Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Apr 21 - 02:52 AM

STIMULUS PACKAGE by John Dengate 2010 Tune: Fiddlers’Green

Chorus:
Oh, I'm tired of the stimulus package,
It's not stimulating at all;
Wayne Swan's so depressing.
I feel like undressing
And dancing in George Street outside the town hall.

There should be a system imposing large fines
For they keep on repeating the same bloody lines –
Five minutes of Gillard requires six beers
And damned Lindsay Tanner just bores me to tears.

Oh, where have the colourful characters gone?
Kevin Rudd stands up and drones on and on –
An hour-long lecture to him’s a brief chat…
But he isn’t John Howard…I’m grateful for that…

Bring back Paul Keating and then let him loose;
What parliament needs is some decent abuse –
Some nasty invective with insults that bite,
Some poisonous speeches with plenty of spite…

Notes
Many thanks to John Dengate for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.

video-Fiddler's Green sung by author John Connolly
As John said in 1989 in the Author's Ramblings in My Shout Again - I still refuse ti apologise fro pinching tunes. I wish it to be known I only pinch quality tunes.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Apr 21 - 03:00 AM

AWAY, YOU SHAKY TURNBULL © John Dengate 2009
Tune: Shenandoah

video - Bruce Springsteen singing Shendandoah

Oh, what a chore to have to hear them,
Away, you shaky Turnbull.
Oh, please, oh, please don’t let me near them.
Away, with Mal and Joe
And good bye, Costello.

Julia Gillard's feeling cocky.
Away, you shaky Turnbull
She's scoring goals in games of Hockey.
Away, with Mal and Joe
And good bye, Costello.

The Liberal Party is unlucky,
Away, you shaky Turnbull
The prize they won was Wilson Tuckey
Away, with Mal and Joe
And good bye, Costello.

They are the devil's worst invention,
Away, you shaky Turnbull
Lock them all up in detention
Away, with Mal and Joe
And good bye, Costello.

The leadership is quite dyspeptic
Away, you shaky Turnbull
For Minchin is a climate sceptic
Away, with Mal and Joe
And good bye, Costello.

They’re paranoid, their front bench speakers,
Away, you shaky Turnbull
The way they fear asylum seekers
Away, with Mal and Joe
And good bye, Costello.

Notes
Many thanks to John Dengate for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.

It really needs updating - I wonder if Dale would like to do it, I'll ask her!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 15 Apr 21 - 09:54 PM

THE SUNSHINE DISASTER
(Unknown)

He was driving a Bendigo engine
The train was running all right
It was going along as usual
Till Sunshine came in sight
He put on his brakes and he whistled
For the signal was against the train
He applied his brakes for emergency
But alas ‘twas all in vain

Chorus
If those trains had only run
As they should, their proper time
There wouldn’t have been a disaster
At a place they call Sunshine
If those brakes had only held
As they did a few hours before
There wouldn’t have been a disaster
And a death-roll of forty-four

The doctors and nurses arrived there
And the sight it caused them pain
To see all the wounded and dying
In the wreck of that fateful train
The people of Sunshine ne’er faltered
But assisted with all their power
To help the doctors and nurses
In that awful and painful hour

Chorus

This is from Ron Edwards' big book. He collected it at Lappa Junction in August 1966 from the singing of Bill Leonard who had learnt it some 30 years earlier.

Youtube clip

In the video, Musgrove uses a chorus that Edwards collected from Frank Evans at Mareeba Qld in September 1966.

If those brakes had only gripped
As they did a while before
There would be no Sunshine disaster
Or deaths numbering forty-four
If that guard had only seen
That danger lay ahead
There would be no widows or orphans
But happier homes instead

Sunshine train crash 1908

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 18 Apr 21 - 08:41 PM

FISHERMAN’S DAUGHTER
(The Waifs)

I don't like gold and I don't like pearls
I'm just your regular West Australian fisherman's daughter
I'm a middle-class, folk-singing, guitar-playing girl

I ain't seen the world, no I've not travelled far
I'm saving dollars for a nineteen sixty two
Ruby red interior R series Valiant, mother of a car

I'm a country girl and I’m in a city world pulling up
Pulling over, man, I'm gonna let you through
I'm living in the left-hand lane of my city
Slow down so I can walk this highway with you
Slow down, let me walk it with you

Slow down
We all gotta slow down
Man, I wanna walk that highway with you
With you, you, you

No not yet married, I got no ring on my hand
I got my heart beating for this sweet-loving
Second-hand dealing boy
I'm gonna love him the best way I can - I know I can

I'm a country girl in a city world pulling down
Pulling over, man, I'm gonna let you through
I'm living in the left-hand lane of my city
Slow down so I can walk this highway with you
Slow down, let me walk it with you

I don't like gold and I don't like pearls
I'm just your regular West Australian fisherman's daughter
I'm a middle-class, folk-singing, guitar-playing girl

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Apr 21 - 09:08 AM

I found a verse in Frank Clune's 1957 "Scandals of Sydney Town",

Goodbye, Sydney Town,
Sydney Town, goodbye!
I am leaving you today
For a country far away;
For today I'm stony broke,
Without a single brown.
If I make a fortune
I'll come back and spend it
In dear old Sydney Town
                   OLD SONG

so I went looking for it, & couldn't find it as it actually 2 songs - one about Sydney, the other about Melbourne which was a bit easier to find (thanks to Rob Willis who has seen both songs over the years)

Fortunately TROVE has the sheetmusic for both songs! Goodbye Sydney Town - words Leonard Nelson, music Fred Hall   Goodbye Melbourne Town - words Leonard Nelson, music Fred Hall

1. GOODBYE SYDNEY TOWN - words Leonard Nelson, music Fred Hall. Allen's popular Sixpenny Songs, no. 78

Lonely and sad stood a brave honest lad
On the deck of a steamer one day,
He was working his passage far over the sea
To England many miles away.
He was leaving Australia the land of his birth,
Where he failed to succeed though he tried,
As the ship moved away he took one longing look
At the city he loved, then he cried.
chorus

Goodbye, Sydney Town, Sydney Town, goodbye;
I am leaving you today for a country far away,
Though today I'm stony broke without a single brown,
If I make a fortune I'll come back and spend it in dear old Melbourne Town

From the ship that was now swiftly sailing away
He watched the crowd saying goodbye;
Some with bright faces were cheering their friends,
Others heaved many a sigh,
Still his thoughts were not with that fast fading crowd,
But the old town he loved, oh, so dear,
As he said with a sigh, I'll come back bye-and-bye,
Once again came the words loud and clear.

chorus

On the pier stood the Dad of that stout-hearted lad,
He'd been saying one last fond good-bye;
As he thought of his boy he could not restrain
The tears that would rise in his eye,
For the ship that was now but a speck on the foam
Held all that made life to him dear,
As he turned from the shore with a heart beating sore,
In fancy these words he could hear :

chorus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2. GOODBYE MELBOURNE TOWN - words Leonard Nelson, music Fred Hall. Allen's popular Sixpenny Songs, no. 77

Lonely and sad stood a brave honest lad
On the deck of a steamer one day,
He was working his passage far over the sea
To England many miles away.
He was leaving Australia the land of his birth,
Where he failed to succeed though he tried,
As the ship moved away he took one longing look
At the city he loved, then he cried.
chorus

Goodbye, Melbourne Town, Melbourne Town, goodbye;
I am leaving you today for a country far away,
Though today I'm stony broke without a single brown,
If I make a fortune I'll come back and spend it in dear old Melbourne Town

From the ship that was now swiftly sailing away
He watched the crowd saying goodbye;
Some with bright faces were cheering their friends,
Others heaved many a sigh,
Still his thoughts were not with that fast fading crowd,
But the old town he loved, oh, so dear,
As he said with a sigh, I'll come back bye-and-bye,
Once again came the words loud and clear.

chorus

On the pier stood the Dad of that stout-hearted lad,
He'd been saying one last fond good-bye;
As he thought of his boy he could not restrain
The tears that would rise in his eye,
For the ship that was now but a speck on the foam
Held all that made life to him dear,
As he turned from the shore with a heart beating sore,
In fancy these words he could hear :

chorus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also found this video Goodbye Melbourne Town/Botany Bay/Wild Rover No More (Medley) by Slim Dusty but he only uses the chorus

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: JennieG
Date: 19 Apr 21 - 07:01 PM

I'm pretty sure Alan Musgrave has recorded 'Goodbye Melbourne Town' but can't check until we get home, we're away at present.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Apr 21 - 07:53 PM

oops, a little typo in Alan's surname - Musgrove

discogs.com lists 2 albums, Horseblind and Ratwagging (1977 LP), Australian Old Time Fiddle (2006 CD)
tradandnow.com is still selling Bagman's Gazette (2008) A Young Man and Able (undated CD)

It's not on 'Behind the times' I also had 'The Bagman’s Gazette', & 'Songs They Used to Sing' but I gave them to Ross Fear for his Australian Spectrum radio show when I was downsizing CDs. Suddenly he had a library of 250 Oz folk CDs!!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Apr 21 - 08:45 PM

PARODY FOR GLADYS by Dale Dengate, 2021. tune - Oh Mary Don't you weep Pharaoh’s Army got drownded = Liberal party got downded ...

So many possible lines. John would have had a ball.

Oh Gladys! What a stuff up you made
With dodgy Daryl as your pillow mate.
It was greed for cash that drove his trade
Poor Gladys took his bait.

Oh Gladys! What a fool you have been
With dodgy Daryl for your dalliance man
With cash for visas he was very keen
Oh Gladys; not that man!

Oh Gladys! at corruption you baulk
But dodgy Daryl's changing zones on the land
Trusted him with his pillow talk
And stuck your head in the sand.

Oh Gladys! what a fool you have been
Let dodgy use you as a tool for his gain
Greed as his passion was all to be seen
Oh Gladys, you’re insane.

Watching the painful decline of a once-respected premier Gladys Berejiklian's open embrace of pork-barrelling completes the transformation of a once-respected leader into a premier who presides over a state of sleaze.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: JennieG
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 01:46 AM

Apologies to Alan for mis-spelling his name!

I have 'A young man and able', it's probably on that. I also have 'Together again for the very first time' by Greg O'Leary and Greg Hildebrand, which contains some real gems. I'll check when we get home next week.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 04:59 AM

I also gave Greg & Hildebrand's CD to Ross!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 05:29 AM

Good CD that (O'Leary & Hildebrand) - Stewie has posted some tracks from it .....

Hope you're having a good awaytime, JennieG!

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 05:31 AM

THE OVERLANDERS - trad,

audio

There's a trade you all know well,
It's bringing cattle over.
On ev'ry track,
To the Gulf and back,
Men know the Queensland drover.

CHORUS:
Pass the billy 'round boys!
Don't let the pint-pot stand there!
For tonight we drink the health
Of every overlander.

I come from the northern plains
Where the girls and grass are scanty;
Where the creeks run dry
Or ten foot high
And it's either drought or plenty.

There are men from every land,
From Spain and France and Flanders;
They're a well-mixed pack,
Both white and black,
The Queensland overlanders.:

When we've earned a spree in town
We live like pigs in clover;
And the whole year's cheque
Pours down the neck
Of many a Queensland drover.

As I pass along the roads,
The children raise my dander
Crying "Mother dear,
Take in the clothes,
Here comes the overlander!":

Now I'm bound for home once more,
On a prad that's quite a goer;
I can find a job
With a crawling mob
On the banks of the Maranoa.

From Australian Tradition, No. 19, March, 1960, published by The Folklore Society of Victoria and the Victorian Folk Music Club.

Notes published with the song:
The Overlanders has been in circulation in a number of versions for over 100 years. The earliest surviving one was current in the 1840s and published in the Queensland Camp Fire Song Book in 1865. Russel Ward quotes from this earlier verion.

"All sorts of men I had, from France, Germany and Flanders, Lawyers, doctors, good and bad, in my mob of overlanders" as an indication of the mixture of educated and professional men among outback workers and the high standard of outback literacy. He also quotes this and other versions as showing the nomadic habits of these people and their disrespect for policemen and the law.

The version included here passes "the billy round", in others, the bottle or the "wine cup" is circulated. The tune is that sung by the Victorian Folk Music Club. It is the same as the well-known tune printed in the Overlander Songbook, Bandicoot Ballads and the Penguin Song book with the omission of a couple of the accidental notes. The original tune was probably well-known. John Manifold records having learnt it from his father in his youth and then heard it again many years later from Vance Palmer who had collected it in Sth Queensland. Other versions are quoted in Hugh Anderson's Colonial Ballads and in Stewart and Keesing as being sung to different tunes, one called "Dearest Mae", and another, "The King of the Cannibal Isles".

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: JennieG
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 06:39 AM

We are, thank you,r-j! We spent a couple of weeks in Canberra - we have family there - and are now in Cootamundra, just because we haven't been there before. Met with a distant cousin this morning and will stay a few more days before heading off home.

There is wattle blooming just near our caravan, but it isn't Cootamundra wattle.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 06:56 AM

THE ROBOT SHEARER, by Alan Foster - tune Ryebuck Shearer

video - Ryebuck Shearer sung by Ted Egan

Based on the Australian traditional song "Ryebuck Shearer" and inspired by the fact that a robot has been invented which is supposed to shear sheep.

I come from a factory and my name is F.R.E.D.
With bolts in my guts and chips in my head
My atomic reactor is safely lined with lead
And of course I'm a Robot Shearer.

CHORUS: If I don't shear a tally before I go
My microchips I will surely blow
And straight back to the factory I'll go
To reprogram the Robot Shearer.

Well the acronym F.R.E.D. is not very nice
Ridiculous Electronic Device
What the F stands for you'll not have to guess twice
And they call me the Robot Shearer.

Well the ringer he's a great big red headed lug
He said, "I'll beat this bionic mug"
But he only won 'cause he pulled my plug
And disabled the Robot Shearer.

There's a long haired bloke by the name of Clyde
What he said about me well it wounded my pride
When last seen he was wearing short back and sides
That's one for the Robot Shearer.

It happened one day while shearing a ram
With the delicate touch of my metallic hand
That it didn't quite work out the way I planned
He'll not forget the Robot Shearer.

Whether wool or flesh I can hardly guess
So the sheep often leave in a state of distress
I once heard someone say that I was RS
Which of course stands for Robot Shearer.

LAST CHORUS: If I don't shear a tally before I go
My microchips I will surely blow
And straight back to the factory I'll go
To recycle the Robot Shearer.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 07:12 AM

THE ROBOT SHEARER, by Roland Griffin - tune Ryebuck Shearer.

video - Ryebuck Shearer sung by Ted Egan

Well I've heard about a bloke who's makin' a machine
To take the wool off the sheep and take it off clean
It doesn't need a man so no shears will be seen
And they call it the robot shearer.

CHORUS -
If it don't shear a tally and it's fuses blow
It's silicon chips in the river I'll throw
And it's back to the drawing board the scientist will go
It's the end of the robot shearer.

There's a new one on the board it's the RS21
It doesn't take a tea break at the end of every run
The rousies all call it the galvanized gun
Yes of course it's the robot shearer.

CHORUS

Well it doesn't mind the dags and it doesn't mind the smell
It doesn't even sweat and it's cheap to feed as well
It'll never join the union so I hope it goes to hell
Yes a curse on the robot shearer.

CHORUS

Well it had a little trouble, or so I'm told
It found the ewes were difficult to hold
It seems they don't like him his hands are always cold
Bad luck to the robot shearer.

CHORUS

The boss he didn't mind when it docked all his lambs
Dipped all his wethers and crutched all his dams
But he really did his block when it castrated his rams
It's the sack for the robot shearer.

Published in Stringybark & Greenhide, 4(2), p.28

from Tony Suttor - It was awarded joint first prize in the 1986 Top Half Folk Festival Songwriting Competition, together with Paul Lawler's My Dear Darwin (according to Peter Bate's book Top Half Folk Festivals 1971-2012).

MY DEAR DARWIN was posted by Rich-Joy on page 1 of this thread 20 Aug 20 - 07:36 AM 

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 08:34 AM

Tony Suttor, up in Darwin, just reminded me about this one!! (thanks for the lyrics and the data, Tone) - I've not yet found Mike & Lesley singing it online (as well as being singer-songwriters, they're genealogists - and more!)

DON’T SIGN ON THE EMMA                                 

Mike Murray & Lesley Silvester

        
Stranded in Fremantle I was looking for a berth
I’d just been paid off from a Yankee whaler
I’d heard the schooner Emma was signing on a crew
When I got talking with another sail-or, and he said:

        Chorus:   
      “Don’t sign on the Emma, she’s not the ship for you;
       Don’t sign on the Emma, that’s a warning.
       She’s had her share of troubles and she’s looking for a crew;
       She’s sailing from Fremantle in the morning."                                         
                        
He said “I shipped on board the Emma on her first run up the coast
The ship took all the sail that we could give her
But before a day and night had passed, a sailor we had lost
Then we fouled the anchor in the De Grey River.”
                        
“Next we hit the jetty when we docked at Champion Bay
The passengers and crew were all a-swearing
The Master says ‘The compass wasn’t working right today
And we’ll have to try and find a different bearing.’ ”   So…
                        
“The next trip was no better when we headed for the North
We had a mob of sheep to take to Roebourne
Then up at the Abrolhos we stranded on a reef and
We had to build a raft to bring the sheep home.”   So…
                        
Well, I thought about the sailor as I walked down to the quay
And I saw the Emma stranded on the sand spit
I watched as she refloated – and then she lost her mast
So I decided that the Emma wasn’t my ship.   So…
                      
Weeks went by and then the news the Emma had gone down
And all the town was talking the next morning
And I thought about the words that the sailor said to me:
“Don’t sign on the Emma, that’s a warning.”   No…
                        
                                              
1867 Emma, Australian schooner, Ningaloo Reef - https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Shipwrecks_of_Western_Australia
http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/wrecks/emma Built Lowestoft Suffolk 1859, Fremantle 1866 Walter Padbury, lost 1867 Ningaloo Reef.

Notes with CD:   “The Emma was plagued with misfortune from the start. Brought to Western Australia by the pastoralist and merchant Walter Padbury in 1865, she only managed to complete two voyages up and down the coast of Western Australia, before she was lost on her third voyage, returning from Roebourne to Fremantle. Over a hundred years later her wreck was located on a reef off Coral Bay. During her short but eventful life on the coast, she suffered a host of misfortunes, and quickly gained a reputation as an unlucky ship, to be shunned by sailors.”



R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 20 Apr 21 - 09:36 AM

I was sure we had this posted already, but I think it MAY have just been an honourable mention?!!


THE WRECK OF THE DANDENONG

trad

Oh, wild and furious blew the blast
And the clouds were hanging round
When the Dandenong from Melbourne sailed
For Newcastle port was bound
With eighty-three poor souls on board
Through the storm she cleaved her way
And it's sad to relate of the terrible fate
'Twas just off Jervis Bay.

And I dream of you, I dream of sleep, I dream of being warm
But through the night I have to sail, to brave this raging storm.

While steaming through the briny waves
Her propelling shaft gave way
And the waters they came pressing in
Which filled them with dismay
All hands on board did all they could
Till at length all hope was gone
And they hoisted a signal of distress
On board of the Dandenong.

It was not long until a barque
A brisk and lively crew
Came bearing down and the Captain said
"We'll see what we can do!"
Came bearing down with might and main
In spite of wind or wave
They did all they could as Christians would
Those precious lives to save.

And I dream of you, I dream of sleep, I dream of being warm
And pray the sea will leave me be, to see another dawn.

While some in boats they tried to reach
That kind and friendly barque
And numbers of their lives were saved
And then the night came on pitch dark
What mortal man then could do more
When the storm increased on strong
And the rest now sleep in the briny deep
Along with the Dandenong.

And I dream of you, I dream of sleep, I dream of coming home
But a mile of water buries me, beaneath this raging foam.


NB : using Kate Burke & Ruth Hazleton’s additional choruses…….

The Raglins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKVzCdaZ6Fk

And here’s an a cappella harmony version from trio, The Ballina Whalers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J87keZ4YLY


Notes:
John Meredith collected this song from 73 year old Mary Byrnes in 1954. In his "Folk Songs of Australia" he writes :   
"This was one of the songs learned by Mary Byrnes when she was a little girl. ….. The wreck described in the ballad ocurred in September 1876."

There’s another variant on Mark Gregory’s excellent website, along with many more Notes :   http://folkstream.com/107.html


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 21 Apr 21 - 10:40 PM

Sandra and Jennie, 'Goodbye Melbourne Town' is not on 'Young man and able', 'The Bagman's Gazette' nor 'Songs they used to sing'.

THE MAN I MIGHT HAVE BEEN
(Gary Shearston)

I’ve been a long time in the wilderness
Picking up the pieces
I’ve been a long time on a mountain top
Staring at the sea
There’s been a chain around this heart of mine
Linked to life’s caprices
There’s been a song deep down inside of me
Longing to be free

Well everybody has to bear the cross
When they burn their fingers
And everybody has their nemesis
Waiting in the wings
I know I’ve been my own worst enemy
Putting trust in swindlers
But then I guess for simple-hearted souls
That’s the way of things

Lord, my hand is on the plough
Shine new light upon the scene
As I ask forgiveness now
Of the man I might have been
Heart and soul desire
Pentecostal fire
To turn lead to gold
And the mystic rose of old unfolds

Now as I count the cost of my mistakes
Add them all together
I see I’ve been a fool so many times
But a fool made wise
For where’s the wisdom in adversity
Unless it teaches whether
You come to understand with certainty
Only love survives

Lord, my hand is on the plough
Shine new light upon the scene
As I ask forgiveness now
Of the man I might have been

From his 'Only love survives' album.

Youtube clip

Album note by Shearston:

"There is nothing permanent," said Heraclitus, "except change." The Man I Might Have Been is a song of transition, of taking stock, of coming to terms, of reflection on the purpose of life's journey. The title comes from a Henry Lawson poem and is also found in one of Morris West's novels. At an earlier date, the English poet, Adelaide Ann Procter (1825-1864), wrote, "No star is ever lost we once have seen. We always may be what we might have been." Heraclitus, by the way, was a Greek philosopher who lived from 540-475 BC. "Upon those that step into the same rivers," he said, "different and different waters flow down."

--Stewie

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: JennieG
Date: 22 Apr 21 - 06:55 AM

Okay - as I said, I'm away until next week. I'll check when we're home again.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Apr 21 - 10:18 PM

Scomo Scares Me by Dale Dengate. tunes - Happy Clappy & Deep in the heart of Texas

Whitney Houston's powerful & soulful version of Jesus loves me
Gene Autry sings deep in the heart of Texas

Scomo scares me this I know
For his actions show me so.
Lumps of coal for brains he bears
Welfare cuts for all health cares.

How good is Scomo,
How good is Scomo
With tax cuts for the wealth, he
Cuts back upon your health.

Scomo scares me this I know
For his actions show me so.
Religious freedom for the few
Who see Hell’s judgment made for you.

How good is Scomo
How good is Scomo
Religious freedom for the few
Who see Hell’s judgment made for you.

Scomo scares me this I know
For his actions show me so.
Climate change he can’t abide
Prays the sun will go and hide

How good is Scomo,
How good is Scomo
Climate change he can’t abide
Prays the sun will go and hide

Scomo scares me this I know
For his actions show me so.
Lack of policy is clear
Drives us folk to drink more beer!

How good is Scomo,
How good is Scomo
Lack of policy is clear.
Drives us folk to drink more beer!
~~~~~~~~~~~
I have been updating my Scomo scares me/… searching for better rhymes. Need that ‘ master of rhymes’ for inspiration?
I wrote them as an addition as Scomo kept doing incompetent things, but being there for the big flashy photo op announcement, but missing in action! I suppose that make them an addendum.
I wrote the Dutton verses several years ago now to sing at Festival by the Sea at Kiama. It was an action song that got everyone involved. (20/04/21)

Scomo scares me this I know
Photo ops he loves to front,
Empty claims he loudly crows,
But actual rollout hard to find.

How good is Scomo, [repeat]
Photo ops he loves to front,
But actual rollout hard to find. [ rhyme?? confront?]

Scomo scares me this I know,
Makes excuses every day,
He wasn’t there, he wasn’t told,
Anyway just blame delay.

How good is Scomo [rep x2]
He wasn’t told,
Makes more excuses to behold
~~~~~~~~~~~

Change of claps and tune … to Deep in the heart of Texas. Audience invited to clap …

He hopes you might
Move to the right
Clap x3
Deep in the heart of taxes

Dutton’s so mean
His acts and schemes
Clap x3
Goes lower than oil in Texas

The poor and Black
Should just go back
Clap x3
Dutton’s like Trump in Texas

Dutton‘s a dope
He cuts off hope
Clap x3
Let’s send him off to Texas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 09:41 PM

Today is Anzac Day in Oz and NZ.

ON EVERY ANZAC DAY
(John Schumann)

Ghosts and memories are loitering still in the corridors of time
There's sorrow, smoke, and stories in the barracks of my mind
I'm with him still in the trenches, I can see his dark, brown eyes
And his courage gave me courage when I was sure we were going to die
I asked him once why he volunteered for that hell-hole far away
To fight for someone else's king and the land they took away
He said, "One invading mob's too many" and then he walked away
And I lost him in the crowds waving flags on the side of the road — like every Anzac Day

From Murray Bridge and Mundrabilla, from Naracoote and Perth
First Australian station hands, shearers, gangers, clerks
And there was no black, there was no white, just a dirty khaki brown
And on our upturned slouch hat brims, we all wore the "Rising Sun"
Soldiers, brothers, all Australians, we had no time for race
When the bullets are whining past your head, you're all just shades of grey
He kept his medals in their box in a drawer — he tucked them well away
But he'd pull them out and put them on and put them back again — on every Anzac Day
Every Anzac, every Anzac, every Anzac Day — on every Anzac Day

Armentieres and Flanders, Tarin Kowt and Salamau-Lae
Amiens and Morotai, Long Tan, Dispersal Bay
Somalia, Crete and Kapyong, Iraq and the Solomons
Paschendaele, Maprik and Tarakan — they were there — the first Australians

And when the show was over and we made it back to Australia's shores
From Pozieres and Herleville Wood, Benghazi and Fremicourt
We drifted back into our lives, and we all tried to hide the scars
Of the tears and fears and terrors that still tracked us down the years
He tried to join the RSL but the bastards wouldn't let him in
They didn't see a soldier, just a first Australian
And I wonder what it was that we fought for and what it was we gave away
There's reconciliation still to come — on every Anzac Day
Every Anzac, every Anzac, every Anzac Day — on every Anzac Day

Coda:
So when the sun sets in the evening, when the dawn lights up the sky
We remember those first Australians, who joined and fought and died
From the missions, bush and station country, towns and Torres Straits
We remember the fighting First Australians — now — and on every Anzac Day
Every Anzac, every Anzac, every Anzac Day — on every Anzac Day, on Every Anzac
Every Anzac, every Anzac, every Anzac Day — on every Anzac Day, on Every Anzac
On every Anzac Day

Youtube clip

We have posted a few poems by Jack Sorensen that have been set to music. This one hasn't been set to music, but it is pertinent to some of the crap occurring today.

TO A FALLEN COMRADE

I hope that I will never see your name
Graven in stone and set in a pubic place
Where one drab day in all the long gay year
Men congregate and speak their platitudes
Saying of you and all the helpless host
Of names which once meant laughter, love and hope
That you were brave and that you freely gave
Your all, that such and such might ever be

I know nor care not whether you were brave
In that dread curtain call of your life's play
You had in you all that I value most
In human kind before they marched you forth
To save, if you did save, the fleeting thing
Flooded with glory light that shone so wan
On you whose glory was your manly heart
You could not be exalted or debased

I will not think of you as when I saw
Your shattered body lying in the sun
Wide vacant eyes fixed on an empty sky
A burlesque in the comely human shape
There is no dignity in violent death
Rather will I remember you as when
On an October day, we climbed the range
And saw our fathers' homesteads in the glen

This 'Late Night Live' program is worth a listen in this context:

Strength of Australia's anti-war sentiment

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 09:59 PM

both perfect & it is time to remind our readers of Phyl Lobl's Battle of the Somme posted 19 Sep 20 - 01:32 AM. Presented by Dingo's Breakfast, one of the archival photos is of a very young soldier looking at the camera ...

Her father was 16 when he enlisted & 18 when he was wounded at the Somme. He enlisted again in 1939 & she was 7 when he came home, then he died the following year.

Dingo's Breakfast Oz music and poetry band have recorded some of Jack Sorensen's songs.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 10:15 PM

SAPPER'S LULLABY
(Fred Smith)

Up past from the Role 2, and down past the gate, out to the flight line
We stood in the sun, slouch hat and gun as two caskets passed us by

And followed the padre, on to the Herc. And out in to the pale summer sky
We walked back to Poppy’s, and went back to work, with the dust still in our eyes

So soldiers, sing me, your sapper’s lullaby
You give it your all, knowing if you should fall
That all good things must die

These young engineers whose job is to clear the roads that we may pass
Always out front and, when they bear the brunt, man it happens fast

Sapper D Smith had a wife and a son, the apple of his eye
Snowy Morland was just 21, way to young to die

Soldiers, sing me, a sapper’s lullaby
You give it your all, Knowing if you should fall
That all good things must die

So go call your mother, call your old man, on that welfare line
Tell 'em you love 'em, while you still can, cause all good things must die

Soldiers, sing me, a sapper’s lullaby
You give it your all, knowing if you should fall
That all good things must die

Fred explains and sings his song:

Youtube clip

One of Australia's finest war poems by folklorist and poet, John Manifold.

THE TOMB OF JOHN LEARMONTH AIF
(John Manifold)

This is not sorrow, this is work:
I build acairn of words over a silent man,
My friend John Learmonth whom the Germans killed.

There was no word of hero in his plan;
Verse should have been his love and peace his trade
But history turned him to a partisan.

Far from the battle as his bones are laid
Crete will remember him. Remember well,
Mountains of Crete, the Second Field Brigade!

Say Crete, and there is little more to tell
Of muddle tall as treachery, despair
And black defeat resounding like a bell

But bring the magnifying focus near
And in contempt of muddle and defeat
The old heroic virtues still appear.

Australian blood where hot and icy meet
(James Hogg and Lermontov were of his kin)
Lie still and fertilise the fields of Crete.

Schoolboy, I watched his ballading begin:
Billy and bullocky and billabong,
Our properties of childhood, all were in.

I heard the air though not the undersong,
The fierceness and resolve; but all the same
They’re the tradition, and tradition's strong.

Swagman and bushranger die hard, die game,
Die fighting, like that wild colonial boy –
Jack Dowling, says the ballad, was his name.

He also spun his pistol like a toy,
Turned to the hills like wolf or kangaroo,
And faced destruction with a bitter joy.

His freedom gave him nothing else to do
But set his back against his family tree
And fight the better for the fact he knew

He was as good as dead because the sea
Was closed and the air dark and the land lost,
'They'll never capture me alive,' said he.

That's courage chemically pure, uncrossed
With sacrifice or duty or career,
Which counts and pays in ready coin the cost

Of holding course. Armies are not its sphere
Where all's contrived to achieve its counterfeit
It swears with discipline, it's volunteer.

I could as hardly make a moral fit
Around it as around a lightning flash.
There is no moral, that's the point of it,

No moral. But I’m glad of this panache
That sparkles, as from flint, from us and steel,
True to no crown nor presidential sash

Nor flag nor fame. Let others mourn and feel
He died for nothing: nothings have their place.
While thus the kind and civilised conceal

This spring of unsuspected inward grace
And look on death as equals, I am filled
With queer affection for the human race.

-- Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 10:41 PM

Featherston was NZ's largest training camp in WWI. 30 000 men were trained there.

PROMISES TO KEEP
(Brendan Connor)

Rain on the wind
Norwester on the break
Snow-clad distant mountains
Shadows on the lake
Safe haven
Safe haven for young men

You are all gone
And the flags no longer crack amid the cheers
It's been so long
And the memories are dulled by passing years
But here amongst these stony fields
Winter's weary shadow steals
And your voices linger on the breeze

March on march on
March on march on
Promises to keep
But miles to go before you sleep
March on march on

Gallant heroes all good men
Drilled and honed in Featherston
March stoic, ripe and eager for their fate
Brothers, cousins, husbands, sons
Wagons, horses, bugles, drums
Trooping to the summit like a snake

Rain on the wind
Norwester on the break
Snow clad distant mountains
Shadows on the lake
Safe haven
Safe haven for young men

You are all gone
And your tents and wooden barracks stand no more
It's been so long
Each passing day a closing door
But here beneath this sallow sky
Now and ever sanctified
Your voices will linger on the breeze

March on march on
March on march on
Promises to keep
But miles to go before you sleep
March on march
March on march on
March on march on

Audio

The Robert Frost poem that inspired the title:

STOPPING BY THE WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

On his death bed, Nehru had his copy of Frost's collected verse opened at this poem with the final stanza underlined.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GerryM
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 05:45 AM

Alan Foster used to post here, as Alan of Australia and as Alan of Oz. Several of his songs can be found scattered around Mudcat: The Wolfhound; It's Not Easy; The Travelling Salesman; Early One Morning; The World's Slowest Swimmer; Seamus and the Lady; How Granny Died. Here's one more. Marg Walters tells me it's based on an actual occurrence, with "Tom" in the song being Tom Hanson, well-known in these parts as a member of The Roaring Forties. The only recording I know of is on a cassette of Alan's, called Cockroaches and Computers.

Cockroach in a Folk Club
Alan Foster

When Tom, the stockman, came to town,
'Twas the hottest night of the year.
And as he sat down in the little folk club,
Pat went out to the bar for some beer.
There were sounds in the air of an Irish ballad,
The Flower of Donegal.
The singer was halfway through her song
When a cockroach appeared on the wall.

Now Tom eyed the roach with a baleful glare,
And wished for his trusty stockwhip.
And not to be daunted, he rose to his feet,
And removed his belt from his hip.
Well, Tom kept his eye on the crawly intruder,
Had that roach in his sights.
He flicked his wrist, and a sound like a shot
Made the singer stop short in her fright.

The cockroach's tail remained on the wall,
Leaving a dark little stain.
The singer remembered the words of the song,
And we all joined in the refrain.
The rest of the cockroach sailed through the air
In a graceful, descending arc,
Just as Patrick emerged through the door with the beer,
And the dog began to bark.
Now, the roach's trajectory took it unerringly
Towards the beer that Pat held,
And he gave a shrill cry and jumped aside
From the place where the roach was propelled.

As Pat jumped aside, a few drops of beer
Fell to the floor in a puddle,
And right in the middle of that pool of beer
The dying cockroach did tumble.
He swam round and round in the amber fluid
As he died from the lethal blow,
And I think of his death in a pool of grog,
And I think, what a great way to go.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 08:52 PM

DINKY DI
(Anon)

He came down to London and straightaway strode
To army headquarters on Horseferry Road
To see all the bludgers who dodge all the strafe
By getting soft jobs on the headquarters staff
Dinky di, dinky di
By getting soft jobs on the headquarters staff

The lousy lance-corporal says, "Pardon me, please
You've mud on your tunic and blood on your sleeve
You look so disgraceful that people will laugh"
Said the lousy lance-corporal on headquarters staff
Dinky di, dinky di
Said the lousy lance-corporal on headquarters staff

The digger just shot him a murderous glance
Says he, "I'm just back from the balls-up in France,
Where bullets are flying, and comforts are few
And brave men are dying for bastards like you!"
Dinky di, dinky di
And brave men are dying for bastards like you!"

"We're shelled on the left and we're shelled on the right
We're bombed all the day and we're bombed all the night
And if something don't happen, and that very soon
Dinky di, dinky di
There'll be nobody left in the bloody platoon!"

The question soon came to the ears of Lord Gort
Who gave the whole matter a great deal of thought
He awarded the digger a VC and two bars
For giving that corporal a kick up the arse
Dinky di, dinky di
For giving that corporal a kick up the arse

This version as printed in John Fahey's 'Great Australian Folk Songs'. Fahey notes that 'verses and variations are endless'. One version has this final stanza:

Now when this war's over and we're out of here
We'll see him in Sydney town begging for beer
He'll ask for a deena to buy a small glass
But all he'll get is a kick in the arse
Dinky di, dinky di
But all he'll get is a kick in the arse

The song is included in Bill Scott's 'Second Peguin Australian Songbook' under the title 'The Digger's Song' with this chorus:

Dinky di, dinky di
For I'm an old digger and can't tell a lie

Danny Spooner recorded it on his 'ard Tack' album without any chorus.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 09:35 PM

THE SONG OF SONGS
(Will Ogilvie)

Let others chant of battle and such wreaths as glory gave
I would rather sing the praises of the dew that dips the daisies
Of the wind that stirs the wattle and the foam that flecks the wave

When others sing the nation and the flag that sweeps the seas
Let them leave me to deliver the old message of the river
And the true interpretation of the wind's voice in the trees

For when the drums are calling men to honour and renown
Turning in their dreamy slumbers they are swayed by softer numbers
Music of a dewdrop falling or a dead leaf drifting down

And when the battle rages and the grey smoke dims the skies
There's a voice that makes them listen till the gathering teardrops glisten
And the love that lit the ages brings the roselight in their eyes

Let others chant of battle and such wreaths as glory gave
I would rather sing the praises of the dew that dips the daisies
Of the wind that stirs the wattle and the foam that flecks the wave

Graham Jenkin put a tune to this Ogilvie poem: page 61 of his 'Songs of the Great Australian Balladists'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 09:44 PM

Dinky Di is so famous, how could we have missed it?

I've been going through John Thompson's Oz Folk Song of the Day & found a lot of good stuff!

FREMANTLE GAOL by Sandgroper - aka L.G. Montgomery
Moondyne Joe and other Sandgroper Ballads (1969) by L.G. Montgomery

Audio

Now beware all you wayward young fellows,
Take heed of my sorrowful tale;
Transported to Western Australia
For a convict in Fremantle Gaol

Chorus:
Oh my darling she cries every morning
Oh, my darling she cries every day

They told us to build our own prison,
A broad arrow dungeon of stone
With a high prison wall on the hilltop
And a cold narrow cell all alone

It's seven long years I've been taken,
I've been flogged with the chains that I've worn
What hope has a man without freedom
He'll wish that he never was born

There's a convict who struck down his gaoler,
From the quarries of labour he fled;
With the trackers and dogs in his footsteps
And a felon's reward on his head.

Now beware all you wayward young fellows
Take heed of my sorrowful tale
For tomorrow they take me and hang me
From the gallows of Fremantle Gaol.


To the tune of "Tarpaulin Jacket", from "The Wildflower Songsheet of Australian Ballads", printed in WA by Imperial Printing Co Pty Ltd (undated).

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 10:01 PM

I've also been looking at the Joy Durst Songbook (Victorian Folk Music Club, 1st ed 1970, 2nd 1980, 3rd edition (download ) 2000 - 100 songs with dots, & lots more features!

004 - THE COCKIES OF BUNGAREE   coll from Simon McDonald video

Now all you blokes take my advice and do your daily toil
But don't go out to Bungaree to work in the chocolate soil
For the days they are so long me boys, they'd break your heart in two
And if ever you work for Cocky Bourke, you very soon will know

Chorus
Oh we used to go to bed you know a little bit after dark
The room we used to sleep in it was just like Noah's Ark
There were dogs and cats and mice and cats and pigs and poulteree
But I'll never forget the time we had while down in Bungaree

Oh the first thing Monday morning sure to work we had to go
My noble cocky says to me "Get up you're rather slow"
The moon was shining gloriously and the stars were out you see
And I thought before the sun would rise I'd die in Bungaree

Oh he called me to my supper at half-past eight or nine
He called me to my breakfast before the sun did shine
And after tea was over all with a merry laugh
The old cocky says to me "We'll cut a bit of chaff"

Now when you are chaff cutting boys isn't it a spell
Yes by jove it is says I and it's me that knows it well
For many of those spells with me they disagree
For I hate the jolly night work that they do in Bungaree

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 10:13 PM

Joy Durst 005 THE COD FISH SHANTY video

Melbourne girls, they have no combs,
Heave away, heave away,
They comb their hair with cod-fish bones,
And we're bound for Australia

Chorus - Heave away, my bully bully boys, heave away, heave away
Heave away, why don't you make a noise,
And we're bound for Australia.

2. Melbourne boys, they have no sleds,
Heave away, heave away,
They slide downhill on cod-fish heads,
And we're bound for Australia.

3. Liza Lee, she promised me,
Heave away, heave away,
When I return she'll marry me,
And we're bound for Australia.

note from Mark Gregory's Union songs
In his notes for this song in Tradition (Oct 1966) Edgar Waters writes "Versions of this shanty are not uncommon in print, but they are mostly to be found in rather recent, popular books for singers. The shanty is found only rarely in the works which are reliable records of collecting from sailors at first hand".

Australian Tradition (aka Tradition) is published by Victorian Folk Music Club.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 10:22 PM

009 FLOW ON SWEET MITTA, words & music composed by Mrs D. Pendergast, coll. by Folk Lore Society of Victoria.

dots here

Flow on, sweet Mitta, so close to my door,
Caressing the willows that grow by your shore,
Reflecting the shadows and dancing with rain,
Those golden leaves passing will ne'er pass again.

2. You come from the mountains of ice, wind and snow,
And cascade down valleys, to green fields below.
It's there that you linger, it's there that you stay,
Sporting with fishes, by night and by day.

3. Oft' when I'm weary, as evening draws nigh,
I sit by my window to watch you flow by,
You haunt and you charm me like the sweet scented air,
hat drifts o'er the mountains, and dwells with me here.

4. You're a soul-soothing river, so deep and so calm,
When storm waters gather, you do me no harm,
Do you flow on for ever, or like man must die,
When my soul is resting, I know you'll pass by.

NLA has sheet music for this song, publ. by Allens Music, 1966

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 10:40 PM

Joy Durst no. 012 THE KELLYS, BYRNE AND HART Bushwhacker broadside no. 13

also in the Digital Tradition with tune The Wearing of the Green John McCormack singing Wearing of the Green.

It was in November, seventy-eight, when the Kelly Gang came down,
Just after shooting Kennedy in famed Euroa town;
Blood horses they were all upon, revolvers in their hand,
They took the township by surprise, and gold was their demand.
Ned Kelly walked into the bank, a cheque all in his hand,
For to have it changed for money, now of Scott he did demand;
And when that he refused him, he looking at him straight
Said, "See here, my name's Ned Kelly, and this here man's my mate."

2. They rode into Jerilderie town at twelve o'clock at night,
Aroused the troopers from their beds and gave them an awful fright;
They took them in their nightshirts, ashamed I am to tell,
They covered them with revolvers and locked them in a cell.
They next acquainted the women-folk that they were going to stay,
And take possession of the camp until the following day.
They fed their horses in the stalls, without the slightest fear,
Then went to rest their weary limbs till daylight did appear.

3. Next morning being Sunday morn, of course they must be good,
They dressed themselves in troopers' clothes, and Ned he chopped some wood,
Now no-one there suspected them, as troopers they did pass,
And Dan, the most religious, took the trooper's wife to Mass.
They spent the day most pleasantly, had plenty of good cheer,
With fried beef steak and onions, tomato sauce and beer;
The ladies in attendance indulged in pleasant talk,
And just to ease the troopers' minds, they took them for a walk.

4. It was when they robbed Euroa bank you said they'd be run down,
But now they've robbed another one that's in Jerilderie town,
That's in Jerilderie town, my boys, and we're here to take their part,
And shout again "Long may they reign ... the Kellys, Byrne and Hart."
As high above the mountains so beautiful and grand,
Our young Australian heroes in bold defiance stand,
In bold defiance stand, my boys, the heroes of today,
So let us stand together boys, and shout again, "Hurray!"

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 06:01 AM

interesting article with links to 9 songs, with audio/video + some with lyrics

From Eric Bogle to Ziggy Ramo: the Australian music challenging the Anzac legacy 50 years since And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Australian songwriters have continued to poke at otherwise unassailable wartime legends

... Songs like Australia Will Be There (1915) (audio & lyrics), Boys of the Dardanelles (1915) (audio & lyrics), and They Were There! There! There! (1916) (audio only) served an explicit role as propaganda and recruitment tools, often glorifying the sacrifice, mateship and heroism of the young men who enlisted. Some, like the Boer war-era Sons of Australia (lyrics & audio), predate the commonwealth, with a call to patriotism that came firmly couched in the language of empire: (“Sons of Australia / Are your pulses thrilling? / Thrilling at the chance to thrash / Your empire’s foes”).

But not all wartime songwriters viewed Australia’s role in a contest of European imperial powers so sunnily. Mark Erickson and P. Clay-Bealer’s Only One of the Toys (1914) (lyrics & audio) speaks to the futility of the conflict, framing Australian soldiers as the disposable playthings of imperial command: “No command is mine / Just a number in the line / For I’m only one of the toys.”

video - Red Angel Panic : Viet Rock (1971)

Redgum - I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green) (Official Video) strangely enough you have to 'Sign in to confirm your age. This video may be inappropriate for some users'.

Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh [Official Lyric Video] (2011)

Lee Kernaghan - Spirit of the Anzacs (Official Music Video)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 07:53 AM

just ran across this

THE GHOST by Terry Fielding & Fred Dyer (Fred used to post on Mudcat)

INTRO: There's a tale they tell of a man on a horse.
His cape is blowin' on the breeze.
With fire in his eyes and a burnin' in his heart,
Has to find his killer to be free.
Ay-die-die, die-de-die-die-die,
De-die-die-die-de-die-de-die.

1. Things were lean in ninety-four.
A poor man had to steal to get along,
But he was caught with a loaf of bread.
The law says in the jail you do belong.

CHORUS: The clamp upon the boards from the hooves of his horse
Made a weird and eerie sound.
The villagers knew as one that the ghost was on the run,
Searchin' for the man who cut him down.
Ay-die-die, die-de-die-die-die,
De-die-die-die-de-die-de-die.

2. He broke from jail one stormy night,
And one man saw him get away.
A hundred pound was the price they set,
And one man needed money on that day.

3. The police behind and the bridge ahead,
He only had to cross it to be free.
The wooden bridge was the borderline
And he almost reached the safety of the trees.

4. His killer lay by the riverside,
A loaded pistol in each hand,
And as he rode by on his horse that day,
He heard a bang [pause for gunshot] and then he died.

video

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:12 AM

I thought I might as well post the songs from The Guardian article

AUSTRALIA WILL BE THERE - by Walter Skipper Francis, 1915. The song quotes from Auld Lang Syne in its chorus and is often given its longer title, For Auld Land Syne - Australia Will Be There.

audio

There are lots and lots of arguments
Going on today
As to whether dear old England
Should be brought into the fray
But all right thinking people
Know well we had to fight
For the Kaiser’s funny business
It wants some putting right.
Rally 'round the banner of your country
Take the field with brothers o'er the foam
On land or sea
Wherever you be
Keep your eye on Germany
But England, home and beauty
Have no cause to fear
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
No, no, no, no, no!
Australia will be there
Australia will be there
You have heard about the Emden ship
Cruising all around
She was sinking British merchant men
Where'er they could be found
But one fine morning early
The Sydney hove in sight
She trained her guns upon them
And the German said ‘goodnight’
Rally 'round the banner of your country
Take the field with brothers o'er the foam
On land or sea
Wherever you be
Keep your eye on Germany
But England, home and beauty
Have no cause to fear
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
No, no, no, no, no!
Australia will be there
Australia will be there

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:16 AM

from the Guardian article -

BOYS OF THE DARDANELLES - the best-known composition by Marsh Little (1880-1958), particularly effective for encouraging recruitment.

lyrics & audio

VERSE 1
Old England needs the men she breeds
There's fighting to be done.
Australians heard, and were prepared,
To help her every son.
From out the bay they sailed away,
Our pride, Australia's own,
And so to-day they're far away
And some in great unknown.

CHORUS
Boys of the Dardanelles,
They faced the shot and the shells,
Down in hist'ry their fame will go,
Our children's children their daring deeds will know
Australian lads in khaki and in blue <
Have shown the World what they can do.
How they fought and fell
The cables daily tell,
Boys of the Dardanelles.

VERSE 2

Neath foreign skies with eager eyes,
Those boys of the Dardanelles,
By the dear old flag with never a lag,
Have fought and served it well.
From scraping keel, with plunging steel,
They quickly got to work.
In khaki kit they did their bit,
And soon were upon the Turk.

CHORUS x 2

VERSE 3 (not on this recording)
When war is o'ver, and home once more,
Come Boys from the Dardanelles,
To them we'll raise our hats in praise,
And we'll hear the stories they'll tell.
It was their lot to get it hot,
Some quite new at the game.
Their gallant dash the foe to smash
Will live on the roll of fame.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:27 AM

from The Guardian article -

THEY WERE THERE!! THERE!! THERE!! music by Bert Rache, lyrics by Private Harley Cohen of the 4th Battalion AIF, written in the trenches 1916

audio probably preformed by Peter Dawson   They Were There sheet music with words (too small to read)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:34 AM

from The Guardian article -

SONS OF AUSTRALIA written by prolific English music hall composer Felix McGlennon in 1900, during the Second Boer War.

lyrics & audio

VERSE 1

Sons of Australia
Hear the Mother calling
Calling to her boys who’re
Scattered far and wide
Sons of Australia
Hear those insults galling
She who bore you wants her offspring
Standing by her side
Bred for fighting, built to stay
Never yielding, never knew the way
When they defied our Mother
Threatened with their guns
Did they think that such a grand Old Mother had no sons?

CHORUS
Did they think that England stood alone?
Have they heard how to her side we’ve flown?
Sons of Australia
Strike for your Empire Grand,
Fight as your Mother taught you to,
For the dear old land


VERSE 2

Sons of Australia
Are your pulses thrilling?
Thrilling at the chance to thrash
Your Empire’s foes
Sons of Australia
How your ranks are filling
As you think of Motherland
Your hearts’ blood quicker flows
Pluck and muscle, blood and brain
Born of heroes linked in Empire’s chain
Proud of your grand old birthright
Glorious and free
Mighty Monarch of the Nation’s ruler of the sea

CHORUS
Did they think that England stood alone?
Have they heard how to her side we’ve flown?
Sons of Australia
Strike for your Empire Grand,
Fight as your Mother taught you to,
For the dear old land

VERSE 3 (not included in this recording)

Sons of Australia
Read your Empire’s story
How your Father’s built it
Shall that Empire wane?
Sons of Australia
Ne’ver must fade their glory
Vow what gallant sires have fought for
Their sons will maintain
Heav’n hath willed it
Tis decreed world wide
Rulers we the grand old breed
We who have fought for freedom
Scorning all things base
Must fulfil our destiny
To be the ruling race

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:41 AM

from The Guardian -

ONLY ONE OF THE TOYS, described on its sheet music as a ‘pathetic soldier song’, was written by Mark Erickson and P. Clay-Bealer only a few months after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Despite its gloomy subject, this 1914 song was surprisingly popular in its day.

lyrics & audio

A soldier was saying “Goodbye” to his wife
He was marching that day to the war
His little son played with a gallant toy brigade
Of brightly painted soldiers on the floor
The boy looked up from his scene of mimic strife
And he said, “Daddy when to war you go,
Will you have a reg’ment too, will you drill it like I do?”
But his father answered “No”

I’m only one of the toys, my boy,
I do what I’m told to do
Perhaps I’ll fall, be forgotten by all
All but your mammy and you
I do my best along with the rest
When I march with the Brave Old Boys
No command is mine, just a number in the line
For I’m only one of the toys

The battle was over and there on the ground
Lay a soldier in pain waiting death
His comrade bent his head just to hear the words he said
That came so slowly with his dying breath
“My dear old pal, you will soon be homeward bound
Tell my wife all that you have heard me say
And remind my little Jim of the words I said to him
On the day I marched away”

I’m only one of the toys, my boy,
I do what I’m told to do 
Perhaps I’ll fall, be forgotten by all 
All but your mammy and you 
I do my best along with the rest 
When I march with the Brave Old Boys 
No command is mine, just a number in the line
For I’m only one of the toys

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:09 PM

Sandra reminded me that this piece of doggerel was posted a few years ago by well-known Aussie folkie, Tony Suttor, who lives in Darwin. Based on 'Bloody Orkney', it supposedly came from a soldier based in Darwin in 1941.

BLOODY DARWIN

The bloody town's a bloody cuss
No bloody trams, no bloody bus
And no one cares for bloody us
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

The bloody roads are bloody bad
The bloody folks are bloody mad
They even say 'you bloody cad'
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

All bloody clouds and bloody rain
All bloody stones, no bloody drains
The council's got no bloody brains
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

And everything's so bloody dear
A bloody bob for bloody beer
And is it good? No bloody fear
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

The bloody 'flicks' are bloody old
The bloody seats are bloody cold
And can't get in for bloody gold
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

The bloody dances make me smile
The bloody band is bloody vile
They only cramp your bloody style
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

No bloody sports, no bloody games
No bloody fun with bloody dames
Won't even give their bloody names
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

Best bloody place is bloody bed
With bloody ice on bloody head
And then they say you're bloody dead
Oh bloody, bloody Darwin

Bloody Orkney

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:32 PM

BOLD TOMMY PAYNE
(Jack Crossland)

I'll tell you a story, it's sad but it's true,
Of the wild pigs where I come from and the damage they do.
There once was a farmer called Bold Tommy Payne
Who grew some sweet Pindar and Q.50 cane.

It was late in the evening an old boar he came,
And he started a-dining on Bold Tommy's cane,
So up stepped Bold Tommy, the fire in his eye,
He cursed and he swore that the old boar must die.

He reached for his rifle that stood by the door,
And he called for his pig-dogs, and they came by the score.
Then down to the caneflelds, all dressed for the fray
In waistcoat and trousers, Bold Tom made his way.

As he stood on the headland and gazed all around
He heard the cane cracking, and he heard a strange sound.
As the big boar came charging straight for Bold Tom,
The dogs were all barking and the battle was on!

Up stepped Bold Tommy, six feet in the air,
As he straddled the porker he heard his pants tear,
Well, you should have heard the language and the words of Bold Tom
When he found to his sorrow his trousers were gone.

Now out in old Smithfield where the Pindar it grows,
The folks tell the story and they ought to know;
How up on Black Mountain that old boar resides,
And they say that he's still wearing Bold Tommy's strides!

Lyrics as printed in Edwards' big book and second penguin book of Australian folksongs.

Youtube clip

Bill Berry sang a different set of lyrics:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Apr 21 - 12:21 AM

intro to Bold Tommy Payne- https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=34376

The following is basically from Singabout, Journal of Australian Folksong, Volume. 4, Number 1, 1960, pp 6 & 7, Bush Music Club, Sydney, (with additions and minor corrections from Singabout, Volume. 4, Number 3, 1961, p15).

The author is the indefatigable collector Ron Edwards of Kuranda, North Queensland.

The dangers of mistaking a recent song for a traditional one are very real and Bold Tommy Payne with its references to pig dogs and wild boars is good case in point. Written as recently as 1953, it has already appeared on LP records and in the Queensland Centenary Songbook, under the heading of "traditional" on William Clausen's record and "heard in Garradunga Pub1947" in the songbook.
:
In 1953 Jack Crossland, the author of the song and John Crane (Tom Payne) both canefarmers of Smithfield, N. Q. were out hunting wild pigs which come down from the Kuranda ranges and cause extensive damage in the canefields. Their pig dogs set up a big black and white boar which came charging down the track towards them. Jack set off smartly for the nearest sapling but John was slower and the boar caught him, tusking him in the groin and tearing his clothes about.
:
Later on both men saw the humour of the incident and Jack Crossland wrote a song about the incident, "Bold Johnny Crane" which soon became very popular in the district. When the American singer William Clausen visited Cairns he heard the song and later put it on his record of Australian songs. He changed the name Johnny Crane to Tommy Payne at the request of the Crane family. Originally sung to the tune On Top of Old Smokey it was later. changed to Villikins and his Dinah. Here then is the original: -

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Apr 21 - 08:43 PM

Sandra, thanks for posting the link to Bob Bolton's thread re 'Bold Tommy Payne'. I was too slack to reproduce the notes in Edwards' big book. It is curious that Scott didn't include or even mention the Garradunga text in his Peguin book.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Apr 21 - 09:14 PM

TO THE NORTH
(Unknown/Tune: 'I'm Afloat')

To the the North! To the North! To the land of the blacks
For hundreds of miles you can keep pushing back
For tucker and water you'll often go short
While humping your drum far away in the North

To the North! To the North! Where the squatters go bung
Greenhide is their mainstay, their crops kurrajong
With scabbies and shin-plasters, they pay all their men
They feed them on pig-weed, sour-thistle, fat-hen

To the North! To the North! The last place God made
The contract unfinished, lost, stolen or strayed
With coolies, black labour and lots of the sort
Ante-up is the gospel they preach in the North

Collected in Mareeba Qld in 1966 by Ron Edwards from the singing of Frank Evans and his brother and sister who had learned it from their uncle, an early overlander. Edwards noted that a diet of pig-weed and sour-thistle would not be relieved by the odd meal of poultry for fat-hen is another plant. It is also known as 'Good King Henry' and used as a substitute for spinach. 'Scabbies' were diseased sheep and 'shin-plasters' promissory notes which would often fall to pieces in the stockman's pocket before he could get to the nearest town and cash them.

The tune is the 1843 song 'Im Afloat', published in England with words by Eliza Cook and music by Henry Russell. It was enormously popular and many parodies were written to the catchy tune.

I'm Afloat

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GerryM
Date: 27 Apr 21 - 10:05 PM

"Me and Cheryl McGraw", Australian parody of "Me and Bobby McGee", already appears in a couple of threads on Mudcat (https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=167067 and https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=20525). It has gone through a lot of folk-processing in its short career, no two sources seem to have the same lyrics. The lyrics below are from The Shonky Songbook, edited by Paul Mortimer and Greg Snook, published 1992.

Me and Cheryl McGraw (to the tune of Me and Bobby McGee)
Lyrics by Lee Williams

I was down and out in Wollongong, waiting for a bus,
Feeling near as daggy as me jeans.
Cheryl thumbed a Holden down, riddled full of rust.
Took us all the way to Narrabeen.

I pulled me didgeridoo out of me Penrith Panthers t-shirt,
Blowin' sad while Cheryl combed her hair.
With them windscreen wipers flappin' time,
I got stuck on the fourteenth line
Of the nineteenth verse to Advance Australia Fair.

Chorus:
'Cos freedom's just another word for being unemployed.
A dollar ain't worth nothing any more.
Feeling good is easy, mate, with a stubby in your hand.
Feeling good is good enough, for sure –
As long as it means feeling Cheryl McGraw.

From the steel mills of Port Kembla to the brilliant Bondi sun,
Cheryl shared me Chiko rolls and pies.
Yes, she stood right beside me, she was sweating like Phar Lap.
Thank Gawd for Aerogard to keep away the flies.

But somewhere near Maroubra, I let her slouch away
With a long-haired hippie poofter from Balmain.
And I'd even trade me Dennis Lillee autographed cricket box
For another night with Cheryl's sister Jane.

Chorus

So Cheryl and her hippie mate got married in North Sydney.
He's a bank clerk, she's a bank clerk, too.
And while he plays pool at the RSL, she watches "Sale of the Century",
'Cos in Pennant Hills there's bugger-all else to do.

And I wonder if she thinks of me as she microwaves her hubby's tea,
And the youngest kid has pooped his pants again.
As she downs another Valium, if she ever wonders what's become
Of me, she'll have to ask her sister Jane.

Chorus

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Apr 21 - 10:06 PM

Back in Nov last year, 3 Les Darcy songs were posted to this songbook. Here is an earlier one:

LES DARCY

Way down in Tennessee
There lies poor Les Darcy
His mother's pride and joy
Their Maitland's bonny boy
All I can think of tonight
Is to see Les Darcy fight
How he beats them
Simply eats them
Every Saturday night
And people in galore
Said they never saw
The likes of Les before
Upon the stadium floor
They called him a skater
But he proved to them a fighter
And he gave up hope
When he got that dope
Way down in Tennessee

This is included in Bill Scott's Penguin compilation. It was also collected by Ron Edwards from Pat Murphy in north Queensland and is printed in his big book. Russel Ward published the original words in his 'Penguin Book of Australian Ballads'. Ward believes it was written by 'Percy the Poet' ( real name P.F. Collins) who sold his street ballads in Sydney in the 1920s and 1930s.
Here is Percy's ballad:

THE DEATH OF LES DARCY

In Maitland's cemetery
Lies poor Les Darcy
His mother's pride and joy
Australia's bonny boy
How we long for the night
Just to see Les Darcy fight
How he beat 'em
Simply eat 'em
Every Saturday night

Chorus
There lies young Les Darcy
Who we know was so ill-advised
When the sad news reached us
How the tears stood in our eyes
His one great ambition
Was to fight at the Golden Gate
But the Yanks called him from us
Proved to be the sad hand of fate

The critics by the score
Said they never saw
A lad like him before
Upon the stadium floor
Oh the Yanks thought him a skater
But he proved himself a fighter
So they killed him
Yes, they killed him
In Memphis Tennessee

The belief that Darcy was poisoned by rival fighter was widespread in Australia. There was also a general belief that the Yanks poisoned Phar Lap. Darcy died of pneumonia.

Darcy bio

The tune for the version in Scott's compilation was a popular song of the time. The soldiers of the First AIF also had a parody of the tune which Scott presented alongside the Darcy song.

Down in the old front line
Oh, that won't do for mine
Among the mud and slime
Amidst the slush and grime
All I can think of tonight
Is the parapet so white
Bombs are popping, shells are dropping
No relief in sight
The rum we ought to get
We see no signs of yet
You bet we'll get trench feet
With nothing hot to eat
There's tons of shells to chase us
And no dug-outs to save us
Till we get back, till we get back
Where there's wine and cheer for us

Down in the old front line

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Apr 21 - 07:52 PM

We're home after a trip Down South, where the autumn colours were lovely and where The One And Only Grandkid is shooting up like a weed.

"Goodbye, Melbourne Town" is not on the O'Leary and Hildebrand CD. Deep in the dark recesses of my brain I can hear it being sung......but by whom, I wonder?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Apr 21 - 09:19 PM

TO THE GULF

To the Gulf! To the Gulf! To Australia's fag-end
Where all kinds of misery walks hand in hand
Where a man is soon done if he's willing to broil
And the strongest soon finds himself under the soil
Where the squatters are rapidly going to pot
And the men are all dying like sheep, of the rot
When I'm tired of existence my steps I will bend
To that fair land of promise, Australia's fag-end

To the Gulf! To the Gulf! To that blissful retreat
Where roguery stalks coolly abroad in the heat
Where a cheque is a cheque if you live till it's got
But the chance is a hundred to one that you'll not
For unless you can live in a swamp like a frog
You may reckon on dying the death of a dog
Then if you're foolish your steps you will bend
To that fair land of promise, Australia's fag-end

To the Gulf! To the Gulf! To the land of the flies
Where each insect tormentor for mastery vies
Which shall plague you the most in the terrible heat
The Gulf is most truly a blissful retreat
Carpentaria! High wages have no charms for me
In an atmosphere pregnant with death on the spree
When I've no other refuge my steps I will bend
To that Gulf full of horrors, Australia's fag-end

Another parody set to the Down in the old front line tune. Russel Ward discovered it in a book called 'Colonial Adventures and Experiences' by George Carrington. It is not included in his 'Penguin Book of Australian Ballads', but it is in Bill Scott's Penguin compilation. Ron Edwards collected it from Frank Pitt and published it in his big book.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 01 May 21 - 10:09 PM

PATSY FAGAN
(Traditional)

I left my home in Ireland ’twas many years ago
I left my home in Ireland where the pigs and praties grow
And since I left old Ireland, it’s always been my plan
To show these Aussie people I’m a decent Irish man

Chorus
‘Hello Patsy Fagan’, you’ll hear the girls all cry
‘Hello Patsy Fagan, you’re the apple of me eye
You’re a decent man from Ireland, there’s no one can deny
You’re a harum scrarum devil-may-care-um decent Irish boy’

I’m working here in Aussie and I’ve got a decent job
Shovelling bricks and mortar and the pay is fifty bob
Oh, I wake up in the morning and I wake up with the lark
And as I’m walking down the street you can hear the girls remark

Chorus

Now if there’s one among you who’d care to marry me
I’ll take you to my little home across the Irish sea
I’ll dress you up in satin and I’ll please you all I can
Just to let these Aussie people know I’m a decent Irish man

Chorus

This is a version of an Irish song that was adopted in Australia.   The lyrics above are as printed in Bill Scott's 'The Second Penguin Australian Songbook'. It is a composite version of one published by the Sydney Bush Music Club in 'A Collector's Song Book' and one collected by Alan Scott. The stanzas are in a different order, but it is basically similar to the version in this YT clip linked below. Bill Scott also collected a 'Glasgow' version from a Cloncurry drover, Bert Stacey.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 02 May 21 - 10:17 PM

With the federal budget imminent, it is perhaps appropriate to revisit this oldie.

DYING TREASURER
(John Dengate/Tune: Dying stockman)

A federal treasurer lay dying
His budget supporting his head
The cabinet stood plausibly lying
As he raised on his elbow and said

Chorus
Wrap me up in my jiggery-pokery
Wrap me round in my legerdemain
Bury me deep in the rhetoric
Right next to the monetary drain

There's booze in the cut-glass decanter
Place the numbers all in a row
And toast more and more unemployment
May the total continue to grow

Chorus

Cut down the consumer price index
Put wages and salaries on ice
Lock up one or two union leaders
To help me attain paradise

Chorus

Oh, had I the flight of a bronze-wing
Instead of a blind silver-tail
I'd fly in the face of all reason
And I'd write my last budget in braille

Chorus or alternative last stanza

Oh, had I the flight of an emu
I'd desperately run round and round
And try to soar into the sunset
And never get up off the ground

From John Dengate's 1982 publication 'My Shout'.

--Stewie.