you be?
And how'd you expect me to bloody well be?
Fair dinkum, before you all lonely I stand,
The last bloody Aussie that's left in this land.

The blade in my razor I wished to renew,
So I went to the shop and they showed me a few,
But the sign USA on each one appeared,
And that's why I'm wearing this dirty great beard.

From Chicago, Sears Roebuck came here to try
To put us in debt till we flaming well die,
These time payment experts are exceedingly tough,
Quite prepared to take over where Kelly left off.

For Ben Hall and Kelly are long dead and gone,
But Hoppalong Cassidy and Crockett live on;
Our stockmen are cowboys, our stockyards corrals,
Our duffers are rustlers, our sheilas are dolls.

When you remember how history was made,
By the diggers who died at Eureka Stockade,
You'll agree we have heroes to equal the best
That ever came out of the Yankee wild west.

Then I gave him my hand and I let out a cheer,
And I said "Fair Go, Aussie! There's two of us here."
Now I've told you this story so you'll understand
There are still a few Aussies alive in this land.

Ameralia byW.J. Mann with a tune by his 16 year old daughter Jennifer

Ameralia byW.J. Mann with a tune by his 16 year old daughter Jennifer, page2

from page 6 - Meet Jennifer Mann - 16 years Jenny Mann ... has written tunes for poems by David Martin, Merv Lilley, Mary Gilmore and her father, Jim Mann. Jim Mann is related to working-class leader Thomas Mann.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:29 AM

LOVE’S LABOURS LOST (aka Back Seat of the Holden)

Paul Lawler

Well I went to the dance on the Friday night
Met a little girl, such a pretty, pretty sight
She said that she wouldn’t, but I thought that she might
Lie with me, in the back seat of the Holden.

Well her eyes were blue and her hair was gold
She said my advances were very, very bold
Although she said no, I thought she’d get rolled
With me in the back seat of the Holden.

Well in comes Don Juan and he asks her for a dance
There was a wilt in me trousers; something happened to me lance
And I knew that this bloke, would take away me chance
For to lie in the back seat of the Holden.

Well I watched him drink his Martini dry
And knew that a visit to the lavatory was nigh
The door hit him faster than he undid his fly
I was off to the back seat of the Holden.

With Don Juan’s nose flat, I carried on the quest
To try and get this little lady safely on the nest
I said, you look tired, why don’t you have a rest
Lie with me in the back seat of the Holden.

Well we walked to the car, I was full of hope
- I was also full of beer - but still I thought I’d cope
But after the kissing - and just before the grope -
I fell asleep … in the back seat of the Holden.


(the late) Paul Lawler, Darwin 1984 ©


In these current climes, possibly a rather non-PC song!! But this self-deprecating little ditty (which, however, Paul swore was not autobiographical!!), was very popular in its time in Darwin’s folk scene.
He wrote it to be accompanied by his appalachian dulcimer, as in this Top End Folk Club recording from the song’s early days : go to 30:34   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7PsCsWL6Pk&t=15s


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:32 AM

CHARITY BEGINS AT ROME

Paul Lawler

My belly it is swollen; I’m sorry I can’t stand
The food I want I cannot get from this barren land
For your well-intentioned powdered milk
Thanks, but don’t you see
That sipping life just once a week prolongs my agony.

   And the Pope said : Happy Christmas
   Happy Easter, everyone
   In Nomine Patris
   Et fillet mignon

If you’d sent an IUD to stop brother, or a tractor for my dad
I may not have made it to my teens, but, I might have been a lad
A drilling rig for water could save parts of this land
I cannot eat the secondhand clothes sold by thieving bands.

If Rome had sent some help to us, here in the Sudan
Their supposed Christian ethic, might have helped me be a man
But Catholics is politics, a sham, a bloody lie
The Vatican grows rich and fat, but as for me I die.


©   Paul O. Lawler,   Darwin, 1985


1985 famine news :
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/08/famine-refugees-united-nations-sudan-ethiopia-africa


This song hasn’t made it to Paul’s posthumous YT channel yet – but one day soon!


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:40 AM

FRANKLIN’S RIVER

Ken Ferguson


“For John Franklin, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Dieman’s Land in the 1840s, a trip to the West Coast was a welcome respite from the political jungle of Hobart Town. A contrast that has more recent reverberations.” KF, 1990

A winding path has led us here
From Derwent to Arrowsmith’s quartz grey peak
Lowering forest and sodden heath
Aching bones and rattling teeth
The clouds above, the earth beneath
Leaving the world behind.

And all this way the forest’s hush
No barking dog nor settler’s axe
Just the cry of a cockatoo
Or rarer still, a kangaroo
In the groves that the sorrowing native knew
All trace of him is gone.

And the rain falls down on Franklin’s river
So much that the water and air are one
Watercolour hues and a fragile beauty
Free from the restless hand of man.

Now on the shining river’s side
We lie in Eden’s innocent vale
The serpent glides but the fruit is free
Of poisoned word or traitor’s creed
Of envy’s leer or careless greed
Like Man before The Fall.

And the rain falls down on Franklin’s river
So much that the water and air are one
Watercolour hues and a fragile beauty
Free from the restless hand of man.


Ken Ferguson, 1990. From his 1997 CD “Basic Blue”.
(the late) Ken, along with Tony Phipps, wrote a “Folk Opera” concerning Tasmanian Governor John Franklin, which was performed in Perth, WA, but unfortunately I have not yet located any more info about this project - (nor his others) - online.
I posted here on March 5th, “Alice on the Line” from his and Bloodwood’s project “The Singing Wire”.


https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/11/05/2734403.htm Sir John Franklin was the most distinguished man to be appointed Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land…..

A 1980 journey down the Franklin River in Tasmania’s SW with the late Romanian botanist, Antonius Moscal : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCCGkRoChQ

And more recently, the exciting possibilities of the world-renowned : “Top river journeys: Rafting the Franklin River :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__6KXCAKHGM&t=319s


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:42 AM

MOTHERLODE

Ken Ferguson


“Uranium Exploration Geologist, thinks twice” KF: Alice Springs, 1983

I am walking on this land with a hammer in my hand
And the spinifex is cutting to the bone
Though I was sent to look for wealth that is hidden in the earth
I have found a Motherlode that they can’t own.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.

The explorers gave you names for your ridges and your plains
Though they feared your ancient landscape like a foe
But your weathered rocks and stones, that to me feel more like home
Have deeper names than I will ever know.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.

Well, the gaps that cut your ranges have paintings in their caves
And Galahs in screeching clouds around the mills
But the sand between your toes where the river rarely flows
Shows your creeks are even older than your hills.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.



Another track from “singing geologist”, the late Ken Ferguson, from his 1997 CD “Basic Blue”.
For more info, see my posting on March 5th of his “Alice on the Line” – March 20th posting for “Franklin’s River” - and also his Mudcat Obit.

[Sadly, I am yet to find any of his work online …….]


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:56 AM

BtW, re my posting of renowned Upper Yarra Aussie singer Diana Trask on March 16th, I have now finished reading her very entertaining 2010 Autobiography - and can thoroughly recommend it!!
( available from her website (if your library doesn't have it!) : https://dianatrask.com/product/whatever-happened-to-diana-trask-official-autobiography/ )


R-J :)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 07:52 AM

THE MAD MONK c. John Dengate 2009, TUNE: Vilikins and His Dinah/Dinky Di/Sweet Betsy from Pike etc

Oh dear, just how low have the Liberals sunk.
They’ve chosen as leader the raving mad monk.
A royalist ratbag, a popish ex-pug:
Reactionary Tory, the monarchist thug.

They’ve sacked Malcolm Turnbull and put in his stead
A bloke who’s been punched far too hard, round the head;
Too many left hooks which rather explains
The crackpot ideas that roll round his brains.

It’s enough to send Methodists out on a binge –
He’s a punchy ex-priest from the lunatic fringe
A failed Father Tony who’s frightened of hell
And raises his fists at the sound of a bell.

They’ve chosen as leader a real troglodyte,
A cruiserweight lout from the party’s far right
A punch-throwing papist. Oh, times must be grim
For the Tories to choose a mad bastard like him,

Repeat first verse.

tune - Villikins and his Dinah

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 07:58 AM

MR MURDOCH’S SONG. John Dengate 2011, tune: The Wearing of the Green

‘I’m not responsible’… just totally irresponsible.

Mr Murdoch ‘s very wealthy, there are lots of things he owns
But his speciality is tapping into other peoples’ phones.
All the citizens of England, when they ring their kith and kin;
Say ‘Hello’ to Mr Murdoch, for he always listens in.

CHORUS

He’s a snooping, prying bastard, he invades your privacy;
Cover up the bathroom keyhole if you go in for a pee.
If you ring up your girlfriend, don’t be ardent or risqué
Or the whole of bloody Britain will be reading it next day.

Mr Murdoch may be wrinkled, Mr Murdoch may be aged
But he takes an avid interest when your telephone’s engaged.
Keep the conversation flowing, don’t be taciturn or strained –
That’s not fair to Mr Murdoch, you must keep him entertained.

CHORUS

Rely on Mr Murdoch, all you Pommies, don’t despair
If your telephone starts ringing, Mr Murdoch will be there.
With his earphones and recorders and his electronic gear –
Make sure that you enunciate… he’s deaf in his left ear.

CHORUS

tune - The Wearing of the Green

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 09:50 PM

At the 2021 Golden Guitar Awards, Luke O'Shea won the 'Traditional Country Album of the Year' award for his 'There in the Ochre'. He also was awarded a golden guitar award for 'Heritage Song of the Year' for his collaboration with Kevin Bennett on 'Happy Australia Day' - and deservedly so, a brilliant song for our times. The youtube video is also exceptional.


HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY
(Luke O’Shea & Kevin Bennett)

Cowboys vs Indians, white man vs savages
Is what I was shown on TV
I knew more about the world wars, the Zulu and the Navaho
Than I did of my own history
But as you begin to uncover the sin
You can feel your heart drowning in shame
It all starts with a lie we no longer deny
And it’s time we all knew your name

So Pemulwuy are you still fighting?
Windradyne your song we shall sing
And for all your senseless suffering
Truganini, did it mean anything?
For every chain that has bound you
For every child stolen away
Well the river still runs from the same poisoned well
Happy Australia Day - Australia Day

Well, the wheel still turns, the memory still burns
And there’s still so much more left to write
But if I am a man who is born on this land
Then my history is both black and white

So Yagan, are you still fighting?
Jandamarra your song we shall sing
And for all you absorbed as you travelled the world
Bennelong did it mean anything?
For every shot that was fired intending to drive you away
The river still runs from the same poisoned well
Happy Australia Day - Australia Day

Let the truth fill the space in between us
Replacing the blame and the fear
And we must learn first we are better than our worst
And respect for each other starts here
So why celebrate this great nation
On a day that insults and divides
For regardless of clan, we all love this land
Find a way where we stand unified

Charlie Perkins I’ll stand beside you
Uncle Jimmy your song I shall sing
And for all you selfless suffering
Mumma Shirl well I feel everything
For every right that’s denied us
For our children stolen away
Well everyone drinks from the same poisoned well
And it’s time that we all shared the pain
Yes, everyone drinks from the same poisoned well
Happy Australia Day - Australia Day

Youtube clip

Luke O'Shea and Kevin Bennett

Pemulwuy

Windradyne

Yagan

Jandamarra

Bennelong

Charlie Perkins

Jimmy Little

Mum Shirl

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 10:56 PM

In the links in my previous post, I missed Truganini:

Truganini

If you click on 'Show More' under the video, you will find many other links.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GerryM
Date: 22 Mar 21 - 02:42 AM

The Grubby Urchins - Library-O
Daniel Bornstein and Joe Hillel
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about-library/publications/openbook/shanty-town-mark-dapin-extract

When I was young, but ten and three
Hi-o, hi-o, librari-o
My parents asked, what trade for thee?
Send them out on loan
And so next morning I began
Hi-o, hi-o, librari-o
To train as a librar-i-an
Send them out on loan

Chorus (after each verse):
So turn 'em, scan 'em, bin 'em, bag 'em
Heave 'em out to roam-i-o
Two weeks in the open world
Before they come back home-i-o
When they're back and through the slot
It's to the shelves they'll go-i-o
Send them out on loan-i-o
Send them out on loan

I dreamed that evening as I slept
Hi-o ...
On where the books are neatly kept
Send ...
I dreamed of shelves ten fathoms high
Hi-o ...
Where books from every land do lie
Send ...

Chorus

I dreamed of bins and stacks and shelves
Where readers go and help theirselves
I dreamed of books in tidy rows
From ancient verse to modern prose

The libr'y life is free from woes
The chief concern is where books goes
So growl ye may, but read ye must
You talk too loud, your head they'll bust

If friendly staff is what ye seeks
Bring back your books within two weeks
Be warned when on a reading spree
Late books incur a nominal fee

The lib'ry trade takes stalwart guts
For every year bring government cuts
They say that borrowing books is hard
For those without a lib'ry card

And when their lending time is through
It's back you'll mosey to renew
And when the readin's good and done
It's back to pick another one

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Mar 21 - 05:46 AM

brilliant!

audio of LIBRARY-O

sandra (retired librarian)

"https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/the_grubby_urchins_-_library-o_-_master_210209.mp3"

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 09:45 AM

A parody of The Shearers Dream, posted on page 13 at 25 Nov 20 - 12:25 AM by Rich-Joy

THE PEOPLE'S DREAM by Mike Martin © 2015, tune The Shearer's Dream, winner of 2015 Dengate Parody Mug competition, Illawarra Folk Festival

I am very honoured to have won such a trophy, John was not only a mate but an inspiration to a generation of Folkies. A great writer and a peer of excellence.

I dreamt I was in Parliament. It as a dream of joy
For every member was honourable, the type you would employ
There were no collars, suits or ties, just overalls, boots and pies
There were no broken promises, and nobody ever told lies.

I dreamt no votes on Party lines, no money ever changed hands
They'd legislate the people's will, for the battler, for the working man
There were equal rights for both black and white. Men, women and both
Where money couldn't buy or influence, the way you decide to vote.

I dreamt I gave my maiden speech, a tear came to my eye
I spoke of justice and freedom, the reason the diggers died
I spoke of poverty and of greed, the demise of democracy
I spoke of sustainability and biodiversity.

I dreamt every member understood my words, I was as proud as proud could be
The call from the floor was for more, and the gallery they all agreed,
But then I awoke in a shearing shed, on a bed of greasy wool
The clapping the clatter of cutters and combs
       ...    And the cheering was the bleating of YOUS ...

video of Lionel Long singing The Shearer's Dream

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 09:58 AM

SOUNDS OF THEN (This Is Australia)

Mark Callaghan

I think I hear the sounds of then, and people talking
The scenes recalled, by minute movement
And songs they fall, from the backing tape
That certain texture, that certain smell.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room, of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings home the heavy days
Brings home the the night time swell.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

The block is awkward - it faces west
Long diagonals, and sloping too
And in the distance, through the heat haze
In convoys of silence, the cattle graze
That certain texture, that certain beat
Brings forth the night-time heat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   Laugh and think that this is Australia.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings forth the heavy days
Brings forth the night-time sweat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

This is Australia etc…...


Mark Callaghan of GANGgajang : wrote this 1985 song about his childhood memories as a recent English immigrant to Bundy (Bundaberg, sub-tropical coastal city in central Queensland) :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9h3I5Uktw

WIKI : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounds_of_Then



R-J

Subject: ADD: Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)[Callaghan]
From: rich-joy
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 10:01 AM

SOUNDS OF THEN (This Is Australia)
Mark Callaghan

I think I hear the sounds of then, and people talking
The scenes recalled, by minute movement
And songs they fall, from the backing tape
That certain texture, that certain smell.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room, of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings home the heavy days
Brings home the the night time swell.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

The block is awkward - it faces west
Long diagonals, and sloping too
And in the distance, through the heat haze
In convoys of silence, the cattle graze
That certain texture, that certain beat
Brings forth the night-time heat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   Laugh and think that this is Australia.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings forth the heavy days
Brings forth the night-time sweat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

This is Australia etc…...


Mark Callaghan of GANGgajang : wrote this 1985 song about his childhood memories as a recent English immigrant to Bundy (Bundaberg, sub-tropical coastal city in central Queensland) :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9h3I5Uktw

WIKI : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounds_of_Then



R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 10:01 AM

And now for a song from Dale Dengate. Dale carries on the Dengate parody tradition, unfortunately for this thread, most of her parodies are poems.

A PARODY MUG MYSTERY by Dale Dengate, 2020 Tune: Adaption of Streets of Forbes.

video of Marion Henderson singing "Streets of Forbes" 1966

Come all of ye Figgy folk,
And a sorrowful tale I’ll tell.
Concerning of Mike Martin,
From Candelo he came.

Mike strode into the tent and said:
Concerning Dengate’s mug,
I have a parody, I wrote
Then he began to quote:

Mike dreamt he was in parliament.
It was a dream of joy.
For everyone was honourable.
The type you would employ.
And so it went until he woke,
To cheers from bleating YOUS.

All in that year of 2-0-1-5,
There was many a clever verse
But the judge declared that Mike had won,
So called upon Sircomraderuss.
But as he rose, a tear he shed
He’d lost the Dengate’s mug.
I stood it on the bar, he said,
But it’s no longer there.

So Mike ne’re got ol’ Dengate’s mug
Although he won that day.
The years rolled on and Covid came
And kept us all at home.

So Comraderuss took to his shed
And into boxes dove.
’Twas there he found the battered mug.
Where it had hid for years,
So now at last this song can end
And Mike might get his mug.

Figgy Folk is a session run by Illawarra Folk Club, on zoom last year, but now live.
John & Dale Dengate Parody Competition, Illawarra Folk Festival, 2014 to 2017

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 09:59 PM

There are numerous variations in tune and content of 'Oh, TI'. The lyrics below are those printed in Ron Edwards' big book and reproduced in Bill Scott's 'Second Penguin Australian Songbook'. The song was well-known in north Queensland and the Northern Territory, particularly among Aboriginal people. It was sometimes called 'Old TI' and 'Old PI', the latter referencing Palm Island rather than Thursday Island. Ron Edwards also collected what he called an 'old version' which was composed in 1936 by Jarfar Ahmat. Edwards collected it from Charley Ahmat, the brother of Jarfar, in 1965.

OH, TI

Why are you looking so sad, my dear
Why are you feeling so blue?
I'm thinking of someone so far away
In that beautiful place called TI

Chorus:
Oh TI my beautiful home
That's the place where I was born
Where the moon and stars that shine, make me longing for home
Oh TI my beautiful home

Take me across the sea
Over the deep blue sea
Darling won't you take me
Back to my home TI

TI my beautiful home
TI my home sweet home
I'll be there forever
The sun is setting farewell

Youtube clip

OH, TI (Old version)

Oh TI my beautiful home
That's the place where I was born
Where the moon and stars that shine, make me long for home
Oh TI my beautiful home

Take me across the sea
Over the deep blue sea
Darling won't you take me
Back to my home TI

When at the break of dawn
Your dear face I cannot see
You will always think
Always think of me

Up above the clouds
Your dear face I cannot see
But in your memories dear
Never, never say goodbye

Oh my Rose, my beautiful Rose
You're the one that nobody knows
Your eyes are blue, like the sky above, your lips were made for love
Oh my Rose, my beautiful Rose

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 05:09 AM

Thanks Stew, "Old TI" is such a lovely old singalong song, redolent of past times and the fragrance of the tropics on the air! See also Dec 8th posting for a link to a version by Jessie Lloyd (Joe Gaia's daughter!), and one by Ted Egan.


MEANWHILE : Apparently this song continues to be Hugely popular amongst many Aussies, so, here it is :

GREAT SOUTHERN LAND

Iva Davies

Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day down in the harbor
Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you it’s a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years.

Great Southern Land, burned you black

So you look into the land and it will tell you a story
Story 'bout a journey ended long ago
Listen to the motion of the wind in the mountains
Maybe you can hear them talking like I do
They're gonna betray you, they're gonna forget you
Are you gonna let them take you over that way.

Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
You walk alone, like a primitive man
And they make it work, with sticks and bones
See their hungry eyes, its a hungry land.

I hear the sound of the stranger's voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes
Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
They burned you black, black against the ground.

Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day down in the harbor
Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you it’s a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years.

Great Southern Land, in the sleeping sun
You walk alone with the ghost of time
Where they burned you black, black against the ground
And they make it work with rocks and sand.

I hear the sound of the strangers’ voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes

Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
You walk alone, like a primitive man
You walk alone with the ghost of time
And they burned you black
Yeah, they burned you black
Great Southern Land

Great Southern Land
Great Southern Land
Great Southern Land



This is the 1982 original by ICEHOUSE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWHcQPR2S-U

This is the 1989 clip for the “Young Einstein” movie : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtP4yQNpNF4

This is the 2012 remake vidclip with various artists and locations, by Tourism Australia : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kHUYXAM3yc

“In November 2014 the song was selected for inclusion on the Australian National Film & Sound Archive's "Sounds of Australia" list.”

WIKI : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Southern_Land


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 09:06 AM

Having fun expressing political fury…..Dale

THE YEAR OF Ts : TOXIC TERMITE TONY TROUBLES TRAGIC TURNCOAT TURNBULL
AND OVERSEAS WE SEE TWITTERING TRUMP TORMENTS ALL THINKERS! by Dale Dengate, 2015

TUNE: Villikins and his Dinah.video Much sung street ballad in the sixties, which started with: There was a rich merchant who in London did dwell….. and ended with the death of Dinah from a cup of cold pizen ... SO ...

There was a rich merchant who in Canberra did dwell,
But he faced a big problem till his right wing he’d quell.
‘Twas led by a fellow, termite tony by name,
Who was very adept at just playing his game.

Chorus:
Singing Turali urali urali eh.
Entitlements for me but not for you, eh!

No sniping or wrecking, no leaking or a-betting.
No self-serving claims; those are just not my aims,
Says tough termite tony to his troubled leader.
Those rumours are phony like an archbishop’s plead-ing,

Chorus:
Singing Turali urali urali eh.
Entitlements for me but not for you, eh!

Now all you old pollies take warning by me
Though a unit on the Gold Coast looks enticing to thee
Take a look at your own mob, for your seat they might rob
Spoken - Instead of Villikins and his Dinah,-
Think of old toxic tony with his ‘cup of cold of Pizen’.

Chorus:
Singing Turali urali urali eh.
Entitlements for me but not for you, eh!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 08:57 PM

My apologies R-J for doubling up again. I thought I had checked, but my search was for 'Oh TI' rather than 'Old TI'. Anyhow, I added a little extra info and the original.

In light of the recent mass protests by Australia women, it is pertinent to note that women have had some victories against male-dominated organisations.

THE GIANT FEELS THEIR STING
(Sue Edmonds 1985)

There's stories 'bout the heroes
Who faced the giant's wrath
Tales about the heroines
Forced to spin gold cloth
Jack and the beanstalk
Rumplestiltskin the Dwarf
Now the women from Wollongong
Have met the giant's force

Chorus:
The giant's made of iron and steel
Didn't feel a thing
But the women worked together
Now the giant feels their sting

This giant big Australian
Had the pickings of the crop
Only used the work of men
To keep it at the top
Women were rejected
Without a second thought
So 34 good women
Took the giant to the court

Chorus

Out heroines of history
Fought for equal rights
Now we're fighting for a job
We face the giant's might
We've learnt to work together
Like the Amazons of old
Make that mighty patriarch
To loose its might hold

This is the first song in the 1988 publication by the Victorian Trade Union Labour Day Celebration Committee: 'Strike a Light: Contemporary songs of Australian working Life' Selected and Edited by Gillian Harrison. The song with its tune is printed at page 11.

Note with the song:

In 1985, 34 women for Wollongong won their case against Australian Iron and Steel in the Equal Opportunity Tribunal in New South Wales. The tribunal found that the 55 complaints of sex discrimination on the basis of delaying hiring of women, retrenchment procedures, threat of retrenchment and sexist attitudes among senior company officers were all substantiated. It had taken years of persistence to get jobs in the traditionally male steelworks, only to lose them during the steel crisis in the early 1980s. The decision was a major triumph for the Jobs-for-Women Campaign and has had far-reaching consequences on business practice throughout the country. For the women, it brought to an end nearly six years years of what they said was 'fighting for the right to work'. The song by Sue Edmonds is a tribute to those who fought and won this landmark case'.

Australian Iron and Steel was owned by BHP.

Steely women

Film project

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 12:19 AM

Re “Old TI / Oh TI” - No wurries, Stewie, about the doubling up. I reckon it doesn’t matter too much coz there’s usually always song variants and different audio links and extra info. So, all good!

Although I wouldn’t say No to some more input in this thread from other folkies (hint hint!), I do like how, with some very small overlap, the main 4 of us, have posted a great variety of songs and research, but each in our own individual way and preferences.

Stew, you once said my record collection was very “eclectic” and I s’pose my posts here reflect that too – rather all over the place like the proverbial *madwoman’s footprints! – but I reckon all our efforts are making for a very interesting collection (some 800+ by now, Sandra reports).


Anyone else out there in cyberspace got any comments (or songs)??!!

Cheers, R-J


*just as well this is not a strictly "PC" thread! :)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 12:23 AM

RAINBIRD IN THE TEA-TREE

Peter Cape

When the Rainbird sings in the Tea-Tree
There’s cloud on the hills out the back
Look out of your window and you’ll see me
I’ll be coming in off the track.

I’ll be droving a mob of the black bulls
The dogs’ll be footsore and done
Call out as I go past your window
Just to show you, you are The One.

It’s a long drove up from the Puhoi
By Woodcocks and Kaipara Flats
I’ll be sick of my oilskins and my jumper
And the rain pelting down on my back.

I’ve a stockwhip over my shoulder
And a plain gold ring in my pack
Perhaps as I go past your window
I’ll be coming in off the track.

So when the Rainbird sings in the Tea-Tree
There’s cloud on the hills out the back
Look out of your window and you’ll see me
I’ll be coming in off the track.
Look out of your window and you’ll see me
I’ll be coming in off the track.


Another of those lovely EnZed songs, sung here by Chris Priestley & Friends : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8NG05fNHCk


My question to me is : Will I ever make it to The Land of the Long White Cloud, in this Lifetime??!!
….. sigh …..
(s’pose maybe I already have - in a Parallel World, eh!! :)


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 04:16 AM

UNDER THE MILKY WAY TONIGHT

Steve Kilbey & Karin Jansson

“an accidental Australian anthem”

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty
Sound of their breath fades with the lights
I think about the loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Lower the curtain down on Memphis
Lower the curtain down all right
I got no time for private consultation
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find

And it's something quite peculiar
Something shimmering and white
It leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find.

And it's something quite peculiar
Something that’s shimmering and white
Leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find.

Under the Milky Way tonight
Under the Milky Way tonight
Under the Milky Way tonight


THE DRY :   I’m still waiting to see this 2020 mystery/drama/thriller movie, with Eric Bana, filmed across numerous Victorian towns.   
The theme music is UNDER THE MILKY WAY TONIGHT by The Church,1988, but sung in the movie by Bebe Bettencourt.   

As for what the song’s about, Kilbey tells Guardian Australia: “It’s not about anything. Like all my songs, it’s a portal into your own mind where I give you a guided meditation. It’s a blank, abstract canvas for people to lose themselves in.” …..
“While it was never his intention, he’s chuffed at how “Australians have adopted it as their own song”.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2014/jul/15/the-church-under-the-milky-way-an-accidental-australian-a
This vidclip of THE CHURCH recording has a Cosmic backdrop to assist in your personal meditation! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA54NBtPKdI

But here is an even mellower version by Aussie Aboriginal country legend, JIMMY LITTLE (1937-2012) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHVdpdK1-qc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Little


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 09:32 AM

ROSS RIVER COWBOY

Dave Oakes

Out in the Eastern McDonalds he roams
With his swag and his camels, so far from home
Dining on parrots and wallaby stew
Drinking his coffee; there’s so much to do,
When the Condamine’s quiet and the sun has gone west
The Ross River Cowboy by his campfire he rests
He looks so much younger than the years of his age
The Ross River Cowboy, the Spinifex Sage.

Chorus
Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie aye
The Ross River Cowboy don’t have much to say
Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie eye
The Ross River Cowboy, he’s just getting by.

When horizons are miraged and the summer’s ablaze
And the snake’s breath’s entwining the ranges with haze
By his campfire he sits and he passes the hours
Drinking and smoking and taking cold showers,
He’s preparing his saddles for that time in the fall
When he takes to the creeks and the low lands that call
And he drinks in the air like he’s dry as a bone
The Ross River Cowboy, he’s heading home.

I once saw a sunset, he said with a sigh
When the world was young and so was I
When the sky was much brighter than the garnets of Hale*
And when campfires at night told so many tales,
But now the Toyotas, they are scouring the land
You can drive to Arltunga* just using one hand
No one sees the forest for the trees, I am sure
And I’ve never heard him say so much before.


*Hale is a river to the East of Alice, mostly dry. Ross River is an early small settlement East of Alice. Arltunga is an historical gold mining area East of Alice Springs, being the first European settlement from the 1880s.

This song is by DAVE OAKES, resident of Central Aust, written mid 1980s – now from his inaugural 2014 CD recording, “Made in Alice Springs” – but I have not yet found his work online.

Interviews : https://timberandsteel.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/national-folk-festival-interview-dave-oakes/    and    https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2015/02/15/a-tuneful-tick-off-daves-bucket-list/

In one of the above interviews, Dave said this song was inspired by his travels with local Centralian identity and cameleer, Hal Duell.
I had it in my memory from years ago, that this song was actually about Noel Fullerton, the Alice Springs “Camel King” (1934-2015) …… and maybe it still was! Anyhoo, here are some Camel links for The Alice.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-07/camel-king-noel-fullerton-dies-aged-81/6754934

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015 : The Alice Springs Camel Cup (2012) + a Noel Fullerton interview.

A Chicago journalist on Noel’s Centralian Camel Safari in 1985 : https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-09-29-8503060244-story.html



R-J