 sj |
||
|
||
Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook
|
|
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 04 Sep 20 - 07:50 PM I posted this fine song decades ago: THE KELLY'S TURNING (Larry King) We're meeting by the riggin' For the word has passed around We'll drink our spree on Texas tea So the drills are goin' down Men roll in from everywhere From France and England too Boomers and boll weevils that make up the drillin' crew Chorus The kelly's turnin', the drill rod churnin' The metal burnin' as she breaks the hard rock floor Rough voices grumblin' The diesel's rumblin' The kelly fumblin' with the key to Satan's door There's Hank and Mac and Paddy From across the sea they've come With Czechs and Swedes, all kinds o' breeds They share a common bond It's music in the air to men Followin' the call When high upon the christmas tree They hear the driller call Chorusr Devil's getting' angry There's a rumblin' in the well For men are cruel who steal the fuel That feeds the fires of hell His heart is big and black as soot And darker is his soul And when he cries, he fills the skies With tears as black as coal Chorus Well, now the drillin's ended So we'll pack our things and go We've drawn a million barrels From a thousand feet below So it's bound for eastern cities Our hard-earned cheques to spend On girls and grog and fancy krog Till the word goes out again Chorus We're meeting by the riggin' For the word has passed around We'll drink our spree on Texas tea So the drills are goin' down Men roll in from everywhere From France and England too Boomers and boll weevils that make up the drillin' crew Chorus Larry King and Alex Hood wrote 2 songs a night for Bill Peach's 'This Day Tonight' show, one of which was telecast. The pair undertook an Arts Council-sponsored tour of Australia as The Prodigal Sons and wrote many songs together. However, 'The Kelly's Turning' is a Larry King solo effort inspired by time spent with the oil rig workers in Exmouth, Western Australia. It is set to a Dutch traditional tune 'The windmill's turning'. Scott Balfour of Alice Springs has recorded it on his excellent CD, 'Mother Land'. --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 03 Sep 20 - 10:39 PM This jaunty piece of nonsense has long been a favourite of mine. IRISH GIRLS (WILL STEAL YOUR HEART AWAY) (Gary Shearston) From Carlow to Tipperary and martyr Ring of Kerry Waterford, Roscommon, Dingle Bay From Sligo to Connemara, Wicklow to Wexford Harbour Irish girls will steal your heart away Now one day by Shannon water, I met a Kerry daughter Riding on a colt of dapple grey She just said her name was Ethne then rode away and left me Thinking I’d been dreaming in the day So I made a quick inquiry up at the local priory An old monk just winked at me and said ‘Ah, for sure, go down the road there, you’ll find a path that’s quite clear Leading to her home but not her bed For her heart is with a stranger whose grave is marked bush ranger They both used to live ‘round here before And together they cavorted until he got transported To Australia from Erin’s shore’ I just figured he was far gone, been on his knees for too long Heard as much as he could absolve But his words came back to haunt, to tease, perplex and daunt me Leaving me a mystery to solve So next day I went a-courting, sweet apples she was sorting Smiled at me then quickly looked away And said of the rose I brought her, ‘I suppose you think that oughta Make me wanna roll you in the hay’ I just laughed and begged and pleaded, she finally conceded Horses we might ride a little way She brought out the dapple grey, called the bay, she said ‘I might just saddle both of them without delay’ Beneath skies of stormy weather, we rode through mountain heather She said that she did not have long to stay Later, strolling by the river, I promised I would give her Anything she wanted not to stray As her fancy I was seeking, I heard a willow creaking And turned around in time to see it sway But, as it began to tumble, it made me trip and stumble Dragged her to the ground in disarray There our arms and legs entangled, and for a while we dangled Then she said goodbye and rode away And although I tried to follow, up hill, down dale and hollow I kept getting lost along the way Then a mist began a-falling, seemed bent upon forestalling Any hope of sign upon the ground Next thing I heard a fiddle, snare drum, a paradiddle I tell you I shivered at the sound So next day I took the quare path, returned again to her hearth It was just a pile of ruined stones Out the back a cross was hedged in, it bore the strangest legend ‘Here lies one of Johnny Doolan’s bones’ From Carlow to Tipperary and martyr Ring of Kerry Waterford, Roscommon, Dingle Bay From Sligo to Connemara, Wicklow to Wexford Harbour Irish girls will steal your heart away Irish girls will steal your heart away Maybe someone could check the accuracy of my above transcription. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 03 Sep 20 - 09:24 PM Here is another one that I first heard on the Cobbers 'Portraits ...' LP. NED KELLY'S FAREWELL TO GRETA (Traditional) Farewell to my home in Greta, to my sister Kate farewell. It grieves my heart to leave you, but here I must not dwell They placed a price upon my head, my hands are stained with gore And I must roam the forest wild within the Australian shore But if they cross my chequered path, by all I hold on earth I'll give them cause to rue the day their mothers gave them birth I'll shoot them down like carrion crows that roam our country wide And leave their bodies bleaching upon some woodland side Oh, Edward, darling brother, surely you would not go So rashly to encounter with such a mighty foe Now don’t you know that Sydney and Melbourne are combined And for your apprehension, Ned, there are warrants duly signed To eastward lies great Bogong, towering to the sky From east to west and then you’ll find that's Gippsland lying by You know the country well, Ned, go take your comrades there And profit by your knowledge of the wombat and the bear And let no childish quarrels cause trouble in the gang Bear up with one another, Ned, and guard my brother Dan See, yonder ride four troopers; one kiss before we part Now haste and join your comrades, Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart Youtube clip Cobbers note: Greta was a town in central Victoria where the Kellys made their home. The song is supposed to be a conversation between Ned Kelly, the famous bushranger, and his sister Kate. It is one of the many songs collected from the 'Kelly Country' around Benella in Victoria and, despite its dubious authenticity, it is a rather lovely song. --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 03 Sep 20 - 08:59 PM GIRLS IN OUR TOWN (Bob Hudson) Girls in our town, they just haven't a care You see them on Saturday floating on air Painting their toenails and washing their hair Maybe tonight it'll happen Girls in our town they leave school at fifteen Work at the counter or behind the machine And spend all their money on making the scene They plan on going to England Girls in our town go to parties in pairs Sit 'round the barbecue, give themselves airs Then they go to the bathroom with their girlfriend who cares Girls in our town are so lonely Girls in our town are too good for the pill But if you keep asking they probably will Sometimes they like you or else for the thrill And explain it away in the morning Girls in our town get no help from their men No one can let them be sixteen again Things might get better but it's hard to say when If they only had someone to talk to Girls in our town can be saucy and bold At seventeen, no one is better to hold Then they start havin' kids and they start gettin' old Girls in our town Girls in our town Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 03 Sep 20 - 08:44 PM Sandra, also thanks to a good friend, I'm fortunate enough to have 3 Affley LPs on CD and also the Australian Folk Archive vintage live recordings CD. Gary Shearston added a tune to Thomas E. Spencer's lovely 'Bonnie Jess'. Spencer is perhaps best remembered for his 'How McDougal topped the score'. BONNIE JESS (T.Spencer/G.Shearston) Now the shearing time is over, Bonnie Jess And the sheep are in the clover, Bonnie Jess By the creek the kine are lowing And the golden crops are growing While the setting sun is glowing, Bonnie Jess And a kiss to you he's blowing, Bonnie Jess To your face the crimson's rushing, Bonnie Jess Ah! I know why you are blushing, Bonnie Jess ‘Tis the memory appearing Of the promise in the clearing When you said twixt hope and fearing, Bonnie Jess You would wed him after shearing, Bonnie Jess And now the shearing time is over, Bonnie Jess And you're looking for your lover, Bonnie Jess And his horse's hooves are ringing As along the road he's swinging And a song for you he's singing, Bonnie Jess And the wedding ring he's bringing, Bonnie Jess I first heard it on the Cobbers' beaut LP 'Portaits of Australian Women' which is still available as a digital download via Bandcamp. Cobbers Shearston --Stewie |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 03 Sep 20 - 05:16 AM it's also on the LP Declan Affley made by Colleen Burke, Mark Gregory & Peter Parkhill in 1987, & I'm lucky enough to have a CD version of it, made by a friend some years back. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 02 Sep 20 - 11:31 PM I did it again. I must stop clearing my website data each evening. But, as Art Thieme would say, when your memory's shot, forget it. The tune to this one is on a Mudcat thread, but not the lyrics. It was very popular back in the early days of the revival. I first heard it on a Declan Affley LP. RAKE AND A RAMBLING MAN (Don Henderson) Chorus I am a rake and a rambling man Fortune I fall to when I can Could I be, would I be, other than A rake and rambling man I travel far, I travel wide From where winds spring to where winds blow And if I walk or if I ride Won't matter only that I go Stay with the friends that I have made I stay with the rich and the poor No welcome has been overstayed I never linger too long for I'm a rake but a rambling man With the police, I know the score Seldom we meet, but now and then I'm called to mind that there are more Police than ever were rambling men Once as I got, I quickly returned I am a man and free Long nights go by and the lesson learned That in jail no one can be A rake or a rambling man Women know men and that talk of the day Pries at the secrets silent nights hold Two thousand miles and ten towns away Names fade and fall from the story that's told Walked into wind whips at the foot fall Night breeze is soft and soon spent Who can't love one might better love all What cares the road of the farewell that went With a rake that's a rambling man I travel far, I travel wide From where winds spring to where winds blow For every hill has an unseen side Cross roads that quarrel the four ways to go I'll take by chances with fortune and fame Heads and tails fall as they will If some know my song who do not know my name It will not matter if I am still A rake and a rambling man The tune and chords may be found at page 63 of the abovemented Don Henderson songbook. Henderson noted: 'Declan Affley sang this song beautifully. He gave it a quality that can't be conveyed on this page, one that I am not sure was even there when I wrote it. Some reviewers have said that this song is autobiographical; so is the information on my driver's licence'. Youtube only gives you a Don Williams song with a similar name. The Affley recording has been reissued on the double CD 'Songs of Don Henderson' on Shoestring Productions label - well worth purchasing: CD --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: GUEST Date: 02 Sep 20 - 08:25 PM My apologies, Sandra. I had forgotten that you posted links re 'From little things...' It seems so long ago. Anyhow, the words are now available on this thread. From Union Songs website: THIRTY TON LINE (Don Henderson) Purpose built tugs that like line boats attended berthed bulk coal carriers in open sea. To fulfil that function, the union contended, required four deckhands. The owners said three. Three deckhands and motorman just couldn't handle sixteen inch polyprop, double dead eyes. When the tow-hook was blacked, the company gambled on a tension winched, ten inch, calm sea compromise. Chorus Broadsound. Belyando. Nebo. Sarina. The sea snaps your hawsers like thin strands of twine. Broadsound. Belyando. Nebo. Sarina. Hundred ton bollard pull thirty ton line. At two in the morning we made fast the Martha. By nine the Academy Star had been berthed. Then all tugs and line boats returned to the harbour. Their work being finished, the four crews dispersed. Five the same evening, storm warnings were sounding. Cyclone approaching, no time for delay. At their berths the big bulkies were taking a pounding. Broadsound and Belyando must get them away. To Hay Point at full speed the two tugs went dashing; got lines on the Martha at Wharf Number Two. Though twelve foot green water on our decks was crashing, the order for maximum tow had come through. With the whole hull vibrating, the tension winch slipping, then came the moment that all tugmen dread. The sudden lurch forward, the broken line whipping. The thought of old shipmates; the injured, the dead. The Martha had cleared just as our line had broken. The Academy Star was at Wharf Number One. Though the help we could offer might be but a token, in her plight that help would be better than none. Time and again, we tried to position, so the tow might commence with all possible speed. With a jury-rigged line and in such bad conditions, three deckhands and motorman could not succeed. Well, not fully laden and high in the water, the Academy Star could not be controlled. With a strong on-shore wind by her bow on the quarter, she slammed at the pylons till her hull had holed. And yet the ship owners and those who do their will, send tugs to sea, light on gear, under-manned. One million dollars will be the repair bill. They'd pay that in preference to one more deckhand. Notes Don Henderson wrote: "Arriving in Mackay for me to assess the songwriting situation for "The Flames of Discontent" album created a bit of suspicion among maritime workers. Willsie had stayed C.P.A. when E.V. Elliott had led the union to the S.P.A. and who was this ageing hippy in Chelsea Flair cowboy boots and a burgundy and gold brocade coat that understood the struggle for tug jobs anyway? A well known P&D knuckle man was delegated to ask me why I wore a coat like that. I answered that it got me into a better class of fight. He took back the verdict that I was O.K. After a week's work and no song had appeared, this verdict was being questioned. Back in Brisbane going over notes, a bit of paper appeared on which l'd written down the names of the tugs and line boats as they were tied up at the wharf. Broadsound, Belyando, Nebo, Sarina. Said quickly it seemed to sing. Getting the facts of the night right, I wrote the song and sent a cassette to Mackay. The original O.K. verdict was confirmed. I might look like an old ponce but the song was the one they wanted." Don first recorded this song on the 1979 LP "Flames Of Discontent". It is also on the MUA Centenary CD "With These Arms" The tune can be found here: Union Songs Music and chords are on p176 of Don Henderson '100 Songs & Poems: A Quiet Century' Queensland Folk Federation- Danny Spooner did a fine rendition on his 'Emerging Tradition' CD. --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 02 Sep 20 - 10:18 AM Phyl Lobl's EP Dark-Eyed Daughter. audio of the EP This EP recording was made in 1968 for the Aboriginal Advancement League of Victoria. All proceeds went to the League. Director Stan Davey and Pastor Doug Nicholls were instrumental in organising the recording with W&G and for the distribution of the disc. “Dark Eyed Daughter” Lobl nee Vinnicombe “Whose hand?” Ian Hills/Margaret Kitamura “No more boomerang” Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) Will you fight, will you dare?” Lobl nee Vinnicombe |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Sep 20 - 09:22 PM Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a volume of verse. NO MORE BOOMERANG (Kath Walker) No more boomerang, no more spear Now all civilised, colour bar and beer No more corroboree, gay dance and din Now we got movies and pay to go in No more sharing what the hunter brings Now we work for money and pay it back for things Now we track bosses to catch a few bob Now we go walkabout on bus to the job One time naked who never knew shame Now we put clothes on to hide whatsaname No more gunya, now bungalow Paid by hire purchase in twenty years or so Lay down the stone axe, take up the steel, Work like a nigger for a white man's meal No more firesticks that made whites scoff Now all electric and no better off Bunyip he finish got now instead, Whitefella bunyip, call him Red Abstract pictures now, what they comin' at Cripes, in our caves, we did better than that Black hunted wallaby, white hunt dollar Whitefella witchdoctor wear dog collar No more message lubras and lads Got television now, mostly ads Lay down the woomera, lay down the waddy Now we got atom bomb. End everybody Gerry Hallom put a tune to the poem and recorded it on his 'Old Australian Ways' album. There are some alterations. Youtube clip Oodgeroo Noonuccal --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Sep 20 - 08:59 PM Thanks for your comments, Andrez. You remind me that this one should be posted: FROM LITTLE THINGS BIG THINGS GROW (Paul Kelly/Kev Carmody) Gather round people I’ll tell you a story An eight-year-long story of power and pride ’Bout British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiari They were opposite men on opposite sides Vestey was fat with money and muscle Beef was his business, broad was his door Vincent was lean and spoke very little He had no bank balance, hard dirt was his floor From little things big things grow From little things big things grow Gurindji were working for nothing but rations Where once they had gathered the wealth of the land Daily the oppression got tighter and tighter Gurindji decided they must make a stand They picked up their swags and started off walking At Wattie Creek they sat themselves down Now it don’t sound like much but it sure got tongues talking Back at the homestead and then in the town From little things big things grow From little things big things grow Vestey man said, 'I’ll double your wages Seven quid a week you’ll have in your hand' Vincent said, 'Uhuh we’re not talking about wages We’re sitting right here till we get our land' Vestey man roared and Vestey man thundered 'You don’t stand the chance of a cinder in snow' Vince said, 'If we fall others are rising' From little things big things grow From little things big things grow Then Vincent Lingiari boarded an aeroplane Landed in Sydney, big city of lights And daily he went round softly speaking his story To all kinds of men from all walks of life And Vincent sat down with big politicians This affair they told him it's a matter of state 'Let us sort it out, your people are hungry' Vincent said, 'No thanks, we know how to wait' From little things big things grow From little things big things grow Then Vincent Lingiari returned in an aeroplane Back to his country once more to sit down And he told his people let the stars keep on turning We have friends in the south, in the cities and towns Eight years went by, eight long years of waiting Till one day a tall stranger appeared in the land And he came with lawyers and he came with great ceremony And through Vincent’s fingers poured a handful of sand From little things big things grow From little things big things grow That was the story of Vincent Lingiari But this is the story of something much more How power and privilege cannot move a people Who know where they stand and stand in their law From little things big things grow From little things big things grow From little things big things grow From little things big things grow Youtube clip Wave Hill story --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Andrez Date: 01 Sep 20 - 08:03 PM Great one Stewie. I'd completeley forgotten about BB big Bill but the tune came right back to me as soon as I read the words. It resonates especially as I spent a long time working in the NT and the Kimberley. One special moment that comes back to me was the time I visited Kalkaringi and took the chance to stand at Wattie Creek and reflect on time past a few years earlier when Gough met Vincent Lingiari. Cheers, Andrez |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Sep 20 - 07:54 PM This is by a Queensland singer/songwriter: HANGING ON FOR THE RAIN (Anne Infante) Well Christmas is coming across this dry land I’m hanging on, I’m hanging on I’ve drawn the line, I’m making a stand Hanging on for the rain The shepherds who watched o’er my flocks have all gone I’m hanging on I’m hanging on The few sheep I’ve left I can watch on my own I’m hanging on for the rain Chorus I’m hanging, on I’m hanging on, this drought can’t last for ever And I’m searching the skies blinking sweat from my eyes While I wait for a break in the weather The wise men flew in to this land scorched and parched They said the drought won’t break til maybe next March Well I’ve sold all the cattle that I can afford And now I’m hand rearing the best of my herd And the kids they’re excited that Christmas is near They’ll think Santa’s a mean old bugger this year For Jill wants a raggy doll, Jack wants a train But my Christmas wish is for good summer rain When they close the long paddock, you know times are hard There’s no use going droving with no grass to be had And I’ve thought about walking off hundreds of times But I’m tied to the land with invisible chains. This song was recorded by Danny Spooner's for his final album 'Home'. Danny's note: Australia is a country of extreme weather patterns: flood and fire, wind and drought are part of the rural weather cycle. In Anne Infante's song, we hear a farmer enduring these devastating extremes to restock when conditions improve. Phil's intro: This song was written about 10 or 15 years ago and, taking away references to toy trains for example, could easily describe the Australia of the 1800s. The fact that it would have been as relevant then as it is now demonstrates how little has changed in the bush. This ancient land changes slowly. Anne Infante --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Sep 20 - 07:21 PM My friend, Terry Piper, was at one time a ranger at Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory - he now lives in Cairns. He wrote this song decades ago, but its theme is still very relevant. Just recently, a mining company blew up sacred sites in the Kimberley. BAW BAW BIG BILL (Terry Piper) It’s been ten long years now Since they first found uranium Did you know what it meant Did you see through the lies When they hounded your people Did you know it was no good Did you give up the fighting Just for some peace and quiet Chorus: And it’s baw baw Big Bill Will the brolgas keep dancing Will the bones rest safe In the caves where they lie Though the people keep coming And the mines keep on growing Who’ll look after the land One day when you die In come the people With machines and their buildings And they take what they want Do they ever give back And they stay only long enough To earn what they can They just couldn’t give a damn They’ll never return Chorus You’re a rich man now But will that really save you Where will you spend it And what will you buy And your culture will change When it’s all you’ve to cling to And they’ll use all the money As a cheap alibi Chorus You’re watching the old people The once proud and bold people They get fewer each day Its hard to survive When the drink takes its hold It soon takes its toll When there’s so much to run from Is it easier to hide Chorus It’s been ten long years now Since they first found uranium And you land has changed more Than in ten thousand years And the scars will live on Once the tears have long gone Will they poison the world While your people disappear Chorus (x2) My intro: Big Bill Neidjie was a traditional owner of the northern Kakadu National Park area. Fearing that he might take his language and traditional secrets to the grave, he shared many of his stories with anthropologists despite the taboo against revealing them to the uninitiated. The English language has a word that closely links human distress to a sense of place. The root meaning of ‘nostalgia’ – nostos, return to home or native land and algia, pain or sickness – was a concept related to a medically diagnosable illness. It is well-documented that dispossessed indigenous peoples worldwide have been likely to experience such a pathology. They have experienced physical and mental illness at rates far beyond those of other groups. Their social problems – unemployment, alcoholism, substance abuse, disproportionate rates of suicide, incarceration etc – have led to community dysfunction and crisis. Yi-Fu Tuan, the eminent pioneering researcher of sense of place, points out that such serious distress of nostalgia can also be produced by a feeling of changes occurring too rapidly and without one’s control. --Stewie |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 01 Sep 20 - 07:08 PM Another themed concert that Phil Beck and I presented was entitled 'A Sense of Place'. It included several songs that may be of interest in this context. This one, relating to the red centre, is by a Scot. SINGING LAND (Dougie Maclean) Your burning skies are never ending across your red brush plains Out where the dingo still is king and eternity remains There between the old and ancient desert oasis bright Your gentle children who have gone are close to me tonight Chorus: In your singing land In your singing land Shine on, oh shine on over me There's a feeling still and eerie, there's a feeling strong The path humanity has come and the path that he has gone Me I am, I am just passing, three score years and ten And I'm just a stranger who may never come this way again Chorus Under the spell of caterpillar dreaming a new light shapes its form Along the river's naked banks which are straining from the storm On secret rock in thunder ocean the tree of man grows clear The woodlarks sing, the woodlarks dance and the dawn is slipping near Chorus Youtube clip Phi's intro: 'The Singing Land' is set in the MacDonnell Ranges out of the Alice Springs. The red centre of Australia is a place of quiet almost mystical vastness where, as yet, man has made little impact. It’s magnificent ancient country, a vision splendid in any and every direction. The song captures perfectly the timelessness of this place of Aboriginal dreaming. The three score years and ten conventionally allotted to we mortals is as nothing to the ancient Country that is just there and has been so forever, seeming to mock the utter insignificance of man. The melody too fits perfectly with the tranquillity of the red centre: it’s in sync with the rhythm of the land which is slow, and natural change will take its own good time. --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 31 Aug 20 - 07:29 PM Gerry Hallom put a tune to Paterson's 'Song of the wheat'. Once again, he makes omissions and minor changes to the poem. Here is what he sings: SONG OF THE WHEAT (Paterson/Hallom) We have sung the song of the droving days Of the march of the travelling sheep How in silent stages and lonely ways The drovers’ herds did creep But the man who now by the land would thrive Must keep to a plough-share beat And the singer changing his tune may strive To sing the song of the wheat Silver gum and box and pine ’Twas axe and fire for all We scarce could tarry to blaze the line Or wait for the trees to fall But the land was cleared both far and wide As the dust from the horses feet Rose up like a pillar of smoke to guide The wonderful march of wheat Furrow by furrow, and fold by fold The soil is turned on the plain It’s better than silver, it’s better than gold The precious mine of the grain Better than cattle and better than sheep In the fight with drought and heat For a stubborn streak both wide and deep Lies hid in a grain of wheat Green and amber and gold it grows As the sun sinks late in the west And the breeze sweeps over the rippling rows Where the quail and the skylark nest Mountain or river or shining star There’s never a sight can beat Away to the skyline stretching far A sea of the ripening wheat When the burning harvest sun sinks low And the shadows stretch on the plain The roaring harvesters come and go Like ships on a sea of grain And the lurching, groaning wagons bear Their tale of the load complete Of the world’s great work he has done his share The man who has gathered wheat Princes, kings and queens and czars Travel in royal states But old King Wheat has a thousand cars For his trip to the water-gate; And his thousand steamships breast the tide And sail through the winds and sleet To the lands where the teeming millions lie And say, ‘Thank God for wheat!’ Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 31 Aug 20 - 10:08 AM I'm not on facebook either, but I do look at a few sites. I used to have Bob's CD but gave most of my Oz CDS to a radio program that promotes Australian music, otherwise I could listen again. sandra |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 31 Aug 20 - 10:02 AM Thanks, Sandra. I'm not on facebook, but I'll watch it on Youtube. Bob is a fine composer and performer and a thoroughly good bloke. He composed a tune after a bbq and music session with Darwin folkies. We would occasionally gather on the cliffs above the Nightcliff foreshore for such sessions. He simply titled it 'Nightcliff' and it is the final track on his solo album 'The Man with the Concertina'. --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 31 Aug 20 - 07:57 AM Joe is her son & one of her literary executors from Bush Music Club Blog - Weevils in the Flour, October 2012. A preliminary history of a song; the early songwriters - Dorothy Hewett (1923-2002) & Merv Lilley (1919-2016) |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Andrez Date: 31 Aug 20 - 07:37 AM Another one of my all time favourites, Weevils in the Flour by Dorothy Hewitt in 1962. Somewhere on one of my old cassettes I've got a version of the late Hugh McDonald singing this and I also have fond memories of Dave Brannigan singing it around the traps and or folk festivals too. The link belowis a video with her son (I think) singing a version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgp7zWdZtoM Cheers, Andrez |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 31 Aug 20 - 05:00 AM good one, Andrez Stewie - Chloe & Jason Roweth present Saturday Streaming 8th August, 7-8.30pm (Aus Eastern Standard time), The Songs & Tunes of Bob Rummery, live on facebook, donations welcome (To be posted on youtube a week later) Over the years our repertoire has greatly benefited from the addition of songs from Bob Rummery, and we are thrilled to have the chance to focus on his work in this special presentation. Bob has been performing and championing West Australian songs and music both as a solo performer and with West Australian band Loaded Dog for many years. He is a fine tune writer and sets Australian poetry to music as though it was always meant to be sung that way. It occurs to me that many folks who loves Bob Rummery’s work, might not be Facebook users. If you know anyone who might be interested, please pass it on... As usual for our Saturday Streaming shows, it will be on YouTube early next week. Likewise - it’d be great to have mates of Bob’s join in the craic on Saturday night. It’ll be a real pleasure to focus on his great work - all in one show! We’d appreciate any folks sharing this one - hoping to reach all Bob’s friends and fan... |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: GUEST Date: 31 Aug 20 - 12:27 AM Speaking of Henry Lawson, I'd like to put in a vote for Reedy River. http://folkstream.com/073.html Cheers, Andrez |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: WEE POT STOVE (Harry Robertson) From: Stewie Date: 30 Aug 20 - 11:43 PM Perhaps the best-known of Robertson's songs is 'Wee Pot Stove'. I've copied this text from the booklet to Mathieson's 'Harry's Legacy': WEE POT STOVE (Harry Robertson) How the winter blizzards blow when the Whaling Fleet's at rest Tucked in Leither Harbour's sheltered bay, safely anchored ten abreast The whalers at their stations, as from ship to ship they go, Carry little bags of coal with them, and a little iron stove. Chorus: In that wee dark engine room, where the chill seeps in your soul How we huddled roon' that wee pot stove, that burned oily rags and coal Fireman Paddy worked with me, on the engines stiff and could A stranger to the truth was he, there's not a lie he hasn't told He boasted of his gold mines, and the hearts that he had won And his bonny sense of humour shone, just like a ray of sun. Chorus We laboured seven days a week, with could hands and frozen feet Bitter days and lonely nights making grog and having fights Salt fish and whalemeat sausage, fresh penguin eggs a treat And we trudged along to work each day through icy winds and sleet Chorus Then one day we saw the sun, and the factory ship's return, Meet your old friends, sing a song, hope the season won't be long Then homeward bound when it's over, we'll leave this icy cove But I always will remember that little iron stove Perhaps the best-known cover is the one by Nic Jones who recorded it under the title 'The Little Pot Stove' and used a phrase in the song as the title of his album. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: HOMELESS MAN (Harry Robertson) From: Stewie Date: 30 Aug 20 - 11:14 PM Bugger, I did it again - all the nameless GHESTS in this thread are yours truly. Here's another Robertson favourite that I first heard on Declan Affley's 'Rake and a Rambling Man' LP. HOMELESS MAN (Harry Robertson) I've travelled hard these last ten weary years And my youthful dreams have slowly turned to fears If you think I am complaining I can tell you that I'm not For I know that this is just the drifter's lot Many years my home has been the wayside camp And I've starved and sweated on the river banks And I've fought with fists and feet, rough-neck drifters that I meet Broken dreams and bottles pave my lonely street As a homeless boy I thought when I'm a man I'll change this world and right what wrongs I can Since then I have met defeat, it's a bitter bread to eat And the homeless boy is now a homeless man Happiness has not been mine upon this earth Both my parents left me when they met their death And I'll drink before I eat with the drifters that I meet But the sorrow here is mine and mine alone So my friends I think that I should move along And I'm glad that you have listened to my song For the road is all I know and I'll wander it alone As an outcast homeless drifter, and unknown The text above is copied from the booklet to Mathieson's 'Harry's Legacy'. Evidently, the tune is traditional Norwegian. The only clip I could find on the Net is by Warren Fahey: Youtube clip Stewie. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: SHIP REPAIRING MEN (Harry Robertson) From: GUEST Date: 30 Aug 20 - 10:36 PM SHIP REPAIRING MEN (Harry Robertson) To the workshop off we go, toolkits heavy in our hands To a big ship that’s come in, from a trip to foreign lands Salty streaks of rust have marked her, but her moorings hold her tight And we’ll work to fix her engines, all today and half the night CHORUS: Don’t wait up for me this evening — I’ll be out all night again Working on the Brisbane River with the ship repairing men. Oil-fired boilers throb with power, drinking up the furnace heat Water turns to driving steam to make the engines beat But the feed pump’s sighing wail to us cuts through all other sound As it sings a song of triumph, for the valves that we have ground Engine bearings that knocked and hammered through the wild and stormy seas Will be machined and fitted till they run with silent ease And that winch that rattles every time the piston turns the shaft Will hum along and sing its song to men skilled in their craft When you see an ocean liner glide between the river banks And the Captain in his gold braid orders men of lesser ranks Have you thought perhaps this stately craft might never sail again If it wasn’t for the toil and sweat of ship repairing men The National Sound and Screen Archive released a CD of Robertson: 'Whale Chasing Men' SSA/WC0022. This song is not on it. I first heard it on a Declan Affley LP. You can find it on Evan Mathieson 'Harry's Legacy' Mamaia 0701. Evan Mathieson has a second CD devoted to Robertson: 'Tribute to Harry Robertson' Mamaia 0902. Here is a rendition by John Thompson. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: BENEATH ULURU (Dave Oakes) From: Stewie Date: 30 Aug 20 - 07:57 PM Here's another one from the NT. Dave Oakes is a fine singer/songwriter from Alice Springs. [He's not the one you get if you put the name in Youtube search], BENEATH ULURU (Dave Oakes) Looking forward to seeing you You're just a week away And like so many times before I'd want that time to stay for more And yet before we know it We'll be saying our goodbyes Time will have come and gone To be seen through memory's eyes Time has no time, time's passing through No one can hold it, it's always anew That was a time, the memory of you Under the starlight beneath Uluru Nothing comes from yearnin' Just an achin' for the heart And time is just like learnin' With no endin' and no start Got no time for worryin' 'Bout tomorrow or yesterday Stop the clock and turn the tide It's on the wings of change time flies Time has no time, time's passing through No one can hold it, it's always anew That was a time, the memory of you Under the starlight beneath Uluru That was a time, the memory of you Under the starlight beneath Uluru Youtube clip Perhaps R-J could check my above transcription. --Stewie. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: LEWIS ISLAND LUGGER (Murray & Silvester) From: Stewie Date: 30 Aug 20 - 07:14 PM Western Australian Herald - 23 October 1869: Preparation for the New Pearling Season ...take the first of the ebb and glide away out of the creek ... then comes the most important part, the picking up of niggers ... for pearling after all would never pay white labour. LEWIS ISLAND LUGGER (M.Murray & L.Silvester) The lugger is painted already She is painted in red and in green She is painted so gaily we smile at her She is painted in red and in green The lugger is rigged out already She's rigged out with tackles and ropes She's rigged out to take us a-pearling She's rigged out with tackles and ropes And the lugger is charted already She's charted out from Nichol Bay She's charted to go for the pearling She's charted out from Nichol Bay O father why are we waiting Away from our home far away Why do we wait on Lewis Island For the lugger to take us away And the lugger is loaded already She's loaded with beer and with wine Loaded with blackbirds from the Gascoyne Loaded with beer and with wine The lugger is waiting already She's sailing away from the land She's taken away my family She's sailing away from the land O father why are we waiting Away from our home far away Why do we wait on Lewis Island For the lugger to take us away And the lugger is stranded already She's stranded between surf and reef Now gone are my sister and brother Stranded between surf and reef And their headstone is written already Written in pearl shells and blood A headstone to stand among many Written in pearl shells and blood O father why are we waiting Away from our home far away Why do we wait on Lewis Island For the lugger to take us away And the lugger is saiing already The song may be found on Mike Murray and Lesley Silvester 'Strangers on the Shore' TimeTrackers TT0101 2001. It is an album of true stories of ships, the sea and first contact with Western Australia. Mike and Lesley noted: Blackbirding flourished in the pearling industry in NW Australia. Kidnapped Aborigines from the Gascoyne region were held captive on islands such as Lewis Island, and the luggers would call in from time to time to replace those who had perished either from the bends, ill-treatment or shipwreck. --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Aug 20 - 11:35 PM Pete Seeger talks with Duke Tritton 1963 |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Aug 20 - 11:33 PM Extracts from Singabout - the early songwriters - Duke Tritton (1886-1965) I'll contact Gerry |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: SHEARING IN A BAR (Duke Tritton) From: Stewie Date: 29 Aug 20 - 11:03 PM SHEARING IN A BAR (Duke Tritton) My shearing days are over, though I never was a gun I could always count my twenty at the end of every run I used the old trade union shears, and the blades were always full As I drove ’em to the knockers, and I chopped away the wool I shore at Goorianawa and didn’t get the sack From Breeze out to Compadore, I always could go back And though I am a truthful man, I find when in a bar My tallies seem to double, but I never call for tar Shearing on the western plains where the fleece is full of sand And the clover burr and corkscrew grass is the place to try your hand Where the sheep are tall and wiry where they feed on the Mitchell grass And every second one of them is close to the cobbler class And a pen chock full of cobblers is a shearer's dream of hell So loud and lurid are their words when they catch one on the bell But when you’re pouring down the grog, there's no need to call for tar For a shearer never cuts ’em, when shearing in a bar At Louth I caught the bell sheep, a wrinkled, tough-wooled brute Who never stopped his kicking till I tossed him down the chute My wrist was aching badly, but I fought him all the way I couldn’t afford to miss a blow, I must earn my pound a day So when I’d take a strip of skin, I’d hide it with my knee Turn the sheep around a bit where the right bower couldn’t see Then try and catch the rousie’s eye and softly whisper 'tar' But it never seems to happen when I’m shearing in the bar I shore away the belly wool and trimmed the crutch and hocks Opened up along the neck while the rousie swept the locks Then smartly swung the sheep around and dumped him on his rear Two blows to clip away the wig – I also took an ear Then down around the shoulder when me full blades open wide As I drove ’em on the long blow and down the whipping side And when the fleece fell on the board, he was nearly black with tar But this is never mentioned when I’m shearing in a bar Now when the season's ended and my grandsons all come back In their buggies and their sulkies -I was always on the track They come and take me into town to fill me up with beer And I sit on a bar stool and listen to them shear There’s not a bit of difference – it must make the angels weep To hear a mob of shearers in a barroom shearing sheep For the sheep go rattling down the race with never a call for tar For a shearer never cuts ’em when he’s shearing in a bar Then memories come crowding in and they wipe away the years And my hand begins to tighten and I seem to feel the shears I want to tell them of the sheds, the sheds where I have shorn Full fifty years and maybe more, before these boys were born I want to speak of Yarragin, Dunlop or Wingadee But the beer has started working and I’m wobbling at the knees So I’d better not start shearing, I’d be bound to call for tar Then be treated as a blackleg when I’m shearing in a bar Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: BRUNSWICK ROAD (S Groves & D Bourke) From: Stewie Date: 29 Aug 20 - 10:37 PM It keeps me off the streets, Sandra. Thanks for posting the Wakefield songs - excellent. it looks like it is up to us. I am puzzled by the absence of our thread moderator who listed songs in Joe's original thread, but has posted none. Anyhow, this lovely song is one of my wife's favourites. BRUNSWICK ROAD (Steve Groves & Danny Bourke) I know a woman who says she's old She weaves a spell around my rented house of stone It's late when we leave at the foot of the stairs The gas pipes ring as she laughs and sings of her dancing years Chorus: And she tells me we should go home down Brunswick Road Where we would walk and we would talk till the moon went down We were arm in arm, as in days of old We thought the street was lined with gold down Brunswick Road We live in the heart of the town she loves She doesn't mind I can't recall her yesterdays. Outside the hall, the iron lace Her dancing's over now the pain is on her face She laughs again, she sees her man He's singing Daisy on a bike out in the rain He fades from sight, he's out of view and if I had the chance I'd bring him back to you Chorus As sung by Graham Dodsworth: Brunswick Road --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Aug 20 - 10:24 PM Extracts from Singabout - the early songwriters - Stan Wakefield (1906 - 1962) |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Richard Mellish Date: 29 Aug 20 - 04:50 PM Thanks for The Rabbiter Sandra. It's one I've sung occasionally for many years, but I was missing the last verse. Now I have to graft that onto what is already in my brain. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: THE RABBITER (Stan Wakefield) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Aug 20 - 11:08 AM https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=23038 THE RABBITER Words and music: Stan Wakefield I read about the fortunes that the rabbiters make outback - The sporting life and the lairy tales of prices fetched at Sydney sales, So I started out across New South Wales on the roving rabbiters' track. CHORUS: With a hool-em-up and a sool-em-up And the fool-em-up decoys; The men who scalp the rabbiters Are the Sydney market boys. A free and independent life, a life of simple joys I camped beneath an old belah ' and my tucker was mostly fried galah, And I trapped 'em near and I trapped 'em far, for the Sydney market boys. I poisoned out at Hillston, and I trapped at Gundagai, I followed 'em over creeks and bogs, and chopped 'em out of hollow logs, And tailed 'em up with yelping dogs, 'way back of Boggabri. Besides the bunnies that you catch, there's things that you despise: A hawk, a snake, a crow, a rat, a bandicoot, a tiger cat, And when you're lucky, a lamb that's fat is a welcome enough surprise. I skinned and scalped and scalped and skinned, till my back was nearly broke, With blood and muck all stiff and brown, the stink of my clothes would knock you down, And I slaved all day for half a crown for the Sydney market bloke. I thought I'd get a snifter cheque for skins I sent from Bourke, But the broker rogues in Sydney Town, they weigh them short and they grade them down, And they sent me back three lousy pound, for a month of slavin' work. Some day we're going to set our traps to catch the hungry crew Who live on useful workers' sweat -- we'll stop their thieving racket yet, And to make them earn their tucker, you bet, is the job for me and you. With a hool-em-up and a sool-em-up, And there'll be no more decoys; Then a-hunting, hunting we will go For the Sydney market boys. Stan (died early 1960s) wrote The Rabbiter's Song in the 1930s. It refers to the Government attempt to persuade the unemployed to go out and make money from trapping rabbits, instead of applying for the dole (which required working for the Government anyway - usually on public works programmes ... sometimes of utility and value). Of course, when a whole mob of unemployed city slickers started sending off rabbit skins to the Sydney or Melbourne markets ... the price dropped (the law of supply and demand) as well as a number of the skins arriving rotten due to poor preparation. Anyway, there wasn't much money to be made in the game and Stan, being the good Left-winger that he was, wrote a beaut song and, being the competent musician that he was, wrote his own tune to it. |
|
Subject: LYR ADD - Kevin Baker - Superstar From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Aug 20 - 10:52 AM Kevin Baker - Superstar I still hear my mother whistling as she hung clothes on the line While our neighbour did the Monday wash and sang away the time Down the road on a building lot where hammers kept the beat Workmen sang and shared their lunch with the boy from up the street And the Baker's cart and the Rabbito came trading to a tune As we lived to our own music morning night and afternoon. CHORUS - But now you've got to be a superstar if you want to sing a song If they catch you quietly singing people think there's something wrong Somehow we lost the right to sing: it almost seem a crime To share the things you care about in music, words and rhyme. I hear echoes of my father in the songs he used to know Of love and work and freedom; the memories start to flow And my mother played an old squeeze-box as he people had before And friends would visit friends and bring their songs in through the door. And no-one was at all surprised or thought it indiscreet If the friendly sound of music were to spill out on the street. CHORUS But now we get our music with an electronic sound In accents strange and foreign that aren't heard on our home ground It's slick and flash but hasn't got a thing to do with me But it clogs up all our radios and floods out from TV And I can't help looking back to when we thought we all belonged Before we lost our voices and bought other people's songs. CHORUS Rabbits were poor people's meat & Rabbitos sold them door to door. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Aug 20 - 10:04 AM geez, Stewie, don't you have anything else to do! I'd love to put some of Kevin Baker's songs up, but I'd have to type them. Tthere's not much online, just this bio from a 2006 appearance at Sutherland folk club. Kevin Baker A long time political activist and historian, Kevin Baker is a brilliant exponent on the social, economic and industrial life of the Illawarra. He has recorded in song the struggles of workers and the despair of unemployment. Kevin’s song The Snowy River Men” is regarded as the most powerful anti-war song ever written. His three recordings, The Snowy River Men, Still a Rich Man’s Land and Harvest and Heartbreak, all his own compositions carry a wealth of Australian history and are an invaluable Australian Folk Collection. A poet/singer/songwriter Kevin knows and feels the real Australia and has that special gift of telling a story in song. Kevin Baker - Snowy River Men - video Dear Mrs Allen I write to you today To say that I was with your son just before he passed away I trained with him at Goulburn and we traveled on to France And I was there when he got hit in the German advance. It seems so long ago since we marched into your town And all the young men heard the call and signed their name straight down And the girls and the children proudly all cheered us all along At Bibbenluke that day was a feast of speech and song. CHORUS - And the Snowy River men just couldn't march today There's far too many of them dead for the rest to feel that way The cold ground of Europe has been watered with their blood There's a strange new crop of crosses rising in this foreign mud From Goulburn to Sydney and then a ship from Circular Quay A spirit of adventure stirred and filled both Les and Me It was great to be with comrades true and travelling abroad For a while the war seemed far away and the world was to be toured In Durban the natives took us travelling in style In rickshaws that they pulled along at a shilling a mile. In Capetown we watched the black boys diving in the Bay The Snowies had a good time there and would have liked to stay CHORUS - But the Snowy River men just couldn't march today There's far too many of them dead for the rest to feel that way The cold ground of Europe has been watered with their blood There's a strange new crop of crosses rising in this foreign mud When we landed at Plymouth, we'd spent 8 weeks at sea And entrained straight way for Wilton where our camp turned out to be, They treated us well there so we really can't complain That the sky was grey, the weather bleak and it always seemed to rain When we set sail for France, the weather had turned fine And it wasn't long before the call to reinforce the line Then a shell whined above us and we were raked with stones and mud And I turned and saw Les sitting there in a pool of his own blood CHORUS And the Snowy River men just couldn't march today There's far too many of them dead for the rest to feel that way The cold ground of Europe has been watered with their blood There's a strange new crop of crosses rising in this foreign mud He stared as the blood poured out of his legless thigh And I carried him back to the aid post close nearby His blood soaked my uniform but he never breathed a sigh And I had no idea then that he was going to die When I left him he spoke of a pain inside his chest I suppose that's what killed him, I just don't know the rest But I know that we all miss him and cant help but wonder why So many Snowy men so quickly had to die. CHORUS - And the Snowy River men just couldn't march today There's far too many of them dead for the rest to feel that way The cold ground of Europe has been watered with their blood There's a strange new crop of crosses rising in this foreign mud We hear the king's grateful for all the men who've died And is sending home a photo of the graves in which they lie Well I still think that the cause is right but it's not clear any more Why so many Australian men should die in Europe's war We hope with our hearts that time will ease the pain Of never once to see his face or hear his voice again But I've seen so much death now since that day on which he died That I can't now be the snowy man that once I was inside CHORUS - And the Snowy River men just couldn't march today There's far too many of them dead for the rest to feel that way The cold ground of Europe has been watered with their blood There's a strange new crop of crosses rising in this foreign mud |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 29 Aug 20 - 01:35 AM Gerry Hallom put a tune to Paterson's beaut poem 'With the cattle'. He makes some minor changes and omissions: here is how he sings it: WITH THE CATTLE (Paterson/Hallom) The drought is down on field and flock The riverbed is dry And we must shift the starving stock Before the cattle die So we muster up with weary hearts At breaking of the day And turn our heads to foreign parts And take the stock away By the stock routes bare and eaten On dusty roads and beaten In heat and drought and hopeless pain, we take the stock away We cannot use the whips for shame On beasts that crawl along We have to drop the weak and lame And try to save the strong For the wrath of God is on the track The drought fiend holds his sway With blows and cries and stock whip crack We take the stock away As they fall we leave them lying, With the crows to watch them dying With half a chance to save their lives we take the stock away So in dull despair the days go by With never hope of change But every stage we draw more nigh The distant mountain range And some may live to climb the pass And reach the great plateau And revel in the mountain grass By streamlets fed with snow As the mountain wind is blowing It starts the cattle lowing The creatures smell the mountain grass that's twenty miles away They press towards the mountain grass They look with eager eyes Along the rugged stony pass That slopes towards the skies Though their feet may bleed from rocks and stones And though the blood-drop starts They struggle on with stifled groans For hope is in their hearts As the mountain wind is blowing And the mountain grass is growing They break in to a kind of run – pull up, and let them go! The days are done of heat and drought Upon the stricken plain The wind has shifted right about And brought the welcome rain The river runs with sullen roar All flecked with yellow foam And we must take the road once more And bring the cattle home And it's `Lads! we'll raise a chorus There's a pleasant trip before us Towards the far-off mountain-land, to bring the cattle back' We have to watch them close at night For fear they'll make a rush And break away in headlong flight Across the open bush And by the campfire's cheery blaze With mellow voice and strong We hear the lonely watchman raise The overlander's song While the stars shine out above us Like the eyes of those who love us The eyes of those who watch and wait to greet the cattle home The plains are all awave with grass The skies are deepest blue And leisurely the cattle pass And feed the long day through But when we sight the station gate We make the stockwhips crack A welcome sound to those who wait To greet the cattle back And through the twilight falling We hear their voices calling, As the cattle splash across he ford and churn it into foam And the children run to meet us Our wives and sweethearts greet us Their heroes from the overland who brought the cattle home Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 28 Aug 20 - 11:20 PM Thanks R-J. There are fewer Paterson poems set to music than those of Lawson, but there are some. Cathie O'Sullivan put a tune to this one years ago. SONG OF ARTESIAN WATER (Paterson/O'Sullivan) Now the stock have started dying, for the Lord has sent a drought, But we're sick of prayers and Providence - we're going to do without, With the derricks up above us and the solid earth below, We are waiting at the lever for the word to let her go. Sinking down, deeper down, Oh, we'll sink it deeper down: As the drill is plugging downward at a thousand feet of level, If the Lord won't send us water, oh, we'll get it from the devil; Yes, we'll get it from the devil deeper down. Now, our engine's built in Glasgow by a very canny Scot, And he marked it twenty horse-power, but he didn't know what is what. When Canadian Bill is firing with the sun-dried gidgee logs, She can equal thirty horses and a score or so of dogs. Sinking down, deeper down Oh, we're going deeper down: If we fail to get the water, then it's ruin to the squatter, For the drought is on the station and the weather's growing hotter, But we're bound to get the water deeper down. But the shaft has started caving and the sinking's very slow, And the yellow rods are bending in the water down below, And the tubes are always jamming, and they can't be made to shift Till we nearly burst the engine with a forty horse-power lift, Sinking down, deeper down, Oh, we're going deeper down: Though the shaft is always caving, and the tubes are always jamming, Yet we'll fight our way to water while the stubborn drill is ramming- While the stubborn drill is ramming deeper down. But there's no artesian water, though we're passed three thousand feet, And the contract price is growing, and the boss is nearly beat. But it must be down beneath us, and it's down we've got to go. Though she's bumping on the solid rock four thousand feet below, Sinking down, deeper down, Oh, we're going deeper down: And it's time they heard us knocking on the roof of Satan's dwellin', But we'll get artesian water if we cave the roof of hell in- Oh we'll get artesian water deeper down. But it's hark! the whistle's blowing with a wild, exultant blast, And the boys are madly cheering, for they've struck the flow at last: And it's rushing up the tubing from four thousand feet below, Till it spouts above the casing in a million-gallon flow. And it's down, deeper down- Oh, it comes from deeper down: It is flowing, ever flowing, in a free, unstinted measure From the silent hidden places where the old earth hides her treasure- Where the old earth hides her treasures deeper down. And it's clear away the timber and it's let the water run, How it glimmers in the shadow, how it flashes in the sun! By the silent belts of timber, by the miles of blazing plain It is bringing hope and comfort to the thirsty land again. Flowing down, further down: It is flowing further down To the tortured thirsty cattle, bringing gladness in its going; Through the droughty days of summer it is flowing, ever flowing- It is flowing, ever flowing, further down. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 28 Aug 20 - 10:23 PM "Life, the Universe, & Everything" Stew! (#1 excuse for not coping, or doing!!!) R-J |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 28 Aug 20 - 09:53 PM Alan Mann used the tune of an old favourite for this one. He noted: This is the true story of the founding of the town of Menzies in WA's goldfields in 1894. After striking it rich, Leslie Robert Menzies tipped his nuggets on the floor of the Bank of Coolgardie and proceeded to shout the town 4000 pounds worth of champagne. Lonnie Donegan had a great skiffle version of this tune which had previously been covered by Leadbelly and collected by Alan Lomax. MENZIES' SHOUT (HAVE A DRINK ON ME) (Alan Mann) In the eighteen nineties down a dusty road Came a saddle-bagged miner with a six ton load Everybody - have a drink on me He was caked in dust from his foot to his head But he had a 'gold smile' it had to be said Hey, hey ev'rybody drink on me He reined his camels, hitched them to the rail Shouted to his mates: 'Found the Holy Grail' Everybody - have a drink on me He staggered to the bank, tipped nuggets on the floor 'I've pegged out ground, there's a whole heap more' Hey, hey ev'rybody drink on me Chorus: Have a drink, have a drink, have a drink on me Ev'rybody have a drink on me Hey, hey ev'rybody drink on me Have a drink, have a drink, have a drink on me Hey, hey ev'rybody drink on me There's trouble in store at the Old Camp Saloon It being quite early - not yet noon Everybody have a drink on me 'First things first, a day of champagne Settle in boys for a long campaign' Hey, hey ev'rybody drink on me Well I've been to Hannans and to Kununulling Toasted success - this time we're skulling Everybody have a drink on me This new show, a hundred miles from here Has beaten all the rest for all of last year Hey, hey ev'rybody drink on me I went to the Barossaa to float another mine The gold was scarce, but the red was fine Everybody have a drink on me Seems like the gold and my luck have run out But I remember the day it was my turn to shout Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 28 Aug 20 - 09:04 PM R-J, good to hear you got your 'puter back. What is LtU&E? Is it something like a 'round tuit'? Bob Rummery put the tune to this one: WHEN YOU'RE FLUSH (T.Brittain/R.Rummery) The work's been long and steady, now the contract's finished up When the pass is hard, it doesn't pay to rush Burning in my moleskin pocket is what I got from it And there's other things you think of when you're flush So I'll wind up the stringline, I'll put the tools away And I'll turn the old camp-oven upside down And in quest of earthly capers, I will look around a bit And I'll try the bill of fare in Bunbury town Yes, I'll try the bill of fare in Bunbury town By the noon I'd crossed the sandplain and I didn't raise a sweat 'Cause a traveller that day was kind to me I alighted from his sulky at the Prince of Wales Hotel And soon afterwards embarked upon a spree When a lady I befriended, so delightful was her charm My desire of it was soon to wear me down I feted her a fortnight with all the spice of life It was nice, the bill of fare in Bunbury town Yes, it was nice the bill of fare in Bunbury town And then a day out at the races, some pennies that I tossed Soon relieved me of my remaining dough So I shouldered my possessions, I whipped the cat a bit To the bush I stretched, 'twas time to strike a blow Back across the Preston River, and about a mile beyond Resting in the shade of Boyle O'Reilly's tree My mind's eye shaped a picture of him trudging years before In a way that seemed a parallel with me Yes, In a way that seemed a parallel with me Having finished with my dreaming at the junction of the roads And with thirty mile or more still left to tramp And past another sunrise to a gully farther on I've rested in the refuge of my camp Where I've unwound the stringline, I've turkeyed up my axe And I hope my daily tallies bring renown Cooking in the old camp-oven there's a lovely mutton stew And it beats the bill of fare in Bunbury town Yes, it beats the bill of fare in Bunbury town I've been toiling long a steady since the contract started up When the pass is hard, it doesn't pay to rush I'll settle up and clean the slate with what I get from it And I'll satisfy my needs when I am flushed Yes, I'll satisfy my needs when I am flush The song is on 'A coastline facing west'. Bob introduces the song in one of the few videos of the Dog available on the Net (there's some competition from sprog noises): Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 28 Aug 20 - 03:57 AM Sorry, only just got my 'puter back from the Docs (with a warning that it won't last too much longer :( I will try to add some more suggestions too! Crikey Sandra, that's funny about "Poison Train" - it was a firm favourite in SE Qld sessions when I arrived some 27 years ago and is still frequently heard. Good Song! Stewie, re "On the Death of Harold Holt" : a good 18 months back I was preparing Lawls' TEFC bracket of Manifold songs, with pics, for upload to his YT channel ..... not quite sure why they haven't manifested there yet ..... LtU&E, I guess :( I was always very fond of "Fannie Bay" [by D&A Tainsh] as sung by the late "Tropical Ear" in Darwin. Their version was quite unlike the (Dobe Newton's) Bushwackers version, more poignant and more singable. And not at all like the "Galway Bay" parody on John T's "Oz Folk Song a Day" webpages!!! So I'll just have to add another to my upload list, along with the previously mentioned "Northern Gulf", sung by Smokey. Happy Friday!! R-J |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 27 Aug 20 - 11:41 PM AWAY TO TINTINARA (Mike O'Connor) It's away to Tintinara and miles to Emu Springs Every year a little farther to the song the drover sings It's a hundred miles from Adelaide the Overlander rolls Then a dusty road to sunrise where open bushland calls Chorus: And the music on the wind is the creaking of the saddle And the rhythm of the song are the hooves upon the ground Where the fences run forever to the dusty blue horizon And like gems on distant velvet, stars echo to the sound 'Call me back' There's a lonely crossroad beckons to the blue remembered hills Then beyond the sands of Sugarloaf where memory lingers still On the sunlit plains of yester year where lyre birds dance and sing Are the echo of the voices a bushman's dreams can bring Chorus And around the paddock dreaming, you know that she'll be right And around the billy boiling the stories last the night For there's room enough for breathing, there's space to be your own And to sing again the old song and watch the sun go down Chorus Martyn Wyndham-Read explains the genesis of the song at the end of this video: Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 27 Aug 20 - 10:50 PM Another fine song from Alan Mann. Alan noted: Home thoughts from abroad! Sitting in a Canadian airport in winter knowing that in Western Australia it is summer and remembering the landscapes and associated farming activities. WINNIPEG IN WINTER (Alan Mann) Winnipeg in winter is not the place to be When the wind is up to 30 knots and it's minus 23 And all around a sea of white, snow drifts and sheets of ice Frozen lakes, high latitudes don't make for paradise Freezing, fevered snowbound - I'm sitting all alone In Winnipeg in winter, ten thousand miles from home Summertime is beautiful, so the locals say I'm not convinced to press my luck and stay another day Instead of this white wilderness, I see the big red heart Purple hill and spinifex - I'm ready to depart Brown and yellow's on the fields, a harvest's coming in Sweaty seat, the Inter truck, Kellerberrin bin And all along the gravel roads, lines of eucalypts Dance and shimmer in the heat, and make the light of it There an azure ocean laps a golden beach A little line of breakers is curling out of reach Majestic stands off karris and ghostly river gums Throw their shade at red-brown dirt 'til evening's blanket comes Of this distant dreaming it's not hard to make some sense When from a fresh-cut field of oats or along a barbed-wire fence Dust clouds spiral skywards, you'd pause and take a guess 'It's forty in the water bag' - more or less Stooped against the driving snow, hail the brave Canuck Wrapped up in fur and feathers, shuffling through the muck Tugging at the parka hood, he nods and says 'G'day' Breaking links to a train of thought - ten thousand miles away Winnipeg in winter is not the place to be When the wind is up to 30 knots and it's minus 23 And all around a sea of white, snow drifts and sheets of ice Frozen lakes, high latitudes don't rate with paradise Freezing, fevered snowbound - I'm sitting all alone In Winnipeg in winter, ten thousand miles from home You can find the song on Loaded Dog's 'That there dog o' mine' album. For this one, there is a beaut video on Youtube. Bob Rummery is lead singer: Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 27 Aug 20 - 01:25 AM Gotta have Union Street by Alistair Hulett Siege of Union Street video https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=118813 THE SIEGE OF UNION STREET (words & music by Alistair Hulett) words taken from 'The Cold Grey Light of Dawn' by Alistair Hulett & Dave Swarbrick Musikfolk Ltd, 1997. The Unemployed Workers Union was formed in Melbourne during the Great Depression to fight evictions by heartless landlords of destitute families for non-payment of rent. A Sydney branch soon followed and the UWU drew thousands into it's ranks. Matters came to a head in Union Street in the inner city suburb of Erskinville in Sydney, when over a thousand militants fought a pitched battle with police that lasted several days. The tenants were a 'war widow' and her children, so emotions were running high and the struggle received much media coverage The Communist Party was deeply committed to supporting the UWU and the police had assistance from the covert right wing paramilitary group identified by D.H. Lawrence in his novel "Kangaroo." Casualties on both sides were high but the issue was finally resolved when the Labor State Premier, Jack Lang, introduced legislation to protect the unemployed from being thrown out of their homes. Jim Munroe, a founding member of the UWU is the source of the material on which much of this song is based. You should have seen us down at Erko Fourteenth August, Saturday night To Newtown, Stanmore, Enmore and Petersham Calls went out 'Workers unite!' We built a bloody great wall With planks and boards full seven foot tall We didn't mind the howling wind and sleet When we stood around the fire at Union Street The man from the shop said put it on tick The kids came round with bottles and bricks There was Irish stew and home-made lemonade They were grand old days on the barricade I never thought I would join a party Carry a card or see things red The sight of bare foot children crying Out on the pavement turned my head Their old man's over in France Flapping like a rag on a barbed wire fence Their Mum does what she can to make ends meet And she's down at the siege of Union Street The cops came down and they came down hard They must have numbered five hundred strong They called us reds and they cracked our heads To teach us poor sinners right from wrong I learned a lesson that night It's all out war when you stand and fight I saw those brisk young coppers on their beat Behave like thugs in Union Street Sunshine danced on the broken glass It shone like diamonds as morning broke The cops were back by the railroad track And the streets were filled with working folk They'd bashed us bloody and raw But it forced Jack Lang to change the law Now the landlords have to cop it sweet And the Red Flag flies over Union Street The man from the shop gave out licorice sticks To the kids who cleaned up the bottles and bricks Down the years those memories never fade Of the grand old days on the barricade. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 27 Aug 20 - 12:43 AM TYPO! how did I hit submit? another great session song is former Catter Canberra Chris's Call to Song , also recorded by Miguel for his latest CD More People Have songs, also available on Bandcamp. I'll ask him to pop in with the words. sandra |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 27 Aug 20 - 12:37 AM we have copies of "Who wrote the Ballads" in BMC library. THE PEOPLE HAVE SONGS (Miguel Heatwole) Here voices are tuned to each other in gladness To all here in common affection belongs Here joy and laughter meet keening and sadness Here tyranny's cursed for the people have songs Chorus: Let us set the room ringing with the sound of our singing When we come to the end let us hold the chord long Hear the harmonies rise and all close our eyes 'Til the last cadence dies the people have songs Here is war parting sweethearts Here are strong sweating sailors And poets for beauty who ardently long Here are people at work singing loud at their labours Here are marriage and drinking for the people have songs Respect for each other gives each one a hearing And whether the voice be uncertain or strong We listen with love if the heart is endearing Supported in harmony the people have songs Disdaining oppression like others before us Our gentleness angered by history's wrongs Our tradition endures, and our voices in chorus Are lifted in hope for the people have songs! People have Songs on bandcamp anotehr greta session song - |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 26 Aug 20 - 10:57 PM Many thanks for that, Sandra. It is very interesting, albeit difficult (physically), reading. Have you read his 'Who wrote the ballads'? He wrote one of Australia's finest poems: The Tomb of John Learmonth AIF THE SHAME OF GOING BACK (Henry Lawson) When you've come to make your fortune, and you haven't made your salt And the reason of your failure isn't anybody's fault When you haven't got a billet, and the times are very slack There is nothing that can spur you like the shame of going back Chorus: Crawling home with empty pockets Going back hard-up Oh! it's then you learn the meaning of humiliation's cup When the place and you are strangers and you struggle all alone And you have a mighty longing for the town where you are known When your clothes are very shabby, and the future's very black There is nothing that can hurt you like the shame of going back When you've fought the battle bravely and are beaten to the wall, 'Tis the sneer of man, not conscience, that makes cowards of us all And while you are returning, oh! your brain is on the rack, And your heart is in the shadow of the shame of going back When a beaten man's discovered with a bullet in his brain They post-mortem him, and try him, and they say he was insane But it very often happens that he'd lately got the sack And his onward move was owing to the shame of going back Ah! my friend, you call it nonsense, and your upper lip is curled You have had no real trouble in your passage through the world But when fortune rounds upon you and the rain is on the track You will learn the bitter meaning of the shame of going back Youtube clip --Stewie. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 26 Aug 20 - 04:02 AM & I located my Loaded Dog CDs today, so can play them again. |
|
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 26 Aug 20 - 03:52 AM good one, Stewie, the more serious side of John Manifold |
| Share Thread: |