Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 02 Nov 20 - 06:57 AM A SONG FOR GRACE by Ted Egan I was a girl of thirteen when my 3 brothers went to the war Martin and Robert and Jack, and as I wave from the door I thought who in the world could have brothers as handsome as they Three Australian Light Horsemen : I see their proud figures today, Our parents were Irish with no love for England at all But their sons were Australians and each bravely answered the call In their turned-up slouch hats, and their feathers and leggings and spurs The Empire, as much as my mother, knew these sons were hers, And at the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them, Lest we forget. The mailman brought cards from Colombo and then from Port Said Here's a photo of Jack in Egypt, his first camel ride And look at young Bobby, in London, here crossing The Strand And Martin writes 'mum and dad, life in the army is grand', The same mailman brought us the news about our darling Jack Regret to inform you your son John will never come back He died of his wounds at Gallipoli, so brave was he He’s awarded the Military Medal, posthumously, And at the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them, Lest we forget. The telegram came, my mother collapsed, and I had The terrible task of breaking the news to my dad With our old draught horse, Punch, my father was ploughing the land I ran to the paddock, the telegram clutched in my hand, The Irishman read it, said thank you, now leave me alone Go on back to the house, help your mother, she's there on her own He called, 'Stand up Punch, we have to get on with this job' But I saw his slumped shoulders, and I heard his heart rending sob, And at the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them, Lest we forget. Well Robert was gassed and he always had pains in his head And Martin was shell-shocked and he’d’ve been better off dead And I, I’m just an old lady who watched them all go But I am the one you should ask about war, for I know, That all of these years have gone by and I know that we’ve met Yes, I will remember them : I can’t forget, And at the going down of the sun and in the morning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ycH8wwFJs Ted Egan wrote this song for his mother, Grace; sung here by his wife, Nerys Evans. No further comment is necessary. R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 02 Nov 20 - 03:34 AM Yay! So good to hear Skippy again and "The Bottle Run"!! Sadly, I don't think I've got his "NT Road" LP anymore :( and now for something completely different : THE PLAINS OF EMU (John McGarvie, 1829 - aka The Exile of Erin) I. O ! farewell my country--my kindred--my lover ; Each morning and evening is sacred to you, While I toil the long day without shelter or cover, And fell the tall gums the black-butted and blue. Full often I think of and talk of thee, Erin-- Thy eath-covered mountains are fresh in my view, Thy glens, lakes and rivers, Loch-Con and Kilkerran, While chained to the soil on the Plains of Emu. II. The iron-bark, wattle and gum-trees extending Their shades under which rests the shy kangaroo, May be felled by the bless'd who have hope o'er them bending, To cheer their rude toil tho' far exiled from you. But, alas! without hope, peace, or honour to grace me, Each feeling was crushed in the bud as it grew, Whilst "never" is stamped on the chains that embrace me, And endless my thrall on the Plains of Emu. III. Hard hard was my fate far from thee to be driven, Unstained, unconvicted, as sure was my due; I loved to dispense of the freedom of Heaven, But force gained the day and I suffer for you. For this hand never broke what by promise was plighted, Deep treason this tongue to my country ne'er knew, No base-earned coin in my coffer e'er lighted, Yet enchained I remain on the Plains of Emu. IV. Dear mother thy love from my bosom shall never, Depart, but shall flourish untainted and true ; Nor grieve that the base in their malice should ever Upbraid thee, and none to give malice her due. Spare, spare her the tear and no charge lay upon her, And weep not my Norah her griefs to renew, But cherish her age till night closes on her, And think of the swain who still thinks but of you. V. But your names shall still live though like writing in water ; When confined to the notes of the tame cockatoo, Each wattle scrub echo repeats to the other Your names and each breeze hears me sighing anew. For dumb be my tongue, may my heart cease her motion, If the Isle I forget where my first breath I drew ! Each affection is warmed with sincerest devotion, For the tie is unbroken on the Plains of Emu. Anambaba, May, 1829. Lyrics taken from Mark Gregory’s excellent “Folkstream” site : http://folkstream.com/071.html Raymond Crooke writes on his YT channel : “Though it's often thought of as a traditional Australian convict ballad, this song, also known as "The Plains of Emu", was written by John McGarvie, who wrote under the nom de plume "M." It was first published in "The Sydney Gazette", 26th May, 1829. The tune is traditional and is generally known as "Savourneen Deelish." Emu Plains was a prison farm 35 miles from Sydney for convicts transported to Australia, established with the purpose of growing food to feed the increasing population of Sydney I first heard this sung by English-Australian folksinger, Brian Mooney, on the classic album "Moreton Bay and Other Songs, Mainly of Convict Origin" (1963), which he made with Martyn Wyndham-Read and David Lumsden…..” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6cIy4LKWaE I was only familiar with ALEX HOOD’s rendition, but this is an interesting version by Sydney’s renowned all-rounder JEANNIE LEWIS. more about her here : https://peoplepill.com/people/jeannie-lewis/ OK, back to werk now! Cheers, R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Nov 20 - 08:38 PM NULLABOR SONG (Kasey Chambers) When the fire burns out here It's brighter than the city lights Warmer than a heart of gold And dingoes howl just to break the silence The sun comes up just to break the cold Last night I woke With the stars looking back at me Swallowing the sky I felt no anger, I felt no shame I felt no reason to cry If I'm not here in the morning I'll cry a river of tears And I'll learn to live in a new town But my heart is staying here When it's quiet out here A hundred miles away You can hear the train on the line The whistle blows just to break the silence I wave just to break the time I close my eyes I think of runnin' water I think of runnin' away But the fire's burnt to ashes And it's darker than before But I can see as clear as day If I'm not here in the morning I'll cry a river of tears And t I'll learn to live in a new town But my heart is staying here Yes, I'll learn to live in a new town But my heart is staying here Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Nov 20 - 07:37 PM THE BOTTLE RUN (Barry Skipsey) Sweating on the bloody board waiting for the bell And the cocky's bending down, giving me hell The wheels are spinning down the line Seems everyone's the gun And this we call the bottle run Chorus: The bottle run, well I smell it through the bottle This shearer is waiting for his beer Hang up your dungarees and drag that stubby clear We'll wash the pain away with a quiet beer Wethers in the first run, finally cut them out Breaking combs and cutters, I made them pay Kick that bastard down the chute, he's not worth the time He's not worth the sixty cents I earn Chorus Roustie fetch the lambing boards and change the locks and pieces Cheeky lad, you'll get my boot I hear you drop that broom once more, you'll have the team upon you And with black balls you won't look so cute Chorus I've smoked my share of rollies, I've cursed and sweated all day I swear I'll give this bloody game away But until I win the lottery or make it with the nags You'll find me hear on board amongst the dags Chorus I travelled up from Melbourne town looking for a pen I'm working Queensland sheds once again Yes, I'm working for the Grazcos man until the setting sun And waiting for that bottle run Chorus Another little bottler from Barry Skipsey of Alice Springs. This was first recorded for his 'NT Road' LP. Barry noted: I was once told by a shearer that he considered the last two hours of his day to be called the bottle run. Why? Because he reckoned he could smell the beer through the bottle. Youtube clip Wongawilli did a fine cover: Wongwilli Grazcos --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Nov 20 - 06:40 PM WHILE THE BILLY BOILS (D.M.Wright/P.Garland The speargrass crackles under the billy and overhead is the winter sun There’s snow on the hills, there’s frost in the gully, that reminds me of things that I’ve seen and done Of blokes that I knew, and mates that I’ve worked with, and the sprees that we had in the days gone by And a mist comes up from my heart to my eyelids, I feel fair sick and I wonder why There is coves and coves! Some I liked partic’lar, and some I would sooner I never knowed But a bloke can’t choose the chaps that he’s thrown with in the harvest paddock or here in the road There was chaps from the other side that I shore with that I’d like to have taken along for mates But we said, ‘So long!’ and we laughed and parted for good and all at the station gates I mind the time when the snow was drifting and Billy and me was out for the night We lay in the lee of a rock, and waited, hungry and cold, for the morning light Then he went one way and I the other – we’d been like brothers for half a year He said: ‘I’ll see you again in town, mate, and we’ll blow the froth off a pint of beer’ He went to a job on the plain he knowed of and I went poisoning out at the back And I missed him somehow – for all my looking I never could knock across his track The same with Harry, the bloke I worked with, the time I was over upon the coast He went for a fly-round over to Sydney, to stay for a fortnight – a month at most He never came back, and he never wrote me – I wonder how blokes like him forget We had been where no one had been before us, we had starved for days in the cold and wet We had sunk a hundred holes that was duffers, till at last we came on a fairish patch An’ we worked in rags in the dead of winter while the ice-bars hung from the frozen thatch Yes, them was two, and I can’t help mind them – good mates as ever a joker had But there’s plenty more as I’d like to be with, for half of the blokes on the road is bad It sets me a-thinking, the world seems wider, for all we fancy it’s middling small When a chap like me makes friends in plenty and they slip away and he loses them all The speargrass crackles under the billy and overhead is the winter sun There’s snow on the hills, there’s frost in the gully and, oh, the things that I’ve seen and done The blokes that I’ve knowed and the mates that I’ve worked with, and the sprees that we had in the days gone by But I somehow fancy we’ll all be pen-mates on the day when they call the roll of the sky Another poem by NZ's 'outback laureate', David McKee Wright. Above is the complete poem. In this YT clip, Phil Garland amends and shortens the poem: Youtube clip Wright moved to Australia in 1910 and wrote for 'The Bulletin' and other publications. David McKee Wright --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 01 Nov 20 - 03:49 AM VAN DIEMEN’S LAND Stan Hugill's (one of many variants) Ye rambling boys of Liverpool, I'll have ye to beware, 'Tis when ye go a-hunting wid yer dog, yer gun, yer snare, Watch out for the game-keepers, keep your dog at your command Just think on all them hardships, goin' to Van Diemen's Land. We had two Irish lads on board, Mickey Murphy an' Paddy Malone, And they were both the stoutest friends that ever a man could own. But the gamekeeper he'd caught them, and from ol' England's strand They were seven years transported for to plough Van Diemen's Land. We had on board a lady fair, Bridget Reilly wuz her name, An' she wuz sent from Liverpool for a-playin' of the game. Our captain fell in love wid her and he married her out of hand, And she gave us all good usage, boys, goin' to Van Diemen's Land. The moment that we landed there, upon that fatal shore, The planters they inspected us, some fifty score or more, Then they marched us off like hosses, an' they sold us out of hand, They yoked us to the plough, me boys, for to plough Van Diemen's Land. As I lay in me bunk one night, a dreamin' all alone, I dreamt I wuz in Liverpool, 'way back in Marybone, Wid me own true love beside me, an' a jug o' ale in me hand Then awoke so broken-hearted, lyin' on Van Diemen's Land. Lyrics taken from the Mainly Norfolk site. This Antipodean penal colony, just one of many overseas dumping grounds for the British Govt, was renamed from Abel Tasman’s “Van Diemen’s Land” to Tasmania in 1856, along with gaining “responsible self govt” and eventually became Australia’s island state at Federation, in 1901. Transportation was abolished in 1852, but Port Arthur was open until 1877. Sung here by the late Marian Henderson : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EDwD_kGrYw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfHU_Nbe1rQ Here’s one by Alex Hood (includes old pics) This one’s a Scouse recitation, with rather disturbing visuals!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTLcJdSQzZw Van Diemen’s Land has become a popular songwriting and film-making subject and other songs of this title were found by Australia’s Russell Morris, U2’s The Edge, and Aussie blues guitar legend Jeff Lang. I’m sure there’s more. Cheers, R-J I think that's it from me for a few days; Werk is shrieking!! |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 31 Oct 20 - 10:39 PM Another whimsical offering from Peter Cape. The Monde Marie was a folksinging coffee bar in Wellington run by Mary Seddon who died in July 2000. MONDE MARIE (Peter Cape) The gramophone's playing lieder The radio's blaring jazz There's a brass band outside with its valves open wide In a hell of a razzamatazz In the flat below there's a cello Above there's a whole symphony So I'm off for the night Of the music I like Down at the Monde Marie You can blow 'til there's cracks in your cornet You can boomph your bassoon 'til it bursts You can saw your Strad 'til the catgut goes bad And your manuscript moulders to dust But don't think I'm a sucker for silence There's no scrap of the Trappist in me Far better than quiet for me is a diet Of song a la Monde Marie So keep your violas di Gamba Your clavichords, rebecks and lutes Likewise your saxophones, bongos and slide-trombones Flageolets, fipples and flutes What I want is the sound of Segovia An Ives or a Clauson-to-be And to hear them my choice is the guitars and voices I find at the Monde Marie Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 31 Oct 20 - 10:10 PM I DON'T WANT TO BE A KIWI (Peter Cape) I don't really want to be a Kiwi I'd much, much rather be a Pom So you sheilas and you jokers and you drovers and you soakers Can go back to the bush where you belong No, I don't really want to be a Kiwi And I think great-grandmama went quite astray When she took a southern trip on the Wakefield's sailing ship And got married to a miner on the Grey It's nasty, coarse and rough to be a Kiwi And I cannot stand the language that they speak And to hear that voice declaiming all those 'tarts' and 'bints' and 'flamings' Almost puts me off my - er - tucker for a week No, I won't, won't, will not be a Kiwi (Who really wants to be a flightless bird?) The lion, and unicorn too, were symbols I was born to But this flightless avian is quite absurd No, I may not, cannot, must not be a Kiwi But I know my sense of loneliness is keen When I see a map and say, there, twelve thousand miles away Is the Home to which I've never, ever, been Tune: 'I don't want to join the army' --Stewie |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 31 Oct 20 - 09:52 PM Here's another good'un from Kevin Johnson - a song for his youngest son. SCOTTY (Kevin Johnson) With wide eyes you wonder why you understand some And you don't understand all the rest Well, little boy, your daddy's been living a while And I really don't know much myself I'll teach you the whys and the wherefores And the ways of this world I have known But life is a journey of different directions And sometimes we travel alone And Scotty Life can be rough Life can be tough Life can be kind Scotty, life can be fun Life can be one wonderful time So live with the good times And learn from the bad And laugh at the fun times you've had Look for the reasons to carry you through And Scotty That's all you can do And you wonder why some days are fun days and Sundays And some days may not be the same Well blue skies are many and grey skies are few So we do what we can in the rain The whys and the wherefores are there for a reason And sometimes we don't understand But life is a journey that's leading us somewhere And we get there the best way we can And Scotty life can be rough Life can be tough Life can go wrong Scotty, life can be fun Life can just come rolling along So live with the good times And learn from the bad And laugh at the fun times you've had Look for the reasons to carry you through And Scotty That's all you can do Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 31 Oct 20 - 07:59 AM Funny you should wonder that, Sandra! I have been going through from the start to see songs that may be missing a recording clip (and yes, there are some!) and then researching them - but what a long job that is promising to be!!! :(( 14-15 Sept a reference to Graham Seal's audio/lyrics website 24-25 Sept a reference to Daniel Kelly's audio/lyrics website 28 Sept links to heaps of WA songs, but esp "The Georgette" but mostly 04 Oct Dance Up the Sun (John Thompson) is missing 04 Oct Down in the Goldmine (anon) is missing + only about 12-13 songs since Old No. 377 and up to today = 31 Oct So, not much! (you're doing a splendid job, Sandra!) Cheers, R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 31 Oct 20 - 06:40 AM no worries - I forgot to put it on the list (oops!) I was busy posting info about Joe Daly, so we still (only) have 383 songs sandra (wondering if she has missed any other songs) |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 31 Oct 20 - 06:21 AM Apologies Stew, you had posted CONDAMINE on the 15th and I repeated it 15 days later!! R-J :(( Good on yer for the Kevin Johnson classic - I had been wondering about it!! As I had also been wondering about Doug Ashdown's "Winter in America" (co-written with Jimmy Stewart)??? That duo were also responsible for "Antique Annie's Magic Lantern Show", so beautifully done by the late Marian Henderson. Doug was an Adelaide boy, I believe ..... R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 30 Oct 20 - 11:07 PM Can someone explain why unwanted question marks appear when posting some lyrics. It happened again with 'Bayley Street' lyrics above. Annoying! --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 30 Oct 20 - 10:51 PM I reckon this one deserves a place in any Oz songbook. Here in the Top End, it has been trotted out in many a boozy folkie session - just shows our advanced years! ROCK AND ROLL (I GAVE YOU ALL THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE) (Kevin Johnson) I can still remember when I bought my first guitar Remember just how good the feeling was, put it proudly in my car And my family listened fifty times to my two-song repertoire And I told my mum her only son was gonna be a star Bought all the Beatles records, sounded just like Paul Bought all the old Chuck Berrys, 78s and all And I sat by my record player, playin’ every note they played And I watched them all on TV, makin' every move they made Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moonlit summer nights I was so busy in the back room writin’ love songs to you While you were changin’ your direction and you never even knew That I was always just one step behind you '66 seemed like the year I was really goin’ somewhere We were living in San Francisco, with flowers in our hair Singing songs of kindness so the world would understand That the guys and me were something more than just another band And then ’69 in LA, came around so soon We were really making headway and writing lots of tunes And we must have played the wildest stuff we had ever played The way the crowds cried out for us, we thought we had it made Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life All the crazy lazy young days, all the magic moonlit nights I was so busy on the road singin’ love songs to you While you were changin’ your direction, and you never even knew That I was always, just one step behind you ’71 in Soho, when I saw Suzanne I was trying to go it solo, with someone else’s band And she came up to me later and I took her by the hand And I told her all my troubles and she seemed to understand And she followed me through London, through a hundred hotel rooms Through a hundred record companies who didn’t like my tunes And she followed me when, finally, I sold my old guitar And she tried to help me understand, I’d never be a star Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moonlit summer nights And though I never knew the magic of makin’ it with you I thank the Lord for giving me the little bit I knew And I will always be one step behind you Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life Singing out my love songs in the brightly flashing lights And though I never knew the magic of makin’ it with you I thank the Lord for giving me the little bit I knew Youtube clip It was a quick song for me because I've spent months on one line. It just came to me one day as I was driving home, feeling all this frustration of two years without making a record. So I decided to write a song not about giving someone the best years of my life, but to write about the pursuit of success, which I thought related to a lot of people around the world, not just in music but anything. Kevin Johnson March 2002. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 30 Oct 20 - 09:43 PM Piper on the Hilltop - John Warner 1989 Lyrics from "Who was There" John was moved by the unexpected sound of bagpipes being played near the Spence shops in Belconnen near Canberra. The moment was climaxed by a dramatic summer thunderstorm rising over the Brindabella Range, an outcrop of the Snowy Mountains. A 'pibroch' is a traditional bagpipe air serving as a call to battle or a lament . It's a hot December evening And there's herald of a change In the mighty clouds that roll across The Brindabella Range. There's a piper on the hilltop By the supermarket square, And his pibroch falls like sunset clouds Above the city air. The chattering of kids at play, The sullen roar of cars The thunder of a jet plane's flight Above the rising stars. I sit beside my window And I listen to the town And an aching air, an old lament, Like mist comes drifting down. Then Spence gives way to Glencoe, Bonny Charlie's at Dunbar, And the 'Flowers of the Forest,' They all are gone awa' A breeze disturbs the silent leaves, Rolling thunder brings the change With the pibroch for Belconnen Town By the Brindabella Range |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 30 Oct 20 - 09:36 PM BAYLEY STREET (J.Sorensen/R.Montgomery) Oh men have come and men have gone ?Since Bayley's star gleamed bright ?And new lights shine where old lights shone ?In Bayley street tonight And did you see those grand old men ?Bright-eyed, though bowed and grey? Returning to the fields again? Like ghosts of yesterday The human tide swept swiftly west? Then slowly ebbed again? And some fulfilled their golden quest? While some found loss and pain And some returned to whence they came ? With wealth and tales to tell? And some found graves that bear no name? And some still with us dwell My father often told a tale ?While young eyes glistened bright ?Of golden days at Bonnie Vale? And Bayley street by night For he was of the eastern side ?He felt the urge to roam? Long wait ‘They’ by the Lachlan side ?He made the west his home Now forty years have passed away (Twelve thousand suns have set) And from that roaring yesterday The echoes linger yet Yes, men have come and men have gone Since Bayley's star gleamed bright And new lights shine where old lamps shone In Bayley street tonight Another Sorensen poem set to music by Roger Montgomery. It relates to Bayley Street in Coolgardie and the gold rush. Recorded on Dingo's Breakfast 'Jack Sorensen: Weaver of Dreams'. Strangely, Dingo's Breakfast CD has it titled 'The ghosts of Bayley Street' which is another Sorensen poem. Read it here: Ghosts of Bayley Street Arthur Wellesley Bayley discovered the gold field around which Coolgardie grew. Bayley --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 30 Oct 20 - 05:52 AM If no-one has Martin's (S)crap Book or Bucket of Air, I might have to locate my copies in the BMC library. sandra |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 30 Oct 20 - 05:37 AM Stewie previously posted a Dave Oakes song : “Beneath Uluru” : Dave writes Good Stuff! Lawler’s Balcony was on a self-built Troppo*** home in Darwin’s “Coconut Grove” and this balcony saw much merriment and music-making in the ‘80s :) LIVERPOOL ECHO (aka Lawler’s Balcony) Dave Oakes I was sitting on Lawler’s balcony, I looked at him and he looked at me He said “It’s been a long time since I watched that River Mersey flow” Yeah, we were just a couple of kids when the Beatles had all those hits And Liverpool echoed to the sound of brand new Rock and Roll. Ch. And Lawler laughs – oh, you know how Lawler laughs It’s infectious – makes you wanna laugh along And Lawler cries, tears well up in his eyes Worrying about the world that’s Lawler’s job. Sitting on Lawler’s balcony, as the sun sets over the Timor Sea He said “I’m glad I came here, this Australia’s so very much alive” Yeah, it beats walkin’ in the rain - we’ll never be the same again Missing the last bus and having to walk all the way along Queens Drive. Lawler laughs – oh, you know how Lawler laughs It’s infectious – makes you wanna laugh along Lawler cries, tears well up in his eyes Worrying about the world that’s Lawler’s job. Chilly winds and icy seas spray the Wallasey Ferry The tractor tyres on the landing stage bounce and bounce and sway The rain, in grey and scattered sheets, illuminates the street lamps And it all seems so romantic when it’s oh, so far away. Sitting on Lawler’s balcony, in the early morning - ‘bout half past three Drinking home brew, reminiscing all our yesterdays. “Why should I worry?” Lawler sighs - and looks up at those Southern skies “This is Darwin – Paradise! – I got Frangipanni breeze!” (Ahhhhh…) Lawler laughs – oh, you know how Lawler laughs It’s infectious – you just have to laugh along Lawler cries, tears well up in his eyes Worrying about the world that’s Lawler’s job. Here is a clip of Dave Oakes' (of Alice Springs but ex Liverpool, UK) heart-felt observations, sung by local Maleny (and ex-Liverpool) troubadour, Tommy Leonard : https://www.tommyleonard.com/lawlersbalcony.mp3 I feel it is a most beautiful song ..... (but then I would :) ***Here is a link to views of the Top End Troppo house that Paul (ex Liverpool, UK) built in the 1980s, with views over the mangroves to the sea : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bueF-1abr_s&t=2s Vale, Lawls (1946-2014) Cheers, R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 30 Oct 20 - 05:27 AM I've been worried that we don't have any of Martin Pearson's excellent songs! So I went looking & found one, posted by our very own Gerry Date: 06 May 18 - 06:09 AM OK, I've transcribed Martin Pearson's song. There are a few places where he breaks the song to make jokes, I haven't transcribed those bits. No guarantees that I got everything right. The Pope Song by Martin Pearson (tune - I Will Survive) Once I was the Pope I was sanctified Kept thinking I could never live without God by my side But I spent oh so many nights just thinking how I'd get along And I grew strong, and I knew Nietzsche had been wrong So now He's back. God is not dead I just woke up to find this big old Jewish voice inside my head I said why had you forsaken us? Was it some kind of test? He said today's the eighth day and I've had a lovely rest So join my church, do as I say With the Catholics you can break a dozen sins in half a day There's masturbation, contraception, which will help the Church with breeding Sloth and lust and greed and anger and of course the big one, speeding Once the Church was strong categorically We made our home in Rome when no one bothered Italy Now I spend my precious time making laws for you to keep Don't forget I'm the shepherd, you're supposed to be the sheep And now you're back, just when you please It's such a casual communion you think wafers grow on trees I should have made you take a vow, I should have made you sign a form With my laws on contraception it was me who got you born So now just go, get off my faith Just turn around now, you're not welcome any place I tried to teach you God's new laws, tried to teach you them with zeal It might have been much quicker to train the Papal seal And now I'm back from being shot I look as lively as I've ever done which doesn't say a lot But I showed those doubting Thomases who thought I could be hurt I'm the world's best male role model in a full-length satin skirt But I'm still back to steal the show I'm not the pooped out little Pontiff that your granny used to know I can kiss the dirt all over 'cause my touring roster's full I can make a saint a fortnight, I can talk the Papal Bull I am a rock, I will survive As long as I can hum a hymn I know I'm still alive I may not be the best Pope but at least I'm not the worst And I know that in comparison to Pope John Paul the First I will survive. Martin Pearson & John Thompson sing The Pope Song |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 30 Oct 20 - 05:04 AM Garwan Dala (Words By Eve Fesl, Music By Tommy Leonard - July 2006) Garwan Dala, garwan Goong Garwan Dala, garwan Goong Garwan Dala, garwan Goong Ngam gardi Dala, ngam gardi Goong, Ngam gardi Dala, ngam gardi Goong, Garwan Dala, garwan Goong. Mama Bala, Dala, Goong, Mama Bala, Dala, Goong, Garwan Dala, garwan Goong. Garwan Dala, garwan Goong Ngam gardi Dala, ngam gardi Goong, Mama Bala, Dala, Goong, Garwan Dala, garwan Goong Garwan Dala, garwan Goong Garwan Dala, garwan Goong "Garwan Dala" means Respect for the lungfish, in Gubbi Gubbi language. "Garwan Goong" means Respect for fresh water. "Ngam gardi Dala" means Always been here, lungfish "Ngam gardi Goong" means Always been here, fresh water "Mama Bala" is the name of the Mary River. It means "Twice as Big", which is what happens to the river at flood time. This song can be heard here : https://www.tommyleonard.com/htmfiles/lyrics/dala.htm Tommy Leonard is a long-time local of Maleny, Qld (ex Liverpool, UK) and a well-known singer-songwriter and troubador. Eve Fesl is an indigenous woman who now lives in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 30 Oct 20 - 04:22 AM WHEN THE RAIN TUMBLES DOWN IN JULY Slim Dusty (David Kirkpatrick) Let me wander north to the homestead, Way out further on there to roam, By a gully in flood, let me linger, When the summery sunshine has flown. Where the logs tangle up on the creek beds, And clouds fill the old northern sky, And the cattle move back from the lowlands, When the rain tumbles down in July. The settlers with sad hearts are watching, The rise of the stream from the dawn, Their best crops are always in flood reach, If it rises much more they'll be gone. The cattle string out along the fences, The wind from the south races by, And the limbs from the old gums are fallen, When the rain tumbles down in July. The sleeping gums on the hillside, Awaken to herds strayin' by, Here on the flats where the fences have vanished, As the storm clouds gather on high. The wheels of the wagons stop turning, The stock horse is turned out to stray, The old station dogs are a-dozin', On the husks in the barn through the day. The drover draws rein by the river, And it's years since he's seen it so high, Yes and that's just a story of homeward, When the rain tumbles down in July. Here is a clip of Slim’s daughter, Anne Kirkpatrick, singing his song at her father's Tribute Concert : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EICe11W5tos OK, Country AND Christian music posted all in one day!! Back to Folk :) R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 30 Oct 20 - 03:31 AM speaking of Joe Daly as we were - he was an early contributor to the Bush Music Club's Singabout. His first appearance was in 1961, by which time he had written 40 songs. Singabout 4(3), Sept 1961 - page 6 Singabout 4(3), Sept 1961 - page 7 obit 2005 He met Slim Dusty in 1965 RareCollections: NAIDOC 2012 Another instalment of RareCollections, the podcast in which Jordie and David Kilby take a look at rare, collectible and unusual Australian music. This episode features the following tracks and the voices of Slim Dusty, Joe Daly, Ted Egan and Rim D.Paul. Slim Dusty - Trumby - Columbia - 1966 Trumby was not an actual person but rather a composite character. Joe Daly spent his life working outback. He was also a talented songwriter who penned more than 50 songs for Slim Dusty alone. The first one he passed on to Slim was this comment on literacy among the indigenous stockmen he knew and worked alongside. Joe Daly on discogs Joe Daly interviewed by Rob Willis |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 30 Oct 20 - 03:09 AM BANKS OF THE CONDAMINE trad Hark, hark, the dogs are barking, I can no longer stay The boys have all gone shearing , I heard the publican say And I must be off in the morning love before the sun do shine To meet the Roma shearers on the banks of the Condamine. Oh Willie dearest Willie don't leave me here to mourn Dont make me curse and rue the day that ever I was born For parting with you Willie is like parting with my life So stay and be a selector love and I will be your wife. Oh Nancy dearest Nancy you know that I must go The squatters are expecting me their shearing for to do And when I'm on the board my love I'll think of you with pride And my shears they will go freely when I'm on the whipping side. Oh I'll cut off my yellow hair and go along with you I'll dress myself in men's attire and be a shearer too I'll cook and count your tally love whilst ringer-o you shine And I'll wash your greasy moleskins on the banks of the Condamine. Oh Nancy dearest Nancy you know you cannot go The boss has given his orders no woman may do so And your delicate constitution isn't equal unto mine To eat the ramstag mutton on the banks of the Condamine. But when the shearing's over I'll make of you my wife I'll get a boundary riding job and settle down for life And when the days' work's done my love and the evening it is fine I'll tell of them sandy cobblers on the banks of the Condamine. Lyric set taken from Mark Gregory’s EXcellent website : http://folkstream.com/005.html He notes : “First published as 'The Banks of the Riverine' in the Queenslander in 1894 This version from the singing of A.L.Lloyd. Folklorist Dr Edgar Waters writes (Australian Tradition Oct 1966) : "The Banks of the Condamine seems to have been one of the most widely distributed bush songs. In recent years it has been reported from singers in northern Victoria and the Northern Territory, and a number of different versions have been recorded in New South Wales and in Queensland. Sometimes the man is going off to a horse-breaking camp rather than a shearing shed. In Victoria, and at least in southern New South Wales, it seems to have been known as 'The Banks of the Riverine', and perhaps this was the original form. The words of 'The Banks of the Condamine' were made over from 'The Banks of the Nile', a British Ballad of the beginning of the nineteenth century." The version by early Oz folkie, Lionel Long, was a great favourite on Perth’s ABC radio in the 60s, but here are two others : James Fagan & Nancy Kerr : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-_BrMmGIgM Rendition by the group, Southern Cross, about which I know nothing (anyone??): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29flhN1MUfI&t=75s Cheers, R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 30 Oct 20 - 02:51 AM Beneath the Southern Cross BUSHWACKERS from 30th Anniversary recording (c.2004) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB9gX309YPw Lyrics are here : https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/The-Bushwackers/Beneath-the-Southern-Cross When I was searching for a non-Bushwackers version to listen to, of the Louis McManus song “Beneath the Southern Cross” (anyone?), YT threw up this interesting Kiwi number of the same title. It incorporates Maori singing and bagpipes with contemporary Presbyterian songwriting and singing by Malcolm Gordon!! So in case you t’other siders think Down Under is populated completely by heathens and unbelievers, this is for you!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2A8MzzT8Qc Intrigued by his voice, I then found some other songs by Malcolm (who is based in Dunedin, Sth Island, NZ) : “Hey Stranger” spotlighting the scourge of Family Violence (“Hey Stranger, Hey Neighbour, you don’t need wings to be my angel”) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJjOjsiuY5U And the celtic sounds of “St Magnus, Earl of Orkney Isles” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acp2KYDTPj4&list=PLsF6D_aH3P9nBPYfRRO-mKODtNVDi1tG5&index=16 More here : https://malcolmgordon.bandcamp.com/album/the-cobblers-grandson Okay, that’s enuff of that for today! R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 29 Oct 20 - 11:32 PM Now, I know this might not be quite “PC” these days, but as a good Aussie babyboomer sheila, I’ve always had a sneaky fondness for this song (reckon it having a good chune to sing and harmonise with, helps heaps!!) Written by Cairns cane farmer and local troubadour (and pig hunter), Jack Crossland, c.1953? and set to the US trad tune of “On Top of Old Smokey” (which song I have always hated – go figure ……) THE PIG-CATCHER’S LOVE SONG (aka CAIRNS BITTER BEER) Oh marry me, darling, I love you sincere, I love you the way I love Cairns Bitter Beer. Chorus: Oh Cairns Bitter Beer, love. Oh Cairns Bitter Beer, I love you the way I love Cairns Bitter Beer. I have an old humpy, a camp oven or two, A rifle and pig-dogs; now I only want you. You’ll never go hungry as long as you live, With sweet-bucks and mangoes and slabs of wild pig. I’ll always be faithful, and reasonably true, I may love other women but I’ll mostly love you. I’ll often get drunken, and sometimes tell lies, But I often will tell you how blue are your eyes. Oh, marry me, darling, I never will fail, There are worse blokes than me, love, but they’re mostly in gaol. I recall my late Beloved going pig hunting with a local catcher and his 2 big dogs in the littoral rainforest next to our home in Darwin. Unlike my bloke, the hunter and his dogs were barefoot, but they soon left him behind! So much for Paul’s regular training runs with the Hash House Harriers (or perhaps the ever-flowing after-run beer must share the blame?? :) Here is a clip of Jason & Chloe Roweth live at Humph Hall in Sydney : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nP_nL-PBuw R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 29 Oct 20 - 09:16 PM This poem was a huge favourite in class of my Grade 6 – 7 in the early 60s. We wept buckets internally, whilst a few tears were allowed escape to run down sweaty cheeks (well, dry summer temps of 100* were not unusual in Perth in those days). A setting by renowned folkie, Martyn Wyndham-Read : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DA1ysiidUk A setting by country legend, Slim Dusty : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTFMynKlhH4 But, I’m afraid I find neither of those chunes very satisfying!! Does anyone know of alternatives?? The Ballad of the Drover Across the stoney ridges, Across the lonely plain, Young Harry Dale, the drover, Comes riding home again. And well his stock horse bears him; And light of heart is he ; And stoutly his old pack horse Is trotting by his knee. Up Queensland way with cattle He travell'd regions vast ; And many months have vanish'd Since home has known him. last. He hums a.song of some one He hopes to marry soon ; And hobble-chains and campware Keep jingling to the tune. Beyond the sunny dado Against the lower skies, And yon blue line of ranges The distant station lies. And thitherward the drover Jogs through the hazy noon, With hobble-chains and campware All jingling to a tune. An hour has fill'd the heavens With clouds all inky black ; At times the lightning trickles Around the drover's track ; But Harry pushes onward ; His horses' strength he tries, In hopes to reach the river Before the flood shall rise. The thunder from the heavens Goes rolling o'er the plains ; And down on thirsty pastures In torrents dash the rains. And ev'ry gorge and gully Sends forth its little flood; Till the river runs a "banker," All stain'd with yellow mud. Now Harry.speaks to "Rover," Who hardship little recks, And to his sturdy horses, And strokes their shaggy necks; "We've conquer'd greater rivers When floods were at their height ; Nor will this gutter stop us From reaching home to-night !" The thunder growls a warning ; The ghastly lightnings gleam; As the drover turns his horses, To swim the fatal stream. But, oh! the flood runs stronger Than e'er it ran before ; The saddle horse is failing, And only half-way o'er ! When flashes next the lightning, The flood's gray breast is blank ; And a cattle dog and pack horse Are struggling up the bank. But on the bank to northward, Or on the southern shore, The stock horse with his rider Will struggle out no more. The faithful dog a moment Sits panting on the bank, And then swims through the current To where his master sank. And round and round in circle, He fights with failing strength, Till borne down by the waters, The old dog sinks at length. Across the flooded lowlands And slopes of sodden loam The pack horse struggles onward, To take dumb tidings home. And mudstain'd, wet, and weary, Thro' ranges dark goes he, With hobble-chains and tinware, All sounding eerily. * * * * * * The floods are in the ocean ; The stream is clear again ; And now a verdant carpet Is etretch'd across the plain. But some one's eyes are sadden' d ; And some one's heart still bleeds In sorrow for the drover Who sleeps among the reeds. Henry Lawson. Sydney; 1889. Published Mon 7th Oct, 1889 in Sydney’s “The Evening News”: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117027640 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmj9IHeVZ68&list=PLkynhFef6n07fEkek82LCbR4Epsyn7NJW&index=10&t=0s a narration (by person unknown), of Lawson’s “The Union Buries Its Dead” of the burial of an unknown drover who was drowned, but described elsewhere as evidence of Lawson’s Nihlism. Whatever. Just hope that the memory of young ‘Harry Dale, the Drover’ (and his faithful dog, Rover), received better treatment in his home district!! (that last verse rarely gets recited/sung). Another slight thread post creep, but Paul Hemphill’s “The Drover’s Dog and other stories” can be found here : https://howlinginfinite.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/3-the-drovers-dog.pdf ENJOY (but shed a tear or two!) R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 29 Oct 20 - 09:03 PM This song by Slim Dusty (David Kirkpatrick) would have to be considered folk in Australia's north, particularly the Northern Territory where it was hammered on every juke box. Back in the day, Slim was king of the outback. Despite its condescending tone and the horrendous line 'His skin was black but his heart was white and that's what mattered most', the Aborigines loved 'Trumby'. I recall a concert at a Gold Rush Folk festival in Tennant Creek. It was held in the CWA hall which had windows opening on to the main street. Aborigines passing by were yelling into the windows, 'Sing Trumby!' TRUMBY (D.Kirkpatrick/J.Daly) Trumby was a ringer A good one too at that He could rake and ride a twister Throw a rope and fancy plait He could count a line of saddle Track a man lost in the night Trumby was a good boy but he couldn't read or write Trumby was dependable He never took to beer The boss admired him so much One day made him overseer It never went to Trumby's head He didn't boast or skite Trumby was a good boy but he couldn't read or write. The drought was on the country The grass in short supply The tanks were getting lower and the water holes near dry Cattle started dying And relief was not in sight To estimate the losses Trumby couldn't read or write. He rode around the station pulling cattle from the bogs To save them being torn apart by eagles,crows and dogs He saw a notice on a tree It wasn't there last night Trumby tried to understand but he couldn't read or write. On bended knee down in the mud Trumby had a drink Swung the reins and to his horse said, ‘We go home I think Tell 'im boss about the sign, 'im read 'im good alright One day boss's missus teach 'im Trumby read and write’ Well concern was felt for Trumby He hadn't used his bed Next day beside that muddy hole, they found the ringer dead And a piece of tin tied to a tree then caught the boss's eye He read the words of 'Poison Here' And signed by Dogger Fry Now the stock had never used that hole along that stony creek And Trumby's bag was empty It had frayed and sprung a leak The dogs were there in hundreds And the dogger in his plight Told the boss he never knew poor Trumby couldn't read or write Now Trumby was a ringer As solid as a post His skin was black but his heart was white and that's what mattered most Sometimes I think how sad it is in this world with all its might That a man like Trumby met his death because he couldn't read or write. Couldn't read or write Couldn't read or write Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 29 Oct 20 - 08:29 PM SONG OF THE INLAND RAIN (J.Sorensen/R.Montgomery) There's a rain that falls when the sheep are dead Away on the wide nor’-western plains When storm clouds gather overhead, And the west is red e'er the daylight wanes Rain on the inland ranges Rain on the parching plains All day long the grey rain falls On a land where it seldom rains Over the wilting wilderness Where drought's grim curse has lain Long overdue, God's blessing falls In the swirl of the inland rain When the hills rise blue in the haze of noon And the heat waves dance o'er the stony plain When red at night hangs the nor'-west moon When men despair, comes inland rain Rain on the ironstone ridges Cool life-giving rain Day and night it patters down Till the rivers run again Sweet is the drowsy cadence To those whose hopes seemed vain That steady drone on the station roof The song of the inland rain Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 28 Oct 20 - 09:59 PM OUT BACK (H.Lawson/P.Roeterdink) The old year went, and the new returned, in the withering weeks of drought The cheque was spent that the shearer earned, and the sheds were all cut out The publican's words were short and few, and the publican's looks were black And the time had come, as the shearer knew, to carry his swag out back. For time means tucker, and tramp you must where the scrubs and plains are wide With seldom a track that a man can trust, or a mountain peak to guide All day long in the dust and heat when summer is on the track With stinted stomachs and blistered feet, they carry their swags out back He tramped away from the shanty there when the days were long and hot With never a soul to know or care if he died on the track or not The poor of the city have friends in woe, no matter how much they lack But only God and the swagmen know how a poor man fares out back He begged his way on the parched Paroo and the Warrego tracks once more And lived like a dog, as the swagmen do, till the western stations shore But men were many, and sheds were full, for work in the town was slack The traveller never got hands in wool, though he tramped for a year out back. In stifling noons when his back was wrung by its load, and the air seemed dead And the water warmed in the bag that hung to his aching arm like lead Or in times of flood, when plains were seas, and the scrubs were cold and black He ploughed in mud to his trembling knees, and paid for his sins out back He blamed himself in the year ‘Too Late' -- in the heaviest hours of life -- 'Twas little he dreamed that a shearing mate had care of his home and wife There are times when wrongs from your kindred come and treacherous tongues attack When a man is better away from home, and dead to the world out back And dirty and careless and old he wore, as his lamp of hope grew dim He tramped for years till the swag he bore seemed part of himself to him As a bullock drags in the sandy ruts, he followed the dreary track With never a thought but to reach the huts when the sun went down out back It chanced one day, when the north wind blew in his face like a furnace breath He left the track for a tank he knew -- 'twas a shortcut to his death For the bed of the tank was hard and dry, and crossed with many a crack And, oh, it's a terrible thing to die of thirst in the scrub out back A drover came, but the fringe of law was eastward many a mile He never reported the thing he saw, for it was not worth his while The tanks are full and the grass is high in the mulga off the track Where the bleaching bones of a white man lie by his mouldering swag out back For time means tucker, and tramp they must where the plains and scrubs are wide With seldom a track that a man can trust, or a mountain peak to guide All day long in the flies and heat the men of the outside track With stinted stomachs and blistered feet must carry their swags out back Phil Roeterdink of Loaded Dog put a tune to this Lawson poem. Above is the complete poem. The Dog used the second stanza as a chorus and omitted several stanzas. Listen on this page: Click --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 28 Oct 20 - 09:20 PM The Armistice was signed at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, to end The Great War, 1914-18 (ostensibly, "the war to end all wars"). Despite this agreement, shelling continued from both sides until nightfall. In Australia, this commemorative day is now more commonly known as Remembrance Day : remembering all the fallen in all the conflicts in which Australia has taken part, and red poppies are worn by many as a personal symbol. Noel dedicates this song to an injured ex-soldier friend, from Australia's more recent conflicts, who was treated shabbily by the 'Powers that Be'. Armistice Day by Noel Gardner, 2006 Silence tolls an hour ‘fore midday on the second last month of the year Images flash on the eleventh day, as memories disappear Now medals hang proudly and tributes flow as politicians push their line Another year, less truth said, another war to justify. Defend your country the posters read, in the name of national pride But they don’t defend our soldiers of war, as disease eats them inside Lying on his back in his hospital bed, he recalls in tales of pain Denials, whitewash, cover-ups, protect the government’s shame. Ch. May we remember, lest we forget? But the killings go on in the name of religion In the hills and the deserts yet, May we remember, lest we forget? But the killings go on in the name of religion In the hills and the deserts yet. High in the sky, a target is selected from dots on the face of a screen But the pilot never sees or hears from his cockpit the blood soaked tears and screams Out in the field an innocent child, falls prey to clusters of time Inhumanity, ideology, combines with greed and science. Hide the coffins, distort statistics, don’t let anyone see Rape for profit, kill for oil, in the name of liberty Hollow words laced with fear fuel the government ‘guise And in the in the name of deceit, spin and business, another soldier dies. Ch. But the killings go on in the name of religion In the hills and the deserts yet. Silence tolls an hour ‘fore midday on the second last month of the year…… Here is a clip of Noel Gardner & Alex Bridge singing "Armistice Day" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpvMc5PPw3c R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 28 Oct 20 - 08:44 PM RATTLIN' BONES (K.Chambers/S.Nicholson) Smoke don't rise, fuel don't burn Sun don't shine no more Late one night, sorrow come round Scratching at my door But I cut my hands and break my back Dragging this bag of stones Till they bury me down beneath the ground With the dust and rattlin' bones Left my home and left my love Caught on a rusty nail Devil rose up heavy with gold My soul's not for sale Then a holy man in a house of God He offered me a book of prayer But when I left my home and I left my love Left my faith back there Smoke don't rise, fuel don't burn Sun don't shine no more Late one night, sorrow come round Scratching at my door But I cut my hands and break my back Dragging this bag of stones Till they bury me down beneath the ground With the dust and rattlin' bones Shut my eyes and hang my head Darkness makes no sound Climb it up, bottom there Earth's on the way back down When a sadness falls on the morning bird Wonder what the day will bring But I shut my eyes and hang my head At least that bird can sing Smoke don't rise, fuel don't burn Sun don't shine no more Late one night, sorrow come round Scratching at my door But I cut my hands and break my back Dragging this bag of stones Till they bury me down beneath the ground With the dust and rattlin' bones Till they bury me down beneath the ground With the dust and rattlin' bones The title track of their delightful and best album. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 28 Oct 20 - 08:12 PM THE BROKEN THINGS (Shane Nicholson) Just like that old toy train No longer bright shining red Just like that rusted chain Sitting on a tyre by the shed All these things can make me smile So I'd like to keep you around for a while 'Cos babe I love all the broken things And you're a broken thing Just like that busted chair That no one ever tried to mend Just like that creaking stair Wants to let you know it's hurting again Everything that falls apart Will find a home in my heart 'Cos babe I love all the broken things And you're a broken thing Just like that old toy train Just like that creaking stair Just like that rusted chain Just like that lonely busted chair All these things can make me smile So I'd like to keep you around for a while 'Cos babe I love all the broken things Everything that falls apart Will find a home in my heart 'Cos babe I love all the broken things And you're a broken thing Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 28 Oct 20 - 02:55 AM no, Jennie I don't remember learning Bell-birds at school, but as I know the words (some of the words) I must have "learnt"/"studied" it there! My GreatAunt & Grandmother lived at West Gosford, close to Henry Kendall Cottage & we used to hear bellbirds in the area! sandra |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 27 Oct 20 - 11:15 PM KEEPING SO THIN (J.S.Neilson/C.O'Sullivan & C.Pearce) The red cow will come, it is even With frost in the air The white blood she gives for the little one Keeping so fair The father will say at the sundown How white is her skin He looks for the smile of the little one Keeping so thin The red cow is out on the rushes The old swans near by They see all the turns in the weather The scowl in the sky The land is all buckshot and sorrow It cries like a prayer. The rubble it writes in the cutting grass Famine is there. The young lad has toppled the sheoak The red cow comes in She eats of the leaves for the little one Keeping so thin The lean year it is for the honey When half the trees fail But the red cow is good to the little one Keeping so pale The father has fears at the sundown What grave night can bear To the little one having no mother And seeming so fair The young girl who watches at nightfall Old dreams will obey Of dim time – the fairies – the moonlight The lifting away Another lovely Neilson poem to which Cathie O'Sullivan and Cleis Pearce put a tune. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 27 Oct 20 - 10:26 PM BLOOD RED ROSES (Anon) Come all you sealers and listen to me A lovely song I'll sing to thee It was in eighteen hundred and three Come down you blood red roses, come down That we set sail for the southern sea Oh you pinks and posies Come down you blood red roses, come down Our captain has set us down And he has sailed for Sydney town And he has left us with some grub Come down you blood red roses, come down Just one split pea in a ten pound tub Oh you pinks and posies Come down you blood red roses, come down A bull seal he is bigger than a mouse But a sealer's lot is lower than a louse And now we're all covered over with fur Come down you blood red roses, come down We've grown us tails like Lucifer Oh you pinks and posies Come down you blood red roses, come down An when our captain he returns to hell Come down you blood red roses, come down Why we will treat him here for a spell Come down you blood red roses, come down 'Blood Red Roses' is a work song, a halyard chanty. When we string the different chanty-man cries together, they tell a story - a woeful one, but hardly exaggerated, for most sealing gangs that worked the southern bays and islands suffered from lack of food, exposure to wind and cold or to being completely forgotten. In 1813, one boat took five men off the Solanders. Two of them had been there since 1808. They had made their own clothing and shelters of sealskin and had eaten nothing but seal meat. The yankee whale ship, 'Enterprise', rescued three men from the Snares in 1817. These men had been set down in 1810 with but one quart of rice, a half-bushel of potatoes and an iron pot. 'Song of a Young Country' p12. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: JennieG Date: 27 Oct 20 - 09:10 PM A thought has popped into my mind, as they do from time to time. Henry Kendall's poem "Bell-birds" has been sung - I think by Kate Delaney? - to the tune of 'The spinning wheel' ("Mary, the moonlight to shine is beginning....." That would make a nice addition to the list. Hands up if you remember having "Bell-birds" in your poetry list at school. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 27 Oct 20 - 08:49 PM THERE IS ANGUISH IN KNOWING (D.Hewett/C.O’Sullivan) There is anguish in knowing that I cannot reach you This kiss can break no barrier of bone I know no ease of language that might teach you In that last place where we stand alone Only in bitter struggle do we grow wise Knowing no quarter, and no compromise There is anguish in knowing that I cannot break you Beyond this wall of flesh you stand intact Ah! with what fingernails of hate I’ll rake you Till love has ground its teeth on sour fact Eyes, mouth and hands made blind, compassionate Beyond the sting of love, the burr of hate There is anguish in knowing we can never meet In this small room where we are most alone And yet the grass against the root grows sweet And yet the flesh tastes sweeter at the bone Four walls of love and sunlight on the floor And the Judas kiss that closes the last door Cathie O'Sullivan put a tune to this dark little poem by Dorothy Hewett. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 26 Oct 20 - 11:26 PM I've just come across Ron Fairburn & am looking for the appropriate mondegreen thread to publish research by one of my friends. found it! & posted the story His lockdown projects include sorting thru 60+ years of songs, tunes, tapes, other media, & other stuff & he noted something odd in the lyrics of one of Slim Dusty's greatest hits, a song that EVERYONE says was written by Slim. Well, it was written by Ron Fairburn & the original words make sense. There are lots of lyric sites crediting Slim, probably more than those crediting Ron! |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 26 Oct 20 - 10:13 PM THE MINER (Anon) The miner he goes and changes his clothes And then makes his way to the shaft For each man well knows he's going below To put in his eight hours of graft Chorus With his calico cap and his old flannel shirt His pants with the strap 'round the knee His boots watertight and his candle alight His crib and his billy of tea The platman to the driver will knock four and one The ropes to the windlass will strain As one shift comes up, another goes down And mining commences again He works hard for his pay at six bob a day He toils for his missus and kids He gets what's left over and thinks he's in clover To cut off his 'baccy from quids And thus he goes on, week in and week out To toil for his life's daily bread He's off to the mine, hail, rain or shine That his dear ones at home may be fed Digging holes in the ground where there's gold to be found But most times where gold it is not A man's like a rabbit with this digging habit And, like one, he ought to be shot Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 26 Oct 20 - 09:26 PM THE TEAMS (H.Lawson/C.O’Sullivan) A cloud of dust on the long white road And the teams go creeping on Inch by inch with the weary load And by the power of the green-hide goad The distant goal is won With eyes half-shut to the blinding dust And necks to the yoke bent low The beasts are pulling as bullocks must And the shining tyres might almost rust While the spokes are turning slow With face half-hid 'neath a broad-brimmed hat That shades from the heat's white waves And shouldered whip with its green-hide plait The driver plods with a gait like that Of his weary, patient slaves He wipes his brow, for the day is hot And spits to the left with spite He shouts at Bally and flicks at Scot And raises dust from the back of Spot And spits to the dusty right He'll sometimes pause as a thing of form In front of a settler's door And ask for a drink, and remark `It's warm’ Or say `There's signs of a thunderstorm' But he seldom utters more For rains are heavy on roads like these And fronting his lonely home For days together the settler sees The wagon bogged down to the axle trees Or ploughing the sodden loam And then when the roads are at their worst The bushman's children hear The cruel blows of the whips reversed While bullocks pull as their hearts would burst And bellow with pain and fear And thus with glimpses of home and rest Are the long, long journeys done And thus -- 'tis a thankless task at best — Is distance fought in the mighty west And the lonely battles won Cathie O'Sullivan put a tune to this Lawson poem. Youtube clip Loaded Dog also recorded it on 'Hair of the Dog': Listen --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 26 Oct 20 - 08:49 PM REMEMBER PORT MELBOURNE (Rob Fairbairn) Remember Port Melbourne on Saturday night At the pub that they call Molly Bloom's Remember the sailors, the drunks and the fights And the band at the end of the room And do you remember the first time we met You soon had me under your spell It was one of those moments I'll never forget Oh yes, I remember it well Chorus: They sang 'Waltzing Matilda', they played 'The Wild Rover' Pat Reilly and Molly Malone they were there The band kept singing it over and over Oh don't you remember, my dear Old Gentleman Jim had his place by the bar A silver-topped cane in his hand Big Eddie he borrowed the singer's guitar And he strummed out 'The Black Velvet Band' We were lost in the music, swept up by the sound We knew all the words to the songs When the man on the banjo sang 'Rain Tumbles Down' The whole of the bar sang along I met you at Molly's on Saturday night I was nervous and shy, you were young So I went to the bar and I bought us a pint And the alcohol loosened our tongues We spoke of the present, we honoured the past The words began flowing like wine We savoured each moment like it was the last While the band played along all the time Last Chorus: The sang 'Waltzing Matilda', the played 'The Wild Rover' Ned Kelly and Henry and Banjo were there The band kept on singing it over and over Oh don't you remember, my dear From Loaded Dog 'A Coastline Facing West'. I just found a web page where Loaded Dog songs can be heard. Listen here: Remember Port Melbourne --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 26 Oct 20 - 08:03 PM THE SANDY MARANOA (A.W.Davis/Trad) The night is dark and stormy and the sky is clouded o'er Our horses we will mount and ride away To watch the squatters' cattle through the darkness of the night And we'll keep them on the camp till break of day Chorus For we're going going going to Gunnedah so far And we'll soon be into sunny New South Wales We shall bid farewell to Queensland with its swampy coolibah Happy drovers from the sandy Maranoa When the fires are burning bright through the darkness of the night And the cattle camping quiet well I'm sure That I wish for two o'clock when I call the other watch This is droving from the sandy Maranoa Our beds made on the ground, we are sleeping all so sound When we're wakened by the distant thunder's roar And the lightning's vivid flash followed by an awful crash It's rough on drovers from the sandy Maranoa We are up at break of day and we're all soon on the way For we always have to go ten miles or more It don't do to loaf about or the squatter will come out He's strict on drovers from the sandy Maranoa We shall soon be on the Moonie and we'll cross the Barwon too Then we'll be out upon the rolling plains once more We'll shout hurrah for old Queensland with its swampy coolibah And the cattle that come off the Maranoa From p130 ‘Old Bush Songs’. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 25 Oct 20 - 11:52 PM That's a goodly number, Sandra. I don't have anything on phones or iPads. I have LPs, CDs and books. I must admit that my Oz and NZ collection is much smaller than my old-timey, blues, American folk, Americana etc collection but it's okay. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 25 Oct 20 - 11:38 PM surely you must be coming to the end of yous songbook, Stewie, it must be bigger than an old fashioned Sydney Telephone book - inches thick! or is it all in a little phone or iPad? now we are 363! |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 25 Oct 20 - 09:16 PM THE OLD BULLOCK DRAY (Traditional) 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 There are numerous versions of this song. This one was collected from Stan Wakefield and posted to Mudcat back in the day by Bob Bolton. Ron Edwards published a 10-stanza version in his massive tome. Edwards noted that the tune is basically ’Turkey in the straw’. I like this leisurely rendition by Mucky Duck albeit it omits the last 2 stanzas of the above version. It could well have accommodated an extra verse instead of the la-la-la stuff. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 25 Oct 20 - 08:31 PM ONE LITTLE STAR (Eric Bogle) When I need to feel you near me I stand in this quiet place Where the silver light of countless stars Falling on my face Though they all shine so brightly Somehow it comforts me to know That some that burn the brightest Died an eternity ago But your light still shines It's one small star to guide me And it helps me to hold back the dark Your light's still shining in my heart I'm learning how to live without you And I never thought I could And even how to smile again I never thought I would And I cherish your heart's memories Cause they bring you back to life Some caress me gently And some cut me like a knife But your light still shines It's one small star to guide me And it helps me to hold back the dark Your light's still shining in my heart Can your soul be out there somewhere Beyond the infinity of time I guess you've found some answers now I'll have to wait for mine When my light joins with yours one day We'll shine through time and space And one day fall in a distant age Upon some stranger's face But your light still shines It's one small star to guide me And it helps me to hold back the dark Your light's still shining in my heart Your light's still shining in my heart Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 25 Oct 20 - 08:08 PM THE GOOD OLD CONCERTINA (H.Lawson/M.Wyndham-Read) 'Twas merry when the hut was full Of jolly girls and fellows We danced and sang until we burst The concertina's bellows From distant Darling to the sea From the Downs to Riverina Has e'er a gum in all the west Not heard the concertina 'Twas peaceful round the campfire blaze The long white branches o'er us We'd play the tunes of bygone days To some good old bush chorus Old Erin's harp may sweeter be The Scottish pipes blow keener But sing an old bush song for me To the good old concertina 'Twas cosy by the hut-fire bright When the pint pot passed between us We drowned the voice of the stormy night With the good old concertina Though trouble drifts along the years, And the pangs of care grow keener My heart is gladdened when it hears That good old concertina Youtube clip The tune following the poem in the YT clip is ‘Echuca Waltz’ from the playing of Harry Schaefer of Forbes collected by Rob Willis. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 24 Oct 20 - 10:49 PM THE ROAD TO NULLAGINE (Grieg/Abbott) I am with a survey party in the place that God forgot And for White Australia it's the daddy of the lot There ain't a drop of water anywhere along the line There ain't no shady places on the road to Nullagine Chorus: I've tasted life in No Man's Land, I've fed the flies outback I've tramped with empty tucker bags on Lawson's lonely track I've toiled in northern Queensland where I thought the sun could shine But no mistake, this takes the cake, the road to Nullagine With a jigger on my shoulder and a waterbag in hand I'm tramping' through the spinifex and ploughing up the sand I'm sopping wet with honest sweat and salty as the brine I'm boiled and baked and roasted on the road to Nullagine When I wake up in the mornings, a swarm of hungry flies Are trying to bore out holes in the corners of my eyes I'm prickly heat from head to foot, this old frame of mine Has had the dengue fever on the road to Nullagine It's headaches, toothaches, bung eyes in a sling Barcoo rot and God knows what - I can't eat anything I'm all wrapped up in bandages, tied up with bits of twine I'm like a walking leper on the road to Nullagine One day I drank some water, 'twas from a scalding well And very shortly after I felt inclined to yell A burning hot sensation ran up and down my spine I thought I was a gonner on the road to Nullagine It's hermit crab and cock-eyed bobs, tinned dog and kangaroo A change of diet once a month, boiled mutton or a stew If we crave for pig or poultry when we're sitting down to dine We thank the Lord for all we've got on the road to Nullagine One night I went to Marble Bar, 'twas shortly after dark And all the mongs for miles around came at me with a bark I had a drop of amber, a shilling every time There ain't no pots for sixpence on the road to Nullagine It's public bars and fat cigars and let your sugar scoot And decorate your wardrobe with a white pearl-button shirt If you wear the good old dungarees and hobnails number nine They class you as a nigger on the road to Nullagine I've seen some queerish places I thought God had forgot Out in the never-never where we used to call it hot But this little bit o' country when old sol comes out to shine Is the nearest place to hell on earth, this road to Nullagine Another cracker from Roger Montgomery's 'Pilbara Connection'. The tune is given at pp140-141 of that collection. It was composed by Ted Grieg of Nullagine who could neither read nor write. He died about 1948. It was supplied to Montgomery by Tony Moriaty of Port Hedland. Evidently, it has also been published in Bill Scott's 'Penguin Book of Australian Humorous Verse'. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 24 Oct 20 - 10:00 PM THE FLASH STOCKMAN (Anon) I'm a stockman to me trade and they call me Ugly Dave I'm old and grey and only got one eye In the yard I'm good, of course, but just put me on a horse I'll go where lots of young 'uns daren't try I've led 'em through the gidgee over country rough and ridgy I'll loose them in the very worst of scrub I can ride both rough and easy, with a brumby I'm a daisy And a rightdown bobby-dazzler in a pub Just watch me use the whip, I can give the dawdlers gyp I can make the flamin' echoes roar and ring With a branding-iron, well, I'm a perfect flamin' swell In fact I'm duke of every blasted thing To watch me skin a sheep, it's so perfect you could weep I can act the silvertail as if my blood was blue You could strike me pink or dead, if I stood upon me head I'd be just as good as any other two I've a notion in me pate that it's luck, it isn't fate That I'm so far above the common run So, in everything I do, you could cut me square in two For I'm much two flamin' good to be in one Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 24 Oct 20 - 09:45 PM THE BUSHRANGERS (Edward Harrington) Four horseman rode out from the heart of the range Four horseman with aspects forbidding and strange They were booted and spurred, they were armed to the teeth And they frowned as they looked at the valley beneath As forward they rode through the rocks and the fern Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne. Ned Kelly drew rein and he shaded his eyes 'The town's at our mercy! See yonder it lies! To hell with the troopers!' - he shook his clenched fist 'We will shoot them like dogs if they dare to resist!' And all of them nodded, grim-visaged and stern Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne Through the gullies and creeks they rode silently down They stuck-up the station and raided the town They opened the safe and they looted the bank They laughed and were merry, they ate and they drank Then off to the ranges they went with their gold Oh! never were bandits more reckless and bold But time brings its punishment, time travels fast And the outlaws were trapped in Glenrowan at last Where three of them died in the smoke and the flame And Ned Kelly came back - to the last he was game But the Law shot him down (he was fated to hang) And that was the end of the bushranging gang Whatever their faults and whatever their crimes Their deeds lend romance to those faraway times They have gone from the gullies they haunted of old And nobody knows where they buried their gold To the ranges they loved they will never return Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne But at times when I pass through that sleepy old town Where the far-distant peaks of Strathbogie look down I think of the days when those grim ranges rang To the galloping hooves of the bushranging gang. Though the years bring oblivion, time brings a change The ghosts of the Kellys still ride from the range Youtube clip Edward Harrington --Stewie. |
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