Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 03:30 AM

Thanks Sandra - knew you'd come through with the goods!!    R-J :)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 03:24 AM

days ago Rich-Joy referred to My Old Black Billy - a song I vaguely remember my father singing

I think this song (once presumed traditional) was written by Edward Harrington and was featured in the famous “Reedy River” Aussie musical of 1953. One source has a Roy Jeffries writing the chune, but I have others that state Edith Harrhy – I dunno, but Catter, Sandra-in-Sydney, will no doubt have all The Gen.

As I said in all my decades in Libraries - I know all the answers as long as you ask the right question, of course, occasionally my reply was - Wrong question!, but not for this one.

this article was one of many treasure in BMC archives How the "anonymous folk song" My Old Black Billy came to be in Reedy River

page from the first Sydney Reedy River songbook with the answer - Ron Jeffries

sandra

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 03:24 AM

DOWN IN THE GOLDMINE

Words: Unknown / Tune: Joseph Bryan Geoghegan
Researched and arranged: John Thompson


Coolgardie folk remember well, the torrent from the sky
Westralia's tunnels took the flood, men were forced to fly
It chilled the blood to have to hear the wailing whistle blow
As miner Vareschetti lay, a thousand feet below.

CH.
It's down in the goldmine, underneath the ground
Floods are apt to fill the mine, men are apt to drown
Dare the dark and the dreary water, send a diver down
Deep down in the gold mine, underneath the ground.

They heard a hammer down below and ran to break the news
To dare the gloomy catacomb, they sent for diver Hughes
It's half a hope or sudden death, no are you game to go
Where miner Vareschetti lies, a thousand feet below.

Fremantle found the diving gear, a train began to roar
The engine got the right of way, a hundred miles or more
It hit the track at 65 and it set the night aglow
Where miner Vareschetti lay, a thousand feet below.

A million gallons rose above the captive in the cave
Then diver Hughes, he brought him up and he left an empty grave
And life can keep a lamp alight if we are game to go
Where miner Vareschetti lay, a thousand feet below.



Cloudy John says : “A song I found in a folio entitled, Moondyne Joe and Other Sandgroper Ballads. It is a parody of a music hall song, Down in the Coal Mine.
This link is to the story which I first read about the rescue of this Italian miner from a flooded goldmine in the desert in 1907 : https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-great-survival-20060506-gdnhry.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Enquiries around the folk scene in Australia have not revealed the songwriter's name. Any advice would be appreciated.”

This recording taken from CLOUDSTREET’s album, “The Circus of Desires” :
http://ozfolksongaday.blogspot.com/search?q=Down+in+the+Goldmine



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 03:07 AM

Dance Up The Sun

(John Thompson)

Dance up the sun on a fine May morning,
Dance up the sun to call in the Spring,
Dance away the dark while the new day's dawning,
All is new when we dance and we sing.


Ch.
And the bells will ring when the morris men come,
As we call in the Spring and we dance up the sun.


The bells will ring when the morris men come,
As we call in the Spring and we dance up the sun.

Gather in the dark, recall the Winter
Celebrate the tales that the old ones bring
The music rises with the first light's gleaming,
The dawn will break and the bells will ring.

Form the lines and turn together
Hear the clash of the staff as we shout and we sing,
The tunes all sound to the tattercoat's flying,
We call up the light as the day comes in.

Ancient ways with the season's turning,
The passing years see the dance go on
We sing the past as we dance to the future
We celebrate the year with the dawn of the sun.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtiKW32aVAE    CLOUDSTREET from “Dance Up the Sun” CD.

Nic (Nicole Murray, one half (and now one third) of the renowned Cloudstreet, with John Thompson) dances with SE Qld’s Belswagger Morris side and they are usually all to be found on the 1st May, Dancing Up the Sun on top of Brisbane’s Mt Coo-tha.



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 01:10 AM

My finger slipped to the "submit" button before I had finished!

Just wanted to explain re Paul's song above : "We're All Boat People", that the Liberal/Country parties have done their darnedest over the years to make the average Aussie believe that anyone arriving by sea,
(particularly those "Refugees" - quelle horreur!) are illegal and undeserving and should quite properly be held in detention forever and a day.

But this thread is "above the line" so I'll say no more!!

R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 12:54 AM

We're All Boat People"
(~ a gentle history lesson / social commentary for Australians ~)

by Paul Lawler

The rain on the Ark went pitter-pat
There’s one more river to cross
Noah got stuck on Ararat
There’s one more river to cross

Chorus
We’re all boat people
We’re all boat people together
We’re all boat people
There’s one more river to cross

Way back in 1493
Columbus hit the West Indies

Magellan in 1521
Circumnavigation ( sir - cum - navvy - gay - shy - on )

Sir Francis Drake - new lands to find
Floated away on the Golden Hind

Tasman was Abel company
He had a mania for the sea

1770 ropes belayed
Anchored Cook in Botany Bay


alternative ending, depending upon your audience!!
The **Liberal Government’s full o’pricks
Take them o’er the River Styx


**of course this refers to the political Liberal Party down in Oz!!

Paul Lawler, 2002

He based his chune on "One More River to Cross" (NO, not the gospel number!!) This here is the closest I have found to that which he sang (as I have no recording :( and strangely, very few sing this particular melody (but it's also the one I recall from my childhood) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0dk-cv1Cy8




Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 12:25 AM

Albany Emigrants

Trad, arr. Ferguson & Roche

We sailed from Cork on a windy day, with a dark and a cloudy sky
Our friends were standing on the quay, the women stood and cried
But we were young and out for fun and the riches we could find
So lift your glass and drink a toast to the girls we’ll leave behind.

Ch.
Oh Paddy dear, drink up your beer, we're leaving in the morn
Aboard the ship, the Alice Grey - for West Australia, Round the Horn.

Our brother Jack was a sailor man, with the Black Ball Line
He jumped his ship in Albany and now he's doing fine
And the letter that he wrote to us said “come out and join me here”
So we're off to Albany in the morn without a doubt or fear.

Jack has a farm near Albany with livestock by the score
He says the trees near touch the sky, King Karri, so we're told
And sailing ships arrive each day with diggers off for gold
And a hundred whales are plainly seen to frolic in the Sound.

And now we're under way me boys, the ship's bell loudly sounds
The quay is now well out of sight and we are seaward bound
And as we round Passage West the good ship gives full sail
And a parting glass to Erin's Isle from the swaying ship-deck rail.


Another top little number from The Settlers 1979 LP for West Aussie’s sesquicentennial celebrations.

Here is their rendering :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3OgLRa4YdY

“West Australia, Round the Horn” here refers to the southern most tip of WA - Cape Leeuwin - which has something of a reputation and was known to early sailors as the “Cape Horn of Australia”.


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 10:49 PM

GOORIANAWA
(Duke Tritton)

I’ve been many years a shearer and fancied I could shear,
I’ve shorn for Rouse of Guntawang and always missed the spear
I’ve shorn for Nicholas Bayleyand I declare to you
That on his pure merinos I could always struggle through.

Chorus
But oh my, I never saw before
The way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa

I’ve been shearing down the Bogan as far as Dandaloo
For good old Reid of Tabratong I’ve often cut a few
Haddon Rig and Quambone and even Wingadee
I could close my shears at six o’clock with a quiet century

Chorus

I’ve been shearing on the Goulburn side and down at Douglas Park
Where every day ‘twas ‘Wool Away!’ and Toby did his work
I’ve shorn for General Stewart whose tomb is on The Mount
And the sprees I’ve had with Scrammy Jack are more than I could count

Chorus

I’ve shorn for Bob McMaster down on the Rockedgiel Creek
And I could always dish him up with thirty score a week
I’ve shore at Terramungamine, and on the Talbraga
And I ran McDermott for the cobbler when we shore at Buckingbar

Chorus

I’ve been shearing at Eugowra – I’ll not forget the name
Where Gardiner robbed the escort which from the Lachlan came
I’ve shorn for Bob Fitzgerald down at the Dabee Rocks,
McPhillamy of Charlton and Mister Henry Cox

Chorus

But that was in the good old days – you might have heard them say
How Skillycorn from Bathurst rode to Sydney in a day
Now I'm broken-mouthed and my shearing's at an end
And though they call me Whalebone, I was never known to bend
But spare me flamin’ days, I never saw before
The way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa

As recorded by Martyn Wyndham-Read on ‘Beneath a Southern Sky’.

Martyn’s note:

I obtained the text from the John Meredith book on Duke called ‘Duke of the Outback’. As Meredith says in his book ‘Duke’s notes on the song almost constitute an outback social history’. My attraction to it is two-fold. I did a tour with Duke Tritton in the early 1960s along with other singers and it was truly an experience to have been in the company of this man. Also, in the second verse, it mentions Haddon Rig. The sheep and cattle station I worked on, Emu Springs in South Australia, was a subsidiary of Haddon Rig.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 10:44 PM

LEAVING MY HOMELAND

by Noel Gardner

I’ve ridden all that outback and walked those dusty roads
I’ve seen my aspirations disappear
My father pushed the mulga like his father did before
My family worked this land for sixty years.

Drought flood and fire on the sunburnt ravished block
We thought we could tame this last frontier
But foreclosure and nature it takes its toll my friend
A generations fold of mother’s tears.

Ch.
I am leaving my homeland, I am waving goodbye
I am holding onto memories, as that gate disappears from my eye

Another day another hope another clear blue sky
Another round of ravished stock to feed
A prayer a thought nostalgia, is etched upon my lines
Of ten years of faded hopes and dreams.

Chorus

This naked land was taken, possession was the law
King and country immigrant pioneers
But there are still laws of nature out on those western plains
As overstocked pastures disappear.

Chorus

Noel Gardner copyright
(Corrugated Music)



I can’t find this country-folk number to hear online, unfortunately (and it’s good to sing along with!), though the 1994 CD “Justicce & Pride” is still for sale. (some other compositions by Noel and friends are available to listen to, though…….)
https://www.noelgardner.com/pages/justice.html


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 10:07 PM

FOR NEARLY 60 YEARS, I’VE BEEN A FOLKIE

By Bob Townshend

For nearly sixty years, I’ve been a Folkie
Festivals and concerts, sat through plenty
In this country’s clubs and pubs, I’ve shed tears and coughed up blood
The things some people smoke
Make me queasy.

I found an old guitar when I was twenty
I’d learned to play three chords when I was thirty
D and A and G, They were good enough for me
Didn’t practise anymore
They were easy.

In 1974, I went to Darwin
Heard there was a very active folk scene
I didn’t stay too long, When I woke the house was gone
And my guitar blown away
It was breezy.

To the National in North Queensland, made my own way
My guitar is buried by Kuranda’s railway
The train driver was a mate, Let me ride on the footplate
My guitar slid to its fate
The floor was greasy.


Young people of today despise The Folkie
With our Fal-de-Lal –de-La’s, they think we’re crazy
But their swearing and hip-hop, And their bland suburban rock
Won’t last two hundred years
Because it’s sleazy.

For nearly 60 years, I’ve been a Folkie
Sung so much my voice is getting croaky
But I strum my old guitar, And dream that I’m a star
My song is nearly over now
Now I’m easy.

This song’s really over now
Now I’m wheezy .....
Yes, it’s really over now,
Now I’m wheezy .....



“Yorkie Bob” was last heard of living in the chilly Stanthorpe region near Qld’s border with NSW. He says this was written with apologies to Eric Bogle, but that “It was all Roger’s fault” (i.e. Roger Holmes aka Catter “Hrothgar”!)

Eric’s poignant song “Now I’m Easy” was, I thought, posted at the beginning of this thread, but maybe not???
Anyway, here is a version by Scots-Canadian singer, Jim Brannigan, for your chune : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey0MiB4RNCs



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 09:59 PM

OUR JACK
(Anon)

Our Jack's come out of jail today
To Pentridge he has been
For many a day he's been away
His face we ne'er have seen
MacMannamy arrested Jack
And with a gentle jerk
Pounced down upon our old friend Jack
With jemmy hard at work

Chorus (after each verse):
Our Jack's come home today
Our Jack's come home today
Quite wan and pale from out of jail
Our Jack's come home today

Our Jack came out of jail today
And ain’t his Polly glad
She had to pawn the things he'd shook
And found that she’d been had
The price she got it weren't enough
To keep her for a day
But all is past, she's right at last
Our Jack's come home today

When Jack came out of quad today
We had a glorious spree
And did a tour of Melbourne pubs
As jovial as could be
With wine and beer and brandy punch
We started out ad lib
When Jack proposed a partnership
To crack another crib

With jemmies and with skeleton keys
Of cribs we went in search
But seeing Dave O'Donnell there
We left Jack in the lurch
Undaunted Jack he set to work
Another crib to crack
O'Donnell like a ton of bricks
Came down to lumber Jack

Final chorus
Our Jack's gone back today
Our Jack's gone back today
White wan and pale back into gaol
Our Jack's gone back today

Recorded on Danny Spooner 'Bold Brave Boys'

It was collected by Joy Durst and Ron Edwards in August 1956 from a Mr R. Ure of Gembrook, Victoria.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 09:33 PM

TOMORROW, I’m Going Down to Sydney

By Chris Buch

Tomorrow, I’m going down to Sydney
In the morning, they’ll see me city-bound
Tomorrow, I’m going down to Sydney
In the hope, that you’ll still be around.

You used to lie beside me in the morning
Your eyes still closed, your hair all tumbling down
Then one day, without a word of warning
You packed your bags, and headed for the town.

I still have, your picture and your letters
When I read them now, they cause a bit of pain
You won’t find anyone, to love you better
And I ask you, won’t you try me once again.

I know you wanted, what I couldn’t give you
Fancy clothes and shiny silver rings
But the love I have inside of me to give you
Is worth more, than all those fancy things.

Tomorrow, I’m going down to Sydney
In the morning, they’ll see me city bound
Tomorrow, I’m going down to Sydney
In the hope, that you’ll still be around.

Tomorrow, I’m going down to Sydney……….


I haven’t found this online, but one day I may come across a recording of Chris, or even Paul Lawler, singing it at the Gun Turret in Darwin .....

The late Chris Buch (born London 1936 – died Brisbane 2016), founder of the Mt Isa Folk Club, The Rafferty Band (aka Rafferty’s Rules) and others (e.g. Rantan, in Brisbane), author of “Johnny Stewart, Drover” (posted Aug 20th by Stewie), “Australia Two” and others, trad jazz lover/player, also wrote his biography Hello Sunshine (A Blitz Kid’s Journey to the Sunshine State) in 2011.


Cheers, R-J

Haha! Just found it on YT under “The Rafferty Band” – their only LP, from 1984 – GO TO 34:00 –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5RnWcAVuCo

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 09:37 AM

The Wallaby Track

One morning I rolled up the few things I'd got
And I strapped to my saddle my quart and pint pot
And I told the boss, I said I'd soon be back
I was off for a trip on the wallaby track,
Oh the morning was fine, though it blew rather cold
And the sun was just topping the mountains with gold
And my favourite old dingo travelling close to the back
And he knew we were off on the wallaby track.

Ch.
With me tooraleye, ooraleye, tooraleye ooral,
With me tooraleye, ooraleye, tooraleye -aye.


We'd a fair way to go to an old camping place
So we're rattling along at a pretty good pace
Where friends we would meet when provisions were slack
And they all live close by to the wallaby track,
Oh well we hadn't gone very far I suppose
When we met with the girl who said, "G'day Joe"
I said, "You're mistaken, my name it is Jack"
"And I'm off for a trip on the wallaby track".


She said, "Get off your horse and rest yourself now"
"Did you see on your travels me old Poland cow?"
"You remember the one that we used to call Black"
"I'm afraid she has gone on the wallaby track",
So I got off my horse and I patted my dog
And we both sat together on the stringybark log
And I made up the fire and I ratted the pack
And we both had a meal on the wallaby track.

So we sat in the shade of the stringy bark tree
As fine a young girl as you ever did see
She asks where I'm going; when will I be back
And why am I off on the wallaby track,
So I told her then I was looking for a wife
And would she take on a partner for life
And like a sensible girl, well, she said "It's a whack"
That was the end of my trip on the wallaby track.


A favourite as sung by '80s Top Enders "Tropical Ear", but in the absence of their rendition online, here is John Thompson's somewhat different version : http://ozfolksongaday.blogspot.com/2012/01/wallaby-track.html



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 09:11 AM

LIFE IS CHANGE

by Paul Lawler        

A caterpillar chews along a new leaf
A bird lands on a twig just nearby
And the game of life is played among the branches
Blessed with fruit we lose a butterfly.

Ch.                
Life is change,        Life is change,
The only permanent thing about Life is change.
Life is change,        Change, is Life,
The only permanent thing about Life is change.

A seed lies dormant on the forest litter
It seems, that only chance surrounds its fate
But, before this seed can take up water
It may need a fire to germinate.

   Chorus

Springtime melts the icecap on the mountains
Rushing waters, form an ox-bow way downstream
And maybe in a thousand years or later
Where waters meet an island will be seen.

   Chorus

Middle 8 No one reads the same book
                We all colour words we say
                Sometimes we read in black and white what’s
                Meant in shades of grey
                Meant in shades of grey

Sunbeams chase the rainbows o’er the green hills
Lightning strikes and flashes all around
Clouds descend and block out the horizon
Paradise is lost, but also found.

   Chorus        



Paul wrote this song in 2004, adapting Coope, Boyes and Simpson’s “Thurnscoe Rain” - which is a Ray Hearne composition where the melody is based upon Colohan’s classic “Galway Bay” :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MksRyIKjSLg

It was only performed once, by Work in Progress, just after writing, and is partly recorded here : GO TO 02:18   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCxx1-vrJfY&t=321s
Apologies for the rendition, but, the whole performance in this venue was just not a comfortable gig, and it shows ………………… :(



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 07:30 AM

MY OLD BLACK BILLY


I've humped my bluey in all the states
With my old black billy the best of mates,
For years I've camped and toiled and tramped
Over roads that are rough and hilly,
With my highly sensible, indispensable,
Old Black Billy

Ch.
My old black billy, my old black billy
whether the wind is warm or chilly
I always find when shadows fall
My old black billy's the best mate of all.

I've carried my swag on the parched Paroo
Where water is scarce and the houses few,
On many a track on the great outback
Where the heat would drive you silly,
I've carried my sensible, indispensable,
Old Black Billy.

When my tramping days are o'er
And I drop my swag at the Golden Door,
Saint Peter will stare when he sees me there
Then he'll say, "Poor wandering Willie,
Come in with your sensible, indispensable,
Old Black Billy."



Like with a lot of songs, I can’t find my preferred version that’s in my memory, but here is one from “Me 'n Me Mates” who seem to be a trio of blokes from South Australia : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atuHbdlfcaU

I think this song (once presumed traditional) was written by Edward Harrington and was featured in the famous “Reedy River” Aussie musical of 1953. One source has a Roy Jeffries writing the chune, but I have others that state Edith Harrhy – I dunno, but Catter, Sandra-in-Sydney, will no doubt have all The Gen.



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 06:33 AM

HERE’S TO THE SINGER

~ Jeff Corfield, c.1997


There’s songs that are written and songs that are played
To keep the cash registers ringing,
But give me a song that the people have made
A song that’s been made for the singing,
There’s songs about work and there’s songs about play
There’s songs about struggle and glory
Ah give me a song where the folk have their say
A song that can tell us a story.


Ch.
So here’s to the singers and here’s to the songs
That down through the decades come ringing,
May the gift of your tunes WITH the people belong
And long may the people keep singing



Be you Paddy from Ireland or Joe from Geelong
Be you Russian or French or Swahili
The people have long put their lives into song
With a passion delivered so freely
For a song is a wild bird, a song is a dove
That soars in the heavens before us
With the laughter, the freedom, the joy and the love
Of humanity woven in chorus.


CHORUS
                        
                                                                
In times when this world’s full of trouble and pain
And freedoms long fought for are waning
Just remember those struggles that led to the gains
And the songs that recall the campaigning
For a song on its own cannot right all that’s wrong
One singer, the storm cannot weather
But the people united will always be strong
Whether working or singing together.


CHORUS
                        

So sing us a song about hauling a rope
Sing of a sloop that’s still sailing
Sing us a song, full of life, full of hope
Pete : long may your banjo keep frailing
Sing of one people, the whole world around
And the joys of those freedom bells ringing
May the songs that you taught us forever resound
And long may the people keep singing.


CHORUS x 2


                        
A note to me from Jeff says : "I wrote it originally in honour of Pete Seeger’s 80th birthday, in May 1999, after we had visited him following our week on The Clearwater back in 1997.
So, in one sense it’s a bit specific (2nd verse reference to Swahili is a Seeger in-joke and also last verse reference to The Clearwater), though I also wrote it as a celebration of all the songs and singers we love.
Like many of my efforts it’s a bit sentimental and clichéd, and the tune “adapted” from a hotch-potch of traditional songs (esp “All the Good Times”!), but the chorus is robust and folks seem to like it.
What it really needs is to grow, change and adapt, in true folk style, to become more generic, so I pass it on to you with that in mind."    Jeff Corfield 03.05.1999


Jeff is a singer / songwriter / collector / musician / researcher / writer / scientist / proud family man - and more! - now of Townsville, Qld, but originally from Sydney - Perth - Kununurra - Darwin, too!

Sorry, I can't find the song on-line; the tape is here somewhere though ....... :)



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 06:15 AM

MALENY WASHING LINE

by Paul Lawler, 1999

I love the cool, south easterly breeze
Green rolling hills, and lots of trees,
I would go out, I’ve washed my hair
But alas I have, not a thing to wear.

It’s one more day, on Maleny’s Washing Line.

The finest silks, I wore with class
Now lie in tatters on the grass,
My towels that fresh, from soap and sud
Are lying now, in pools of mud.

It’s one more day, on Maleny’s Washing Line.

Last night it blew, such a heavy gale
My undies now, are in Conondale,
I thought I’d seen, it all by far
Till I spied a cow, in a D cup bra.

It’s one more day, on Maleny’s Washing Line.

My clothes were white, in the washing machine
Now on the line, they turn to green,
I think I’ll burn, them in the fi-yer
And invest in, tumble dryer.

It’s one more day, on Maleny’s ... Washing ... Line.


Paul wrote this to Cyril Tawney's "Grey Funnel Line", sung here in harmony by June Tabor & Maddy Prior (Silly Sisters) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHOokpi9hUw


We never ceased to be amazed that, after moving from the hot and lush Tropics in flat, coastal Darwin, NT, to the cooler Sub-Tropics of the inland, forested, hills and dales of Maleny, Qld, we were beset by both mould and cobwebs (plus leeches and ticks and funnel web spiders), like never before - and rain that often lasted days without letup!!! ....... Pretty but.


Cheers, R-J :)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Oct 20 - 11:13 PM

THE OLD AUSTRALIAN WAYS
(Paterson/Hallom)

The London lights are far abeam
Behind a bank of cloud
Along the shore the gaslights gleam
The gale is piping loud
And down the Channel, groping blind
We drive her through the haze
Towards the land we left behind
The good old land of `never mind'
And old Australian ways

The city folk go to and fro
Behind a prison's bars
They never feel the breezes blow
They never see the stars
And all our roads are new and strange
As through our blood there runs
The wanderer’s love of change
That drove us westward of the range
And westward of the suns

Our fathers came of roving stock
That could not fixed abide
So we have followed field and flock
Since e'er we learnt to ride
By mining camp and shearing shed
In days of heat and drought
We followed where our fortunes led
With fortune always on ahead
And always farther out

So cast the weary pen aside
And let the papers rest
We must saddle up and ride
Towards the blue hill's breast
We must travel far and fast
Across their rugged maze
To find the spring of youth at last
And call back from the buried past
The old Australian ways.

And if it be that you would know
Where Clancy used to ride
You must saddle up and go
Beyond the Queensland side
Beyond the reach of rule or law
You ride the long day through
In nature's homestead filled with awe
You then might see what Clancy saw
And know what Clancy knew

Hallom's adaptation of another Paterson poem.

Youtube clip

Poem

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Oct 20 - 10:53 PM

THE LIGHTS OF COBB AND CO
(Lawson/Hallom)

Fire lighted, on the table a meal for sleepy men
A lantern in the stable, a jingle now and then
The mail coach looming darkly by light of moon and star
The growl of sleepy voices, a candle in the bar
A stumble in the passage of folk with wits abroad
A swear word from the driver, the shout of ‘All aboard!’
‘Git-up! ‘Hold fast there!’ and down the range we go
One hundred miles will see tonight the lights of Cobb and Co

Chorus
Past the haunted halway houses where the convicts laid the stones
The scrub yards and the bark huts where the shearers made their homes
Through stringybark and blue gum and box and pine we go
One hundred miles will see tonight the lights of Cobb and Co

Past old coaching towns already decaying for their sins
Uncounted halfway houses and scores of ten-mile inns
The riders from the stations by the lonely granite peaks
The black-boys for the shepherds by sheep and cattle creeks
The roaring camps of Gulgong, and many a digger’s rest
The diggers on the Lachlan, the huts out farthest west
Some twenty thousand exiles who sailed for weal or woe
The bravest hearts of twenty lands will watch for Cobb and Co

Chorus

The morning star has vanished now, the frost and fog are gone
It’s one of those grand mornings which but on mountains dawn
A flask of friendly whisky and each other’s hopes we share
And throw our top-coats open wide and take the mountain air
The roads are rare to travel and life seems all complete
The grind of wheels on gravel, the trot of horses’ feet
The trot, trot, trot and canter as down the spur we go
The green sweeps to horizons blue that call for Cobb and Co

Chorus

We take a bright girl actress through the western dust and damps
To bear the home-world message and sing for miners’ camps
To stir our hearts and break them, wild hearts that hope and ache
And when she thinks again of these, her own must surely break
Five miles this side the goldfield, a loud, triumphant shout
Five hundred cheering miners have snatched the horses out
With an ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in chorus through roaring camps they go
That cheer for her, and cheer for home, and cheer for Cobb and Co

Chorus

Swift scramble up the hillside where teams climb inch by inch
Pausing bird-like on the summit, then breakneck down the pinch
By the clear, ridge-country rivers and hills where tracks run high
Where waits the lonely horseman cut clear against the sky
Across the swollen river a flash beyond the ford
Ride hard to warn the driver, he’s drunk or mad, good lord
It’s on the bank and westward with a broad and cheerful glow
New camps extend across the plains the routes of Cobb and Co

Chorus

Hallom made the Lawson poem into a fine song, including the creation of a chorus from scattered lines.

Youtube clip

Poem

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Oct 20 - 10:37 PM

KNOCKED UP
(Lawson/Wyndham-Read)

I'm lyin' on this barren ground that's baked and cracked with drought
And don’t know if my legs or back or heart is most wore out
I've got no spirit left to raise and ease my achin' brow
I'm too knocked up to light a fire and boil the billy now

A long dry stretch of thirty miles I've tramped this broiling day
All for the off-chance of a job a hundred miles away
There's twenty hungry beggars wild for any work this year
And maybe fifty at the sheds while I am lying here

The sinews in my legs seem drawn, red hot and that's the truth
I seem to weigh a ton, and ache like one tremendous tooth
I'm stung between my shoulder blades, my blessed back seems broke
I'm too knocked up to eat a bite, I’m too knocked up to smoke

The blessed rains are coming too, there's oceans in the sky
And I suppose I should get up and rig that blasted fly
The heat is bad, the food is bad, the flies a crimson curse
Mosquitoes damned, the water’s bad, but rheumatism's worse

I don’t know why poor blokes like me will cling so hard to breath
Though Shakespeare says it is a thing we fear after death
And though eternity be cursed by God's almighty curse
Whatever that same somethin' is I swear it can't be worse

Martyn Wyndham-Read's adaptation of the Lawson poem. He has omitted several stanzas.

Youtube clip

Full poem:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Oct 20 - 10:12 PM

TAUMARUNUI
(Peter Cape)

I’m an ordinary joke, growin’ old before me time
‘Cause me heart’s in Taumarunui on the Main Trunk line

Taumarunui, Taumarunui
Taumarunui on the Main Trunk line

You can get to Taumarunui going north or going south
And you end up their at midnight and there’s cinders in your mouth
You got cinders in your whiskers and a cinder in your eye
So you hop off for refreshments, for a cuppa tea and pie

Taumarunui, Taumarunui
Taumarunui on the Main Trunk line

There's a sheila in Refreshments and she's pouring cups'a tea
And me heart jumps like a rabbit when she pours a cup for me   
She's got hair a flamin' yeller and a mouth a flamin' red
And I'll love that flamin' sheila till I'm up and gone and dead

In Taumarunui, Taumarunui
Taumarunui on the Main Trunk line

You can get a job in Wellington or get a job up north
But you can't in Taumarunui though you try for all you're worth
If I want to see this shiela, then I've got to take a train
Get ten minutes for Refresments then they cart me off again

From Taumarunui, Taumarunui
Taumarunui on the Main Trunk line

Well they took me on as fireman on the Limited Express
And I thought that she'd be jake but now she's all a flamin' mess
That shiela wouldn't take to me - I thought she'd be a gift
She's gone and changed her duty hours and works the daylight shift

From Taumarunui, Taumarunui
Taumarunui on the Main Trunk line

I’m an ordinary joke, growin’ old before me time
‘Cause me heart’s in Taumarunui on the Main Trunk line

For info on this song:

Click

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Oct 20 - 10:01 PM

SHE’LL BE RIGHT
(Peter Cape)

When you're huntin' in the mountains
And your dogs put up a chase
And this porker's comin' at you
And he doesn't like your face
And you're runnin' and he's runnin'
And he's crowdin' on the pace
Don't worry mate, she'll be right            

She'll be right, mate, she'll be right                           
Don't worry mate, she'll be right
You can get your feed of pork
When he slows down to a walk
So don't worry mate, she'll be right   

When you're loggin' on the saddle
And you're drivin' down the bluff
With a thousand feet of timber
Bouncin' right behind your chuff
And the clutch has started slippin'
And the brakes are worse than rough
Don't worry mate, she'll be right

She'll be right, mate, she'll be right                           
Don't worry mate, she'll be right
If you give all you can give her
She'll just fly into the river
So don't worry mate, she'll be right

When you've walked out on the missus
And you've gone to watch the race
And you took her shopping money
And you didn't get a place
And you're comin' home flat stoney
And she sees it in your face
Don’t worry mate, she’ll be right

She'll be right, mate, she'll be right                           
Don't worry mate, she'll be right
You can save a lot of trouble
If you say you won the double
So don't worry mate, she'll be right

When you've had yer copper goin'
And you've boiled a ton of hops
And you've brewed your brew
And bottled 'er and hammered on the tops
And your missus keeps on askin'
Where you left your footy socks
Don't worry mate, she'll be right

She'll be right, mate, she'll be right
Don't worry mate, she'll be right
Shove a shot o' metho in
And you'll swear you're drinkin' gin
So don't worry mate, she'll be right

When they've finished off yer forwards
And yer backs are wearin' thin
And the second spell's half over
And you've forty points to win
And this hulkin' wing-three-quarter's
Got his teeth stuck in your shin
Don't worry mate, she'll be right

She'll be right, mate, she'll be right
Don't worry mate, she'll be right
You won't worry who's the loser
When you meet them down at the boozer
So don't worry mate, she'll be right

Peter Cape was a Kiwi treasure. His 'Stable Lad' is posted above. 'She'll be right' was a great favourite. For a variety of additions since this 1955 original:

Click

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 01 Oct 20 - 02:54 AM

SOMETIME LOVING

By Gary Shearston

I don't want your sometime lovin'
That falls like summer's rain
Coz I've slept through two long winters
And love's been where my head has lain.

When you’ve travelled with the North wind
Blowing on your window pane
When you’ve found the warmth she brings you
Come and find me once again.

And when you've wandered through the snowfall
Through the pines on which she's lain
When you've seen the way she holds them
Come and hold me once again.

And when you've heard a river laughing
As she bends the rocks and sand
Seen her wave crossing an ocean
Come and take me by the hand.

And when you've seen a hungry grassland
Reach out to kiss the rain
When you've seen how strong her kiss is
Come and kiss me once again.

And when the earth has turned her season
And her love has brought the grain
If you find that love inside you
Come and live with me again.



The late Gary Shearston’s 1967 rendition : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb4nd5lryAU

A long-time favourite and possessed of a timeless beauty, I feel.   Apparently when Peter, Paul & Mary sang it in concert in Australia, they introduced it as “the most beautiful song that has ever been written” ……


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Sep 20 - 11:56 PM

HOW GILBERT DIED
(Paterson/Roweth)

There's never a stone at the sleeper's head
There's never a fence beside
And the wandering stock on the grave may tread
Unnoticed and undenied
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died

For he rode at dusk with his comrade Dunn
To the hut at the Stockman's Ford
In the waning light of the sinking sun
They peered with a fierce accord
They were outlaws both and on each man's head
Was a thousand pounds reward

They had taken toll of the country round
And the troopers came behind
With a black who tracked like a human hound
In the scrub and the ranges blind
He could run the trail where a white man's eye
No sign of track could find

He had hunted them out of the One Tree Hill
And over the Old Man Plain
But they wheeled their tracks with a wild beast's skill
And they made for the range again
Then away to the hut where their grandsire dwelt
They rode with a loosened rein

And their grandsire gave them a greeting bold
"Come in and rest in peace
No safer place does the country hold
With the night pursuit must cease
And we'll drink success to the roving boys
And to hell with the black police."

But they went to death when they entered there
In the hut at the Stockman's Ford
For their grandsire's words were as false as fair
They were doomed to the hangman's cord
He had sold them both to the black police
For the sake of the big reward

In the depth of night, there are forms that glide
As stealthily as serpents creep
And around the hut where the outlaws hide
They plant in the shadows deep
And they wait till the first faint flush of dawn
Shall waken their prey from sleep.

But Gilbert wakes while the night is dark
A restless sleeper aye
He has heard the sound of a sheep dog's bark,
And his horse's warning neigh
And he says to his mate, "There are hawks abroad
And it's time that we went away."

Their rifles stood at the stretcher head
Their bridles lay to hand
They wakened the old man out of his bed
When they heard the sharp command
"In the name of the Queen ,lay down your arms,
Now, Dunn and Gilbert, stand!"

Then Gilbert reached for his rifle true
That close at hand he kept
He pointed straight at the voice and drew
But never a flash out-leapt
For the water ran from the rifle breech
It was drenched while the outlaws slept

Then he dropped the piece with a bitter oath
And he turned to his comrade Dunn
"We are sold," he said, "we are dead men both
Still, there may be a chance for one
I'll stop and I'll fight with the pistol here
You take to your heels and run."

So Dunn crept out on his hands and knees
In the dim, half-dawning light
And he made his way to a patch of trees
And was lost in the black of night
And the trackers hunted his tracks all day
But they never could trace his flight

But Gilbert walked from the open door
In a confident style and rash
He heard at his side the rifles roar
And he heard the bullets crash
But he laughed as he lifted his pistol hand,
And he fired at the rifle flash

Then out of the shadows the troopers aimed
At his voice and the pistol sound
With rifle flashes the darkness flamed
He staggered and spun around
And they riddled his body with rifle balls
As it lay on the blood-soaked ground.

There's never a stone at the sleeper's head
There's never a fence beside
And the wandering stock on the grave may tread
Unnoticed and undenied
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Sep 20 - 11:27 PM

Gordon Bok recorded a couple of Kiwi songs on his 'In The Kind Land' CD. The text of this one differs from the version printed in 'Song of a Young Country' and also the version recorded by Phil Garland but, as they say here in the Territory, good but.

BRIGHT FINE GOLD
(Anon/music reconstructed by N.Colquhoun)

Spend it in the winter
Or die in the cold
One apecker, Tuapecka
Bright fine gold

Bright fine gold, bright fine gold
One apecka, Tuapecka
Bright fine gold

Two little children lying in bed
Both of them hungry, lord
They can't raise up their heads

Bright fine gold, bright fine gold
One apecka, Tuapecka
Bright fine gold

Some are sons of fortune
And my man came to see
But the riches of the river
Are not for such as he

Bright fine gold, bright fine gold
One apecka, Tuapecka
Bright fine gold

I'm weary of Otago
Weary of the snow
Let my man strike it rich
And then we'll go

Bright fine gold, bright fine gold
One apecka, Tuapecka
Bright fine gold

Repeat stanza 1 and chorus

Gordon's note:

Because of the NZ gold rush in the 1860s, the Tuapecka River in Otago Province became the richest place in New Zealand. The results were the same as other gold rushes, mostly misery and poverty. I think that Phil Lobl taught it to me when she came to Maine many years ago.

Bok

Garland

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Sep 20 - 10:35 PM

NEW LIFE, NEW LOVE
(Lawson/Wyndham-Read)

The breezes blow on the river below
the fleecy clouds float by
And I mark how the dark green gum trees match
The bright blue dome of the sky
The grass is green where rains have been
And the earth is bare and brown
I see the things that I used to see
In the days ere my heart was down

I've seen the light in the long dark night
Brighter than stars or moon
I've lost the fear of the winter drear
the sadness of afternoon
Here let us stand while I hold your hand
With the light on your golden hair
And I feel the things that I used to feel
In the days ere my heart was dead

The storms are by and my lips are dry
The old wrong rankles yet
Sweetheart or wife, I must take new life
From your red lips warm and wet
So let it be, you may cling to me
There is nothing on earth to dread
For I'll be the man that I used to be
In the days ere my heart was dead

Youtube clip

This was also recorded on 'All Around Down Under', an album by Martyn and Danny Spooner. Liner note:

Henry Lawson wrote the poem in 1903 and Martyn put the tune to it. Australia's best known balladist for 20 years, in middle age, Lawson was drinking heavily and living a hand-to-mouth existence. He had a love and a marriage behind him at this stage when he was taken in hand by Mrs Isobel Byers and penned this in a tone of promise.

R-J, I believe you've nailed 'lattes' and 'chai' but there's something else after 'tofu'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Sep 20 - 09:16 PM

WHERE SILENCE REIGNS
(Woods/Wyndham-Read)

Out back where silence reigns on the great grey western plains
The sunlit plains of Clancy's where it hardly ever rains
Where the traveller's always thirsty and the water never near
The creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear

Where the quart pot doesn't rattle, the stirrup doesn't clink
And the emu stalks in freedom and it's far too hot to think
Where the tracks are dry and dusty, the air is seldom clear
The creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear

Where the fences reach to sundown and are mostly made of wire
And the sun goes down each evening like a glowing ball of fire
Where the water-bag is empty and the tucker dry and drear
The creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear

In shades of gidgee bushes lies a great red kangaroo
Asleep in the noonday sunshine while a doleful-looking crow
With a voiceless gape salutes us as we come and disappear
The creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear

In sultry shades of silence bounded by a shimmering sky
Make a man feel very lonely, very small and very dry
I would cry in desolation but I cannot shed a tear
The creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear

Another poem by Walter Woods that Wyndham-Read clipped and adapted. The full poem may be found at page 207 of Stewart and Keesing's 'Australian Bush Ballads'. The full text of the previously posted 'I don't go shearing now' may be found at page 245 - it is indeed a saga that stretches over 3 pages. Woods was an interesting character - a journalist and politician. Read about him here:

Click

Where silence reigns

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Sep 20 - 08:18 PM

THE GIFT OF YEARS
(Eric Bogle)

Well, old friend, here I am
I told you I'd be back
And as usual, mate, I'm bloody late
It's seventy-five years down the track
For the last time, here I stand
In this familiar foreign land
Back with the mates I left behind
Fixed forever in their time

And of all the ghosts of all the boys
That haunt this lonely place
Only one of them wears your cheeky grin
And your Queensland joker's face
And as I drown in old and bloody dreams
Of helpless young men's dying screams
I feel your hand give my arm a shake
And your voice say, "Steady, mate!"

And the country that you died for, mate
You would not know it now
And the future that we dreamed of, mate
Got all twisted up somehow.
The peace that we were fighting for
The end to stupid senseless war
So it couldn't happen to our kids
Well, old mate, it did!

And thank you for the gift of years
And the flame that brightly burns
For the time you bought and the lessons taught
So often wasted and unlearned
"Lest we forget," cries the multitude
As if I ever, ever could
So forgive an old man's tears
And thank you for the years

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 30 Sep 20 - 08:08 PM

Stewie, Perhaps that Tofu line is something to do with Lattes and Chai - his gravelly voice sure is hard to understand!!
Cheers, R-J :)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 11:34 PM

I forgot to login again. I'll have to cease clearing my website data during the day.

Anyhow, it gives me a chance to correct an error in my 'Freo Girls' transcription. In the 'dads' stanza, it should read 'they're' not 'there'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 11:26 PM

JennieG, fair point - a name would work. I'm not much of a Williamson fan either, but I like a handful of his songs. He was a featured guest at a Top Half Festival in Alice Springs a few years ago. He no attempt to mix with other performers and punters or join in any sessions. Sod him!

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 10:32 PM

R-J, I just remembered that, courtesy of Colin Smiley, I have a CD of the Lost Quays - 'Live at the Whalers' Tunnel'. The concert was recorded in the Whalers' Tunnel as part of Fremantle's Heritage Festival in 2016. The tunnel was excavated by convicts shortly after the first whale was taken in the area in 1837, and not long after the founding of the colony. The concert consisted almost entirely of shanty warhorses. However, they did adapt 'Bound for South Australia' for a Fremantle flavour.

FREO GIRLS
(Lost Quays)

Freo girls ain’t got no combs
Heave away, haul away
They combs their hair with cod fish bones
And we’re bound for Australia
Heave away me bully, bully boys
Heave away, haul away
You gotta make a noise
And we’re bound for Australia

Well Freo lads ain’t got no frills
They drink their beer with cod fish gills

Well Freo kids ain’t got no sleds
They slide downhill on cod fish heads

Well Freo mums don’t bake no pies
It’s tofu king with toasted chives

Well Freo dads don’t brew no stout
There down at Clancy’s hanging about

Well Freo Dogs ain’t got no bite
If their bark don’t scare, the Sharks just might

Well Freo cats ain’t go no tails
They lost them all to the south-west gales

The Freo doctor’s got no pills
She blows from the west our sails to fill

Heave away, haul away …

Above is my transcription. I couldn't make out the 'tofu' line - can someone correct it?

For non-Aussies, the Dogs and Sharks are Fremantle football teams. Clancy's is a popular Fremantle pub and the Fremantle doctor is a cooling afternoon sea breeze.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 10:07 PM

JOG ALONG TILL SHEARING

The truth is in my song so clear
Without a word of gammon
The swagmen travel all the year
Waiting for the lambin'
Now when this dirty work is done
To the nearest shanty steerin’
They meet a friend, their money spend
Then jog along till shearing.

Chorus
Home sweet home
That is what they left it for
Their home sweet home

Now when the shearing season comes
They hear the price that's going
New arrivals meet old chums
And then they start their blowin’
They say that they can shear each day
Their hundred pretty handy
But eighty sheep is bloody hard
When the wool is close and sandy

When the sheds are all cut out
They get their bit of paper
To the nearest pub they run
They cut a dashing caper
They call for liquor plenty
They're happy when they're drinkin’
But where to go when the money's spent
It's little they are thinking.

Sick and sore next morning
They are when they awaken
To have a drink of course they must
To keep their nerves from shakin'
They call for one and then for two
In a way that's rather funny
Till the landlord says, ‘Now this won't do
You blokes have got no money’

They're sleeping on verandahs
They're lounging on the sofas
Then to finish off their spree
They're ordered off as loafers
They've got no friends, their money's spent
And at their disappearing
They give three cheers for the river bend
And jog along till shearing.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 09:55 PM

Perhaps 'woman' in the song actually has a name which could be used? Certainly better than 'darling', 'darl', 'sugar', 'honey', etc.

Actually, I must admit to not being much of a Williamson fan. I know his songs are popular, he has sold a squillion gold records and stuff like that, but there are other writers I prefer - probably sacriligeous to say given that we live in Tamworth, but there you go.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 09:40 PM

Gerry Hallom put a tune to Banjo Paterson's 'By the grey gulf water'. He made multiple changes to make it more accessible as a song. A good'un.

BY THE GREY GULF WATER
(Paterson/Hallom)

Far to the north there lies a land
A wonderful land where the winds blow over
And none may guess or understand
The charm it holds for the restless rover
A wild grey land, a land half made
Where nature craves a share of slaughter
Many indeed are the nameless graves
Where victims sleep by the grey gulf water

Slowly, slowly those grey streams glide,
Drifting along with languid motion
Lapping the reed on either side
Wending their way to the northern ocean
And the strength of a man is a young child’s strength
In the face of that mighty plain and river
And the life of a man is a moment’s length
To the life of a stream that runs forever

And so it comes they take no part
In life’s small cares - each hardy rover
Rides ahead like Bonaparte
The plains around and the blue skies over
Way up above a brown lark sings
The songs the strange wild land has taught her
Full of joy her sweet song rings
I wish I were back by the grey gulf water

Way up above a brown lark sings
The songs the strange wild land has taught her
Full of joy her sweet song rings
I wish I were back by the grey gulf water

Youtube clip

The original poem as published in 'The Bulletin':

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 07:43 PM

JennieG, I know what you mean about 'woman' in the Williamson song. I can sympathise with your experience with an insensitive sod. However, given the song's structure, what other term could he have used? You wouldn't want the American 'babe' or 'baby' - 'darling', 'wife', 'love', 'dear' et alia wouldn't really work either.

Back on 15 September (it seems so long ago), I noted that Phil Gray of Loaded Dog opposed the insertion of a Wendy Evans chorus about shearers in Sorensen's 'Glenburgh Wool' which is about the transportation of wool not shearing. Phil has recently recorded the song sans the inappropriate chorus and with his own tune. He recorded it in the shearer' kitchen at Glenbugh Station. His note for the clip:

This is a set of verse by Jack Sorensen - I put my tune on it. In early September Yvonne, myself and our trusty Border Collie Cobber, did a 'mini tour' up through the Gascoyne and Murchison regions of Western Australia. I played at Gascoyne Junction, Glenburgh Station and Murchison Settlement. One of the pleasures of my life was to record this in the Shearers' Kitchen at Glenburgh Station, where Jack Sorensen spent time shearing, and to tread where he trod and probably ate 80 years ago. In Jack's words .......'and from those roaring yesterdays the echoes linger yet'.....

Youtube clip

The text of all of Sorensen's poems may be found here:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 05:30 PM

One of my favourites, Sandra!

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 11:31 AM

A very popular song at sessions, it was the winner of the Parody mug at the inaugural John & Dale Dengate Parody Competition at Illawarra Folk Festival in 2014, a very appropriate winner as John had loved it. Dale giving Cathy the box it came in.

PRECIOUS GIFT (The Tony Abbott Song) by Cathy Rytmeister, February 2010

When I was a young girl, pure and whole
I lived the clean life of a virgin
I had no idea that my precious gift
Was important to some politicians.
So when I turned 18 and the boy up the road
Said hey, how about it? I didn't say "no".
But dear Tony Abbott, if only I'd known
I'd have waited at least one more fortnight.

For I was now bereft of true value
By choosing a life full of sin
My precious gift gone, just a memory in song
All I've left is the box it came in.

And well I remember relief on those days
That my blood stained the sheets and the blankets
I took many risks but was mostly OK
I look back and for that I'm most thankful.
But I wonder, if only I'd kept meself nice,
Wore lippy and heels and played sugar and spice –
I'd have landed a man who'd have treated me right –
Someone just like that hypocrite Tony.

For I was now bereft of true value
By choosing a life full of sin
My precious gift gone, just a memory in song
All I've left is the box it came in.

I grew older and wiser and carried a pack-
et of three, just in case I got lucky
And I did pretty well, despite no advice
From Abbott or Andrews or Tuckey.
Johnny Turk he was ready, he'd primed himself well,
But that wasn't enough, I had Tommy as well
And Paddy, and Jock, and Pierre and Manuel
I had a right multicultural party.

With my precious gift thoroughly squandered
I still somehow managed with men
I swore and I drank and I danced and I skanked
While the band played Wild Rover Again.

Now I've settled down, with a rather good bloke,
Who with second-hand gifts seems delighted.
And I've a daughter myself, of that age when you might
Give advice, about life to enlighten.
I've told her to give what she wishes and when
To respect herself and be respected by men
And above all before she is settled and wed
To make sure she gets plenty of practice.

For a woman is more than a hymen
She has much more to offer the world
And if Abbott can't see all that we wish to be
He can keep his advice to himself.

For I've filled my life with true value
By choosing to live it in sin
My precious gift gone, just a memory in song
But I've still got the box it came in!

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 11:07 AM

we now have 258 songs.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 09:20 AM

NOT MANY FISH

By Bernard Bolan

From Mortlake to Mosman for thirty-five years,
In a twenty-six footer I’ve sailed.
It paid for me grub and a couple of beers,
But not now since the fishing has failed.
There used to be Blackfish there used to be Bream,
And there used to be Jewies to tame.
But now there’s old beer cans and polythene bags,
And things too repulsive to name.

Ch.
But the sun is still shining and the sky is still blue,
You can still taste the salt on the spray.
Me lines are all baited and me net’s over too,
But there’s not many fish in the harbour today.

Once the catches you’d get nearly made your boat sink,
And the three of you filling the barge.
But now all you get is terrible stink,
With typhoid at no extra charge.
What you need is a craft that can sail the high seas,
Where the Herring and King Fishes play.
All you bring up in the Harbour is dead dogs and cats,
Not to mention that Mrs MacRae.

So go for a sail with your Sally and Sue,
Take Roger and Rufous as well.
Remember to throw (chuck) your muck over the side,
Then complain of the hideous smell.
Well a fisherman’s known for not getting upset,
When he sails through the wind and the rain.
But a man can but think when he’s sailing through this,
What a pity you can’t pull the chain.


Here is Bernard Bolan singing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqRfyPekBEo

(NB   apparently Sydney Harbour is much cleaner, these days!)



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 02:22 AM

TENTERFIELD SADDLER

By Peter Allen

The late George Woolnough worked on High Street and lived on Manners
52 years he sat on his veranda and made his saddles
And if you had questions about sheep or flowers or dogs
You just ask the saddler, he lived without sin; they're building a library for him.

Ch.
Time is a traveller, Tenterfield Saddler, turn your head
Ride again Jackaroo, think I see kangaroo up ahead

The son of George Woolnough went off and got married and had a war baby
But something was wrong and it's easier to drink than go crazy
And if there were questions about why the end was so sad
Well George had no answers about why a son, ever has need of a gun

Time is a traveller, Tenterfield Saddler, turn your head
Ride again Jackaroo, think I see kangaroo up ahead

The grandson of George has been all around the world and lives no special place
Changed his last name and he married a girl with an interesting face
He'd almost forgotten them both because in the life that he leads
There's nowhere for George and his library, or the son with his gun, to belong - except in this song

Time is a traveller, Tenterfield Saddler, turn your head
Ride again Jackaroo, think I see kangaroo up ahead
Time is a meddler, Tenterfield Saddler, make your bed
Fly away cockatoo, down on the ground emu up ahead
Time is a tale teller,Tenterfield Saddler, turn your head …………………



The late Peter Allen (singer/songwriter/dancer and all-round entertainer), was married for a while to Liza Minelli (“the girl with an interesting face”!).

My Sister and B-in-Law do a lovely harmony version of this, but it’s not on-line yet. Many recordings available are overloaded by loud, intrusive instrumentation.
So I have chosen this lovely version by Rick Price. Hope you enjoy this song; I never seem to tire of it!                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtM4a3bheIU


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 01:27 AM

LoL JennieG!    I know what you mean though. An ex often called me "Missus" but that didn't really worry me. But "Woman" is somehow "different"...... :)

Stew, thanks so much to you and Phil for Alan Mann's comp. Paul-the-Stockman digitised the LP and offered it up on his Blog of 11 May 2015, but mentions the lack of liner notes. Have to get WA's super-sleuth Becky back onto it!! :
http://australianfolk.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-08-10T21:00:00%2B10:00&max-results=10&start=40&by-date=false

Plus, I was wondering if you have any of Phil's comps that could be featured on this thread???

Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 12:29 AM

Geez, Stewie.......You have started the fingernails-on-a-blackboard thing, for me. I can't stand that Cootamundra wattle song. A long-ago bloke used to call me "woman"; I hated it then, and I still hate it now.

But that's all right. The world would be a dull place indeed if we all sang the same songs.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Sep 20 - 12:06 AM

COOTAMUNDRA WATTLE
(John Williamson)

Don't go lookin' through that old camphor box woman
You know those old things only make you cry
When you dream upon that little bunny rug
It makes you think that life has passed you by
There are days when you wish the world would stop woman
But then you know some wounds would never heal
But when I browse the early pages of the children
It's then I know exactly how you feel.

(Chorus)
Hey it's July and the winter sun is shining
And the cootamundra wattle is my friend
For all at once my childhood never left me
'Cause wattle blossoms bring it back again

It's Sunday and you should stop the worry woman
Come out here and sit down in the sun
Can't you hear the magpies in the distance
Don't you feel the new day has begun
Can't you hear the bees making honey woman
In the spotted gums where the bellbirds ring
You might grow old and bitter cause you missed it
You know some people never hear such things

Chorus

Don't buy the daily papers any more woman
Read all about what's going on in hell
They don't care to tell the world of kindness
Good news never made a paper sell
There's all the colours of the rainbow in the garden woman
And symphonies of music in the sky
Heaven's all around us if you're looking
But how can you see it if you cry

Chorus

This lovely song always reminds me of the late Chris Pemberton who would trot it out from time to time at the gun turret. Chris was a very fine singer and he had Mississippi John Hurt's guitar style down to a T.

Here is a live rendition from John Williamson. I can relate to the background sound - we often have lorikeets carrying-on in our garden.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Sep 20 - 11:27 PM

A BUSHMAN CAN'T SURVIVE
(John Williamson)

A city girl is happy with her friends and family life
Appreciates a wine with him at night
She tries to find the sparkle, she searches but it's gone
With lots of love she hopes he'll be alright

Her man has gone all quiet, he's not at ease
He doesn't feel at home, he's hard to please
He gets itchy feet, he's tired of noises in the street
He needs to walk for hours through the trees

CHORUS
No a bushman can't survive on city lights
Opera, rock and roll and height of heights
His moon shines on the silver brigalow
Shimmers down the inland river flow
Out there where the yellow belly bites

He's working with his hands today on a building site
He can smell the cypress on the floor
It takes him to a sandy ridge out amongst the pines
No shearin’, no ploughin' anymore

His kelpie dog is tired and fast asleep
Sick of searchin' gardens for the sheep
His master doesn't whistle tunes, he's not in the mood
His love for open spaces runs too deep

Chorus

He tries to please his woman, the lady of his life
He's standing at a party with a plate
She finds him on the balcony staring at the moon
An old familiar face he can relate

His moon shines on the silver brigalow
Shimmers down the inand river
Out there where the yellow belly bites

My friend, Scott Balfour, made a moving recording of this on his 'Mother Land' CD. He said the song had particular poignancy for him because it encapsulates the spirit of his friend Bill Hayes of Deep Well Station - the consummate bushman - who died tragically in a mustering accident.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Sep 20 - 10:44 PM

R-J, Phil excelled himself - lyrics arrived an hour after my request. Great song.

THE TIMBERCUTTERS SONG
(Alan Mann)

In the timber tall and green along the line
You can hear the magpies call and the crickets sing
These sounds the steel will join as the bush saws scrape and whine
You’ll hear the echoes as our axes ring

The teamster all too soon he moves on in
And the logs we cleared to the line he moves away
Eight horses four-be-two and the two-wheel wooden whim
And that axle groans at least six times a day

(Chorus)
Keep those logs rolling boys, down to the mill me boys
Keep those logs a-rolling down
And we'll push the cross cuts through just to show what we can do
And we’ll pave all the streets of London Town

Well the mill train sweats and strains most all the day
Down the twenty mile of track that feeds the mill
Stoker keeps the firebox full with the off-cuts from the day
So later on she’ll make the three-mile hill

And at the mill first tails grip and bark the logs
And then roll them to the benchman standing by
And he’ll slip the mill saw through ne'er care she slips or bogs
And it's then you’ll see the chips and sawdust fly

Chorus

And the planks to the world we’ll ship away
When the weather’s fine, they'll go the Hamelin side
When the nor-wester comes on in, then it’s round by Flinders Bay
On that rolling surf you’ll see the good ships ride

Spare a thought for those chaps who're workin' hard
Next time you walk the streets of London Town
In the forest, at the mill, on the line or in the yard
Just keeping those logs a-rolling down

Chorus

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Sep 20 - 09:18 PM

NOVEMBER
(Junior - Adelaide band)

There’s no colour like blood, there’s no feeling like sun on your skin
There’s no place like home after all the things we’ve seen
One more for the road, one more you can carry me home
Pour me another, I don’t want to be alone

There’s nobody like you and there sure ain’t nobody like me
Not a single soul can know what we feel or see
When you wake at dawn, love the light you see
‘Cos if you see the light, there’s a chance for you and me

Jacarandas in November
All the colours I’ll remember
Lined up down your street in springtime
When the air tastes sweet
Jacarandas in November, I’ll remember
Oh, I - I’ll remember you

The eleventh hour, last stand, you went down
We had our plans just like every man
You and me and Desie in Sydney when we’re free
We made it there in nineteen fifty-three

Jacarandas in November
All the colours I’ll remember
Lined up down your street in springtime
When the air tastes sweet
Jacarandas in November, I’ll remember
Oh, I - I’ll remember you

And your slouch hat and your photographs
Only me you left behind
I’ll never forget you, you’re forever young
In my mind, forever young

Jacarandas in November
All the colours I’ll remember
Lined up down your street in springtime
When the air tastes sweet
Jacarandas in November, I’ll remember
Oh, I - I’ll remember you

There’s no colour like blood, there’s no feeling like sun on your skin

I reckon 'November' is a ripper little song, but I'm probably prejudiced because I was born and raised in Adelaide before moving to Darwin. It is from folk rock group Junior's 'Fibro Majestic' CD. You can listen to the CD on Spotify.

The above is my transcription from YT video. I don't know which member or members of the band wrote the song. It's a beaut video of jacarandas.

Youtube clip

Junior bio

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Sep 20 - 08:56 PM

R-J, great posts. I was unaware of the Georgette rescue story. 'Bridal Train' and the Waifs' early albums are great favourites of my wife.

I recently recovered my 'West Australian Bush Bands' LP from its long-borrowed status. Alas, there is no insert or sleeve notes. However, Phil Beck has the lyrics for 'Timbercutters Song' and will send them to me.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 28 Sep 20 - 09:54 AM

THE TIMBERCUTTERS SONG

W,A, Bush Orchestra

at long last, here is the song link :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jw_7_7wjEc

The chords are online, but not the lyrics.
(and I no longer have the energy! My little truckle bed is calling me :)


R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 28 Sep 20 - 09:48 AM

(What Will We Do With) Maud Butler

by John Thompson

Maud Butler had a brother in the army
And so she made her way to Sydney town
At 17 she knew her mind
She wouldn't just be left behind
And so Maud tried to join the army

Chorus:
Oh, what will we do with Maud Butler?
She dresses as a soldier and she wants to go to war
She jumped a ship to cross the foam
Better than any stay-at-home
The prettiest little soldier-boy the Army ever saw.

A lovely farmer's daughter from old Kurri Kurri town
When she tried to sign on as a nurse they turned the poor girl down.
So she bought herself some soldier's gear
Cut her hair and wiped her tears
And she climbed up a rope to board a transport

Three days in a life-raft with not a bite to eat
Til bold as brass she walked the decks, the sailor-boys to meet
An officer saw her walking about
Her boots were wrong, they found her out.
Poor Maud was put ashore in dear old Melbourne

Only two months later, Maud was back on board again
Another attempt to see the front, in the company of men
“I'll do my bit to help the war”
She told them when she was back on shore
"I just want to be a soldier"

This young girl's an example to all of those who shirk
Where other's would have given up, Maud Butler went to work
A lesser girl would have had enough
But Maud was made of sterner stuff
So raise a cheer and sing of Miss Maud Butler


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wtxja9EX0A

Notes by John Thompson :
Mark Cryle was kind enough to tell me about the amazing Maud Butler, a seventeen-year-old girl who was so keen to help the war effort in 1915, that she bought up a uniform one piece at a time and then stowed away on a troop ship. Twice!

Her amazing story is well worth telling. There are some especially good links online to original news stories about her exploits:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/129568967?

and for her persistent offending:


http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/109949097?




Cheers, R-J