Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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 - 04:59 AM

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

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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 02:42 AM

THE MAD MONK by John Dengate 2010
tune: Vilikins and His Dinah/Dinky Di/ Sweet Betsy from Pike etc

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

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

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

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

Repeat first verse.

Notes

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

The Mad Monk is Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott elected by a majority of one of his colleagues at the end of 2009

video- tune Vilikins and his Dinah

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Apr 21 - 02:37 AM

SONG FOR JULIA © John Dengate 2010
Tune: Fiddlers’ Green

Australlia's PMs, they have always been males
But Julia Gillard, the woman from Wales.
Took over from Rudd and you cannot deny.
There's a spring in her step and a glint in her eye.

Chorus:

Oh, the blood of the fearsome Welsh bowmen
Is running in Julia's veins;
As forward she marches
Forget not those archers –
The memory of Agincourt always remains.

The Welsh bowmen fired and their arrows, in flights.
Cut down in hundreds the French armoured knights.
Six hundred years ago history records,
The longbow prevailed over chivalry's swords.

The feudal French knights 'neath the sharp arrows fell….
Those tough, peasant archers, they did their work well;
Pride, wealth and privilege lay in the mud…
And the blood of those bowmen is Julia's blood!

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

John writes:
'As was the case at Crecy and Poitiers, the heavily-armoured French knights, the pride of the feudal system, were savagely defeated by the English of the Battle of Agincourt, in 1415. The English army relied heavily on peasant long bowmen … mainly Welsh … for their victories.'

video-Fiddler's Green sung by author John Connolly

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Apr 21 - 02:29 AM

I just found an 11 years old emailed list of Dengate songs posted by mark Gregory on Union songs.


RECESSION SONG by John Dengate, 2009
Tune: Bread of Heaven

Goodness me, we now are in recession,
All our hopes of wealth are gone.
Though we pray for saintly intercession,
Heaven just feels put upon.

Pass the Coopers … all our super's
Gone into a deep black hole –
Line up quietly to collect the dole.

No complaints! You've had it good for ages;
No-one loves a whinger, mate!
If you'd saved three quarters of your wages,
You'd have banquets upon your plate.

Don't say 'suicide'; seek a truer guide,
Soon the good times will return –
We'll have credit card and cash to burn!

Eat cheap meat … there's protein in that gristle …
Dog food's good … you buy it canned.
Cop it sweet … hum happy tunes and whistle …
Buy your trousers second hand.

Soup's sustaining…no complaining!
Be obsequious and smile;
Wait obediently in single file.
Stop that grumbling! Hunger's humbling
We've survived bad times before –
What we really need's a good, long war.

tune on 1877 Conacher all-tracker actuion pipe organ

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Apr 21 - 12:22 AM

oops, i thought I checked every video (blush)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 10:39 PM

Sandra, this YT clip of 'Henry Lawson's Pen' works fine:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 08:52 PM

This ripper poem deserves greater exposure. Bob Rummery obtained the words from Tom Brittain, author of 'When You're Flush' posted above on 28 August last year. Tom found them in one of the rural newspapers, the 'Farmer's Weekly' or similar publication. Despite an extensive search, Bob was unable to discover the author of the poem. However, he put a tune to it and forwarded it to Chloe and Jason Roweth who recorded it on their 'A Voice That Was Still' album. Midkin Station is near Moree in northern NSW.

ALL GONE
(Unknown/Bob Rummery)

The ghosts of shearers long-since dead
Are back at Midkin now
They come with softest silent tread
To ring once more that mighty shed
And show the learners how

The wind sighs soft o’er silent lands
Where sheep no longer graze
And phantoms come and take their stand
And grasp the shears in ghostly hands
Before a dreamer’s gaze

The empty shed so silent now
Was rowdy long ago
With men who came from plain and hill
To laugh and swear and work until
The sun was hanging low

Silken webs festoon the place
Where shearers’ down tubes hung
But in those nets of silken lace
I see full many an old friend’s face
And think of the years they’ve rung

The cocky’s hut’s deserted now
The quarter doors hang wide
Beneath tall gums where skies are blue
Look down on earth of raven hue
And hosts of memories hide

Of men like Trev, Chris, Bert and Blue
The shearers who’ve moved on
And cooks and shed hands tried and true
And roustabouts and rollers too
A soft wind sighs, ‘All gone’

Their names are written on the wall
In figures black and red
And up among the rafters tall
Where phantom breezes rise and fall
A soft wind sighs, ‘All dead’

All gone - no more at close of day
The babbler calls them in
Or curses two-up schools that stay
Where lamprey soft on tables lay
And the clearing can’t begin

The mighty sheds are of the past
Where once they ruled the day
And men who worked them at the last
Are of a breed that’s going fast
From lands where we’d hold sway

But ghosts of shearers who once shore
At Midkin still come back
I saw them there where cobwebs hung
And heard once more the songs they sung
On the way to cooky’s shack

Their tallies will forever stand
No one will carry on
And only ghosts will take the stand
And grasp the shears with ghostly hands
While soft winds sigh, ‘All gone’

You can hear Chloe and Jason singing it at circa the 1 hour 23 min mark of this YT clip:

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 09:31 AM

HENRY LAWSON'S PEN by Slim Dusty, From his album: "A Land He Calls His Own"

Sometimes kind people comment on the ballads I have wrote
Even though sometimes I sing them on a dry and battered note
And they always place importance on what's said not sung by men
For quality's not in the voice but in paper and the pen

But this song is no great ballad with writing skill attached
Oh it's just a simple story that I hope your ears will catch
Of the backgrounds of my ballads and the hours that I spend
In the bush or at the table with Henry Lawson's pen

One time when I was travelin' just kind of driftin' round
I went through Lawson country, then on to Grenfell town
The old mining town was quiet and their parklands thrived with grass
And the place where this great man was born was marked by stone and brass

So slowly we walked over, then through the iron gate
Oh we read the masters name plate, the old monument looked great
Then my old mate showed me something, in the grass a fountain pen
Then jokingly he said to me "Hey Henry's lost his pen?"

So I took some strangers' rusty pen Lord knows who dropped it there?
But I smile and like to think that it was placed with so much care
And that maybe Lawson left it 'cause he knew I'd be there then
So I truly try to follow suit with Henry Lawson's pen

So I like to thank those people that enjoy my old bush songs
And I'll try to keep them comin' if the good Lord keeps me strong
So I'll go back to my table and give it a go again
'Cause I love to sing those ballads born from Henry Lawson's pen. Hey!

But this song is no great ballad with writing skill attached
Oh it's just a simple story that I hope your ears will catch
Of the backgrounds of my ballads and the hours that I spend ... (fade out)

lyrics

the only video I could find was here https://greatsong.net/PAROLES-SLIM-DUSTY,HENRY-LAWSONS-PEN,102879435.html but "Playback had been disabled by the video owner"

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 09:05 AM

THE BALLAD OF HENRY LAWSON - Slim Dusty

There's an Aussie we all know where the western breezes blow.
From north to south he's known far and wide.
Henry Lawson was his name but he never rose to fame
Until he crossed beyond the great divide.

In a little place called Grenfell when the gold was flowing free
And the miners and their money came and went,
In 1867 when the town was on the spree,
Henry Lawson he was born there in a tent.

He grew into a lanky lad when Gulgong was his home.
His mind was bright' he had those itchy feet.
He wrote a string of verses of the days he used to roam,
From dusty track outback to city streets.

He drifted with the drovers across the western plains
And he waltzed Matilda down the Lachlan side,
From the Barcoo to the Murray in droughts and flooding rains.
Oh, the bush was both his mother and his pride.

He passed by plain and mountain and by burning desert sand,
By shearing shed and lonely cattle camp,
And when the beer was flowing he was there to lend a hand
With the mates that share his life upon the tramp.

He sang of wild bush brumbies and the teamsters and their teams,
Of outer tracks that only Bushmen know.
He saw the mail coach coming by plains and mountain streams,
And he wrote about the lights of Cobb & Co.

He told of lonely men outback and women of the west,
Of folk that fought to live in factory towns,
But the swaggies of the old bush school were the ones he knew the best,
Where the waters of the Darling wander down.

He boiled his billy back of Bourke and starved in City Park.
He penned his poems in a shaky scrawl;
But of all the old bush poets who have passed and left their mark,
Henry Lawson was the greatest of them all.

There's an Aussie we all know where the western breezes blow.
From north to south he's known far and wide.
Henry Lawson was his name but he never rose to fame
Until he crossed beyond the great divide,
Until he crossed beyond the great divide.

video

from this thread https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17472

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 05:55 AM

GOOGLING IN WINDOWS by Chris Clarke,(former mudcatter Canberra Chris), Shiny Bum Singers (Tune: Doggie in the Window)

Chorus:
How much am I Googling in Windows
Or checking ebay for a sale?
How much am I Googling in Windows?
It's fun when my work has gone stale

I once found a site for playing marbles
The top ten from 1903
A fan club for Elvis Presley's tailor
And bought fairy lights for my tree

I sold my grandfather's model tractors
To someone in Dallas-Fort Worth
And sent, for a horoscope for workmates,
The time and the date of their birth

I found lots of heritage tomatos
Swap seeds from Saigon to Peru,
I typed in my lover's name and found there
An intriguing reference or two

I found that my boss's name is also
A stud horse in Berkshire, UK,
A down-market suburb in Chicago
And a convict in Botany Bay

video of Patti Page singing Doggie

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 09:17 PM

A MAIDEN’S PRAYER
(Traditional)

A farmer coming home one night
In his house he saw no light
He lit his lamp and went upstairs
And to his daughter’s room repaired

And as he entered in her room
He found her hanging in the gloom
He took his knife and cut her down
And on her breast these words he found

Oh when my apron strings hung low
He chased me through the ice and snow
But now my apron strings don’t meet
He passes me by in the street

Oh God I wish my child was born
And I not left and all forlorn
Oh father I can’t take the shame
To bear this child without a name

So dig my grave and dig it deep
And plant white lilies at my feet
Oh plant white lilies up above
To signify I died of love

They dug her grave, they dug it deep
And planted lilies at her feet
And planted lilies up above
To signify she died for love

Now all you maidens bear in mind
A sailor’s love is hard to find
And if you find one good and true
Don’t forsake the old love for the new

The above is a composite of several versions collected in Australia as recorded by Alan Musgrove on his 'Bagman's Gazette' CD. It is one of the 'Died for love' family of songs. Musgrove noted that Joy Hildebrand (who used to post on Mudcat as Joybell) in her 'Died for Love' monograph traced the song to a broadside titled 'Love In Despair', published in Edinburgh in the late 17th century. In the US, it is known as 'The Railroad Boy'.

In Australia, it is known as 'A Sailor's Prayer' or 'A Maiden's Prayer' even though there is no prayer in any version. There is a version of each of those titles in Ron Edwards' big book and a version of 'A Maiden's Prayer' in Meredith & Anderson's 'Folk Songs of Australia'. Musgrove's version seems to be mainly a composite of these.

The 1928 recording by Buell Kazee was included in the famous Harry Smith anthology of American folk music and it influenced folk revival versions. He recorded it as 'The Butcher's Boy' even though he knew it as 'The Railroad Boy'.

The Butcher's Boy

Here is an interesting composite version from the singing of Mike Waterson. It is performed by
Martin and Eliza Carthy.

Died for Love

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 11 Apr 21 - 10:27 PM

This is a revisit to a song that I posted on 08 September last year from a CD by O'Leary and Hildebrand. I have since come across a YT clip of a version sung by Alan Musgrove that has 2 extra verses. His introductory remarks set the scene. Here is my transcription - corrections welcomed.

THE PUSH ON THE CORNER
(Unknown)

Last night I was driven near crazy
By one I both love and adore
Now she's packed up all her boxes
And I ain't gonna see her no more
I wrote her a hundred letters
Begging her to forget
But now she's found one she loves better
And this is the answer I get

Chorus:
Just wait till the push on the corner
Refuses to drink a long beer
Wait till the thieves and pickpockets
From the streets of Fitzroy disappear
Wait till the Collingwood lassies
From powder and paint they are free
When the Chinese are coppers on Bourke Street
My darling I'll come back to thee

Chorus

So I went to her mother’s in Gore Street
To find out if she would come back
But she said she was down at the Napier
With a swell from Kew name of Jack
I went down and there I did find her
In the ladies’ lounge sipping her drink
I said, ‘Will you come back, my darling?’
She answered, ‘Well, what do you think?’

Chorus

So I chased up a couple of bottles
To fill my poor heart with some cheer
I went back to my room in the Narrows
And drunk that foaming brown beer
Then later I went out a-walking
Up Gertrude Street I did stray
But as a tram rattled on by me
I thought I could hear people say

Chorus

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Apr 21 - 11:17 PM

HIGH EXPLOSIVE
(A.B 'Banjo' Paterson/Wallis & Matilda)

Twas the dingo pup to his dam that said
"It's time I worked for my daily bread
Out in the world I intend to go
And you'd be surprised at the things I know"

"There's a wild duck's nest in a sheltered spot
And I'll go right down and I'll eat the lot"
But when he got to his destined prey
He found that the ducks had flown away

But an egg was left that would quench his thirst
So he bit the egg and it straightway burst
It burst with a bang, and he turned and fled
For he thought that the egg had shot him dead

"Oh, mother," he said, "let us clear right out
Or we'll lose our lives with the bombs about
And it's lucky I am that I'm not blown up -
It's a very hard life," said the dingo pup

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 09:16 PM

PLAINS OF PEPPIMENARTI
(D.Kirkpatrick aka Slim Dusty)

Now I've been around Australia and I've travelled everywhere
But there's one place I really like to go
Where the land is big and wide and tall dark ringers ride
On the plains of Peppimenarti, where the old Moyle River flows

Tough riders there of course in a truck or on a horse
And they'll really teach you things you didn't know
It's excitement to the full if you're out there chasing bulls
By the plains of Peppimenarti, where the old Moyle River flows

And the Kangaroo still bounds on that rough and rugged ground
The ant hills and the old pandanas grow
Yes and everyday's a Sunday if you're catching barramundi
By the plains of Peppimenarti, where the old Moyle River flows

Now the men out on the stock camps are the finest riders known
And they'll work four weeks without a break or spell
They're the backbone of our beef steaks
And I've mentioned this before
And it's a story that I'm always proud to tell

May the march of time never ever bring too many changes
To a way of life you people love and prize
May the years ahead be good ones
And you never lose your customs
With old Peppimenarti Hill looking down so old and wise

And the Kangaroo still bounds on that rough and rugged ground
The ant hills and the old pandanas grow
Yes and everyday's a Sunday if you're catching barramundi
By the plains of Peppimenarti, where the old Moyle River flows

The Youtube video is beaut:

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 08:57 PM

SLEEPING COLD
(S.Nicholson & K.Chambers)

Will you rise or will you fall?
Will you walk or will you crawl?
Will you dream in black and white
When you're sleeping cold tonight?

Will you bend or will you break?
Will you give or will you take?
Will no angel shine no light?
And leave you sleeping cold tonight

Way o Way, way o way, o way o why
Way o Way, way o way, o way o why

Will you stand or will you turn?
Will you teach or will you learn?
When your demons rise above
You'll be sleeping cold, my love

Would you stay or would you leave?
Would you fail or would you believe?
Would you stand your ground and fight
When I'm sleeping cold tonight?
Would we know what's wrong or right
If we're sleeping cold tonight?

Way o Way, way o way, o way o why
Way o Way, way o way, o way o why

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 08:10 PM

THE CUTTER'S DREAM
(Bob Rado)

He sits by the flickering firelight
His memory turns back the times
To the years that he spent and the timbers that went
For the bridges, railways and mines

In his mind he can see it all clearly
The bullocks, the whim and the dray
The bullocky swears as he hitches the pairs
At the start of another long day

As the sun filters down through the treetops
And the mist rises up from the stream
The crosscut and axe and the winding whim tracks
To him it was more than a dream

He remembers the camp by the river
He remembers how things used to be
Down many a track with his swag on his back
Life was so simple and free

But his mates are no longer around him
As he follows the path of his mind
The sound of machines has shattered his dreams
Now he's ready to leave it behind

And he sits by the flickering firelight
His memory turns back the times
To the years that he spent and the timbers that went
For the bridges, railways and mines

Bob Rummery's note:

Bob Rado's story of a sleeper cutter in Western Australia's southwest looking back over a working life where the only 'machine' was the bloke on the end of the axe, crosscut and broadaxe.

From Loaded Dog's 'Hair of the Dog' album.

Audio

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 10:32 AM

83 ORDINARY PEOPLE, © Nigel Foote 1985 (The Granville Song)

The young girl just made the train
Didn’t want to be late again
Ah but she should’ve been, she should’ve been
But the old man on the stairs
Slowed down by the years
Was left standing on the platform with his cane

Passengers from mountain towns
Country folk but city bound
Gathered at their stations down the line
They found their places on the train
A lottery of death and pain
For many it was the last journey of their lives

Chorus:
And the families of those people
Eighty-three ordinary people
Can do nothing much, except wonder why

Some sat sleeping against the windows
Others read the morning papers
Never dreaming that they would be the next headlines
But the news swept through the mountains
And silently we counted
For the train from Mount Victoria had left the line

Chorus

The rescuers came and tried
To save some of those inside
Hands held hands that each year now hold flowers
And scattered roses on the tracks
At Granville now bring back
The memory of that ill-fated hour

Chorus twice

Note

Many thanks to Nigel Foote for permission to add this song to the Australian Railway Songs collection

Nigel writes:
'I was originally asked to sing the song at the 10th Anniversary of the disaster, held at the Bold Street Bridge Memorial Service in 1987, and then every five years after that, including the 20th anniversary in 1997. I was awarded the Granville Medal for the song.'

Audio   lyrics

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 10:27 AM

BILLY SHEEHAN

On the forty-pound rails steamed a C-16,
Commanded by its driver, Mister Billy Sheehan.
The G.M. gave him orders on the strict Q.T.
To run a faster schedule than the Spirit of P.
Keep the regulator open, watch the black smoke roll,
Pile on all the floorboards if we run out of coal.
If we don’t beat the record, ’Billy said to his mate,
‘Send my memos care of Peter at the golden gate!’

Chorus:
Billy Sheehan, ran a faster schedule
Billy Sheehan, a mighty man was he.
Billy Sheehan, ran a faster schedule,
Out to break the record of the Spirit of P.

His fireman was a punting boy for Narrabeen,
He said, ‘I’ll lay the odds against the C-16.’
Billy flashed a roll of notes that was a bear;
The boiler then exploded, blew them both in the air,
Said Billy to his fireman as they left the wreck,
‘I dunno where we’re going but we’re neck and neck!’
The fireman then said, ‘Billy I’ll tell you what I’ll do.
I’ll bet another fifty I go higher than you!’

The wife of Driver Sheehan was at home in bed
When the Railway wired that old Bill was dead.
She called her children to her, said, ‘Listen, honey lambs,
The next old man you get’ll be a guard in the van!’
The railway’s all in mourning now for Billy Sheehan,
No more we’ll hear the puffing of his C-16.
There’s crepe on all the locos, both the goods and mails,
From Ingham and Mount Isa down to New South Wales.


Billy Sheehan
1. Collected by Bill Scott in the mid 1950s from his brother David who was a railwayman at the time in Hughenden, Qld. It is a parody based on the American songs STEAMBOAT BILL and CASEY JONES. C16s were a class of light locomotives, “Spirit of P” refers to the Spirit of Progress which at the time was the fastest train in Australia and ran from Melbourne to Albury. The Second Penguin Australian Songbook p178 1980.
2. Arranged by Stan Arthur. Complete Book of Australian Folklore, p106 1976; reprinted Songs of Australian Working Life p72 1989. Also on Wattle recording C9, Folk Songs from Queensland 1959.

Johnny Cash singing Casey Jones

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 10:25 PM

Good wun, Sandra! Sydney Town was on my long list of "to post" and (for my sins?), I always enjoyed Rolf's version :)

R-J

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

SYDNEY TOWN © Frank Hardy 1964

Chorus
The more they try to keep me down
The better I live in Sydney town,
The more they try to keep me down
The better I live in Sydney town.

Great grand-daddy walked along the street with a
ball and chain around his feet
and that's the way they'd like to see me walk
just to give the toffs a chance to talk.

They rob me in the Parliament
They charge me half my pay for rent
They heard I was living on the Rocks
So they pulled it down for building blocks.

The beer's gone up in the public bar
And I can't afford a motor car
But I keep six bottles In the fridge,
And pay no toll on the harbour bridge

The jockies and the bookies cheat,
The odds-on favorites all get beat
So just to show them I'm no fool
I go to Tommo's a Two-up school

They all throw heads when I back tails:
I got no dough to 'bank on the Wales'
But I'll get a job, it'll suit fine
On the Eastern Suburbs railway line.

If I go on strike, I'll have good cause,
Then I'll get hit with a Penal Clause,
But I don't care, let the bosses rage,
I'll fight for a rise in the basic wage.

The monopolies can all arrange
To rig their shares on the Stock Exchange
Through lottery tickets with my spouse
I've got shares in the Opera House.

They won't lot you win on poker machines
They show rubbish on the T.V. screens
So for entertainment I go for
Australian songs at the Troubador

Notes

Sydney Town was published in Australian Tradition, May 1964 with the note: This is the original version of Sydney Town as written by me. Folk singers and others who add new verses and variations do so at their own risk. Frank Hardy.

lyrics    video

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 08:59 PM

ON THE QUEENSLAND RAILWAY LINES, written by The Brisbane Realist Writers' Group, 1959

On the Queensland railway lines
There are stations where one dines
Private individuals
Also run refreshment rooms

CHORUS

Bogan-Tungan, Rollingstone,.
Mungar, Murgon, Marathone,
Guthalungra, Pinkenba,
Wanko, Yaamba, - ha, ha, ha!

Males and females, high and dry,
Hang around at Durikai,
Boora-Mugga, Djarawong,
Giligulul, Wonglepong.

Pies and coffee, baths and showers
Are supplied at Charters Towers;
At Mackay the rule prevails
Of restricting showers to males.

Iron rations come in handy,
On the way to Dirranbandi,
Passengers have died of hunger
During halts at Garradunga,

Let us toast, before we part,
Those who travel, stout of heart,
Drunk or sober, rain or shine,
On a Queensland railway line

This parody of a German folk song was written by The Brisbane Realist Writers' Group in 1959. Printed in The Queensland Centenary Pocket Songbook.

lyrics & audio

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 08:54 PM

BESIDE A RAILWAY LINE by Roger Ilott (1991)
Roger Ilott - vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass.
Penny Davies - vocals, drums, mandolin.

A long time ago by a railway line
there lived a boy with a face a bit like mine.
He'd watch the steam trains rolling by -
the days were long, and the little boy's eyes were wide.

He'd rush outside when he'd hear the sound
of a goods train heading slowly out of town,
he'd swing on the gate, and, with a great big grin,
he'd wave at the Drivers - and the Drivers waved back at him!

Chorus
Woo-woo, woo-woo
if you close your eyes you can hear the whistle still,
woo-woo, woo-woo,
and the clatter of the trains running back to Erskineville.

He'd help his Mum hang the washing on the line-
the sheets were as white as the clouds up in the sky-
but next thing you know there'd be a sooty old train
and you can understand why Mum'd complain!

He'd stand on the bridge at Hurlstone Park Station-
the keenest Loco Driver in the nation-
and it didn't seem to matter if it was rainy or fine,
life was pretty good beside that railway line.

Well, I never did get to drive a train,
now there's famine and floods and war and acid rain,
But when my little boy grins and waves to his Dad,
I think to myself "well, things aren't all that bad.'

And though my hair's getting more than a little bit grey,
and the world seems to turn a bit quicker every day,
I can still see through that young boy's eyes
those endless days, and steam trains rolling by.

A long time age by a railway line
there lived a little boy with a face a bit like mine,
I can see him still with his eyes so wide -
and those endless days beside a railway line.

lyrics    sung by Roger

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 08:26 PM

lyrics & video for BATTLER'S BALLAD, Jack Wright, tune M.O'Rourke - posted as a link by Stewie 19 Aug 20 - 08:11 PM on page 1

BATTLER'S BALLAD

You are just a lonely battler and you're waiting for a rattler
You wish to heaven you were never born
For you ran to dodge a copper and you came an awful cropper
The skin on both your hands is cut and torn.

You are tired and you're weary, lack of sleep makes your eyes bleary
The soles of both your shoes are worn right through
Your heart is sore and aching and your back is nearly breaking
Your coat and shirt and pants have had it too.

Chorus:
And it's hey, hey hobo, you're just a rolling stone
Though you're stony broke, if you still can crack a joke
You're as good as any king upon his throne.

Your blood is nearly boiling and your muscles need no oiling
As you duck and dodge the headlight's brilliant glare
For you've seen the copper's wood heap and you know that it's a good heap
You know the tucker's not the best in there.

Then the engine gives a whistle, you trip up on a thistle
Get tangled up in signal wires and points
Then you blunder in the gutter and angrily you mutter
'Well, strike me pink, of all the flamin' joints!'

First Repeat chorus
And it's hey, hey hobo, you're just a rolling stone
Though your pants are wearing thin, if you can still raise a grin
You're as good as any king upon his throne.

Then you see the green light flashing and hear the bumpers crashing
You see the great big engine rushing by
With your swag all at the ready, your nerves are not so steady
For you know you'll have to take her on the fly.

Then your swag you try to throw in, but the flamin' thing won't go in
Bounces off the truck and hits you, and you fall
Pick the remnants of your swag up, pick your billy-can and bag up
You say, 'I missed the bastard after all!'

Second Repeat chorus
And it's hey, hey hobo, you're just a rolling stone
Though the sky is looking grey, there will surely come a day
When you'll own a bloody railway of your own.

performed by Jason & Chloe

Jack Wright was an early member of the Bush Music Club, & this song, written during the depression, was one of many collected from him by Alan Scott.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 07:26 PM

BREAKING NEWS - Restored locomotive 3801 begins regional NSW tour, thousands hop on for ride

3801, A song by Ray King and Ron Russell (1987).
Ray King and Ron Russell - guitar, vocals and computer sequencing.
Joy Howard - backing vocals.

In the golden age of steam
There lived a beauty queen
Roamin' around the countryside
She was a driver's dream.
Workin' days and workin' nights
Up before the sun
They all tried hard to get aboard
Thirty-eight o one.

The queen of all the fleet
The railway's pride and joy
To ride upon the footplate
Was the dream of every boy.
As she went roarin' by
on another express run
Everyone would turn their heads for
Thirty-eight o one.

Ah thirty-eight o one
You stood the test you're still the best
You just keep rollin' on.

Bound from Sydney town
The black smoke rollin' higher
Across the Hawkesbury river
To Newcastle on the flier.
Over the great divide
On the Central Western run
On the Southern Line right on time went
Thirty-eight o one.

But your greatest feat
Was steamin' across the nation
All the crowds would gather round
At every country station.
On the standard gauge
Westward to the sun
Across to Perth and back again went
Thirty-eight o one.

Ah thirty-eight o one
You stood the test you're still the best
You just keep rollin' on.

The days of steam have been and gone
But some remember well
That big green flash as she went by
Had such a tale to tell.
And now she's back upon the tracks
She just keeps rollin' on
She beat the rest she's still the best
Thirty-eight o one.

Ah thirty-eight o one
You stood the test you're still the best
You just keep rollin' on.

Notes
Ray King and Ron Russell were both working at Elcar when they wrote this song

3801 lyrics    video

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 05 Apr 21 - 12:48 AM

NATIVITY (originally titled Epiphany)
(Peter Cape)

They were set for home, but the horse went lame
And the rain came belting out of the sky
Joe saw the hut and he went to look
And he said, "She's old, but she'll keep you dry"

So her kid was born in that roadman's shack
By the light of a lamp that'd hardly burn
She wrapped him up in her hubby's coat
And put him down on a bed of fern

Then they came riding out of the night
And this is the thing that she'll always swear
As they took off their coats and came into the light
They knew they were going to find her there

Three old jokers in oilskin coats
Stood by the bunk in that leaking shack
One had a beard like a billygoat's
One was frail, and one was black

She sat on the foot of the fernstalk bed
And she watched, but she didn't understand
When they put those bundles at the baby's head
And this river nugget into his hand

    Gold is the power of a man with a man
    And incense the power of man with God
    But myrrh is the bitter taste of death
    And the sour-sweet smell of the upturned sod

Then they went, while she watched through the open door
Weary as men who had ridden too far
And the rain eased off and the low cloud broke
And through a gap shone a single star

Peter Cape set it to a Anglican hymn tune. You can find it here (together with another version of the lyrics}:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Apr 21 - 09:44 PM

TE KOOTI, E HA
(A.Desmond/Anon)

Chorus
Kei taka, Te Kooti, Te Kooti, kia kaha
Ka miharo ahau ki a ia, Te Kooti
Naku tenei pamu, ko toku whare tenei
Lahore oku whenua hei hoko
Kei taka, Te Kooti, e ha!

Chorus (translation)
Gather round, Te Kooti, Te Kooti is strong
I admire him, Te Kooti
This is my farm, this is my house
I won't ever sell this land
Gather round, Te Kooti, e ha!

The Pakehas came with their rum and their gold
And soon the broad lands of our fathers were sold
But the voice of Te Kooti said, 'Hold the land, hold!'
Exult for Te Kooti, e ha!

They falsely accused him, no trial had he
They carried him off to an island at sea
But his prison he broke and once more he was free
Exult for Te Kooti, e ha!

They tried to enslave us, to trample us down
Like the millions that serve them in field and in town
But the sapling that's bended when free will rebound
Exult for Te Kooti, e ha!

In the wild midnight foray whose footsteps trod lighter?
In the flash of the rifle whose eyeballs gleamed brighter?
What man with our hero could clinch as a fighter?
Exult for Te Kooti, e ha!

We won't sell our land, 'tis the gift of the Lord
Except it be bought with the blood-drinking sword
But all men are welcome to share in its hoard
Exult for Te Kooti, e ha!

Note in 'Song of a Young Country' page 39:

Land purchased carelessly by the government through unscrupulous land agents led to the so-called 'Maori Wars'. In 1864, the confiscation of land belonging to Maoris who had resisted such purchase proved to the Maori that the wars were engineered to deprive people of their land. It took only twenty years for the Pakeha to break his Treaty of Waitingi. Chiefs such as Titokowaru and Te Kooti rebelled. To weld their people together they founded new codes of honour - Pai Mariri and Ringatu. They spoke of 'truth' and 'honesty'. An historical examination from today's standpoint shows all too clearly who was dishonest.

Te Kooti's biography

A young girl's interesting summary:

Te Koot's War

Youtube clip

Another song telling the Te Kooti story:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 10:56 AM

DUH!!   

Just realised that I forgot to post the Audio Link to the Slim Dusty song about The End of the Canning Stock Route!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jki1YYrufk4


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 10:15 AM

Three songs about THE CANNING STOCK ROUTE   [Western Australia : Wiluna to Halls Creek ]

This route was pioneered by Surveyor-Explorer, Alfred Canning and his team, between 1906-1910, to enable a droving track for cattle from the Kimberley down to Southern markets, and the dry, dusty desert conditions of which would remove the Cattle Ticks evident on sea-shipped bovines.
Alfred took all the requirements to push this almost 1900km track on the backs of camels and 48 of the final 51 wells were dug and boarded with native Desert Oak timber, at intervals along the way. Many of these esssential water sources have fallen into disrepair, but gradually, some are being restored for modern day travellers.   
The CSR crossed 3 deserts and more than 15 Aboriginal language groups and their important cultural landscape. There were claims that Canning & Co had mistreated the local Aborigines who were forced to assist the construction team, but these were dismissed bcoz “All explorers behave in this manner” ……   
However, the CSR was only used sporadically for its intended purpose (just 35 drives between 1911 - 1959), until the modern penchant for adventuring, from around the mid 60s.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canning_Stock_Route

There are plenty of vidclips on YT from over the last 15+ years, of tough Aussie blokes in couples or convoys, pitting themselves and their well-kitted 4WD Rigs, against what is said to be one of the longest, most remote and difficult tracks in the world. And only two small settlements along the way that may – or may not – provide whatever you forgot or ran short of!!

I chose, however, to link to one from 1986 by well-known (well-known to we BabyBoomers!!) outback adventurer, Malcolm Roberts :    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-mXGF-Hcyg
And also one from 2012 (which comes highly recommended by YT Commenters) of Gavin Foreman & Summer Wilms (Foreman & Wilms Adventures) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmTgP7Lchc0
Both clips not only show the tackling of the numerous infamous sand dunes along the way, and using the wells, plus the abandoned vehicle wrecks and pioneer graves, but also fabulous wildlife segments (esp birdlife) and beautiful Aboriginal waterholes at the rock outcrops, and more.   
But if you want another slant, which also has some great photography, esp. of the rugged track, salt lakes, and their experiences (including corrugations damage and welding failures), try Peter & Sven Zalums’ (Griniflix - Adventure8) trip up the CSR in 2017 after a recent cyclone – the first sibling holiday for the Latvian brothers in 70 years and Sven had never before been camping nor 4W driving!!! (and interesting that most of the fellow travellers they met appeared to be European!) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZt8lPXaKik

Or fancy Walking the CSR??!! The online story of Murray Rankin’s 3 attempts in the early 70s to walk the Route, seems to have gone, apart from this : https://westtravelclub.com.au/stories/walking-the-canning-stock-route
However, here is a blog of Terry Bolland’s CSR walk-trek taken from his walk-run-cycle-kayak journey around Australia. : https://terrybolland.wordpress.com/canning-stock-route-walk/      It blew me away bcoz of the frequency of noisy vehicles passing him (so much for enjoying the solitude), but also due to the 750 beer cans he picked up along the track on his journey – and this was back in 1990!!! :(

ENJOY!

R-J



#1   END OF THE CANNING STOCK ROUTE

Peter Muir & David Kirkpatrick (aka Slim Dusty)

The camp gear's in the storeroom, all the packs are in the shed
With the dust of seven summers on their hide
Saddle straps are hard and brittle, stirrup irons are rusty red
For the Canning Stock Route finished when Wally Dowling* died
No more cattle travel southward through the spinifex and sand
All the wells are falling in along the track
Now the Canning’s but a legend, just a lonely desert land
And it's doubtful if the Munjongs* want it back.

Eight hundred miles of sandhills, now and then a sandstone ridge
With a salt lake here and there with samphire flat
An oasis in the desert you can find at Durba Springs
Bubbling, running water, it's a fact
But unless you own a camel, you could never travel there
And a horse would fail now the wells have fallen in
For the sandhills of the Canning reach a hundred feet or more
And it's certain that no car could take you in.

The famous 'Never Never' and the place they call 'Outback'
Two elusive lands that few men ever found
Are located on the Canning, down that lonely desert track
Where to be this very moment would be worth a thousand pound
To be with Wally Dowling, whipping water from the well
While the stockmen hold the mob back from the trough
Stop the thirsty bullocks trampling in their great desire to drink
Just to do one trip would suit me well enough.

But my wish is just a daydream which can never be fulfilled
For when Wally died, the stock route had its day
Now the Billiluna cattle, are travelling down to Broome
In a roaring, diesel roadtrain to the meatworks by the bay
And the tick line stops the others, every station in the north
No one may use the Canning if he would
So they truck their beef to Wyndham and sell for what it's worth
And I doubt they'd use the Canning if they could.

It's really had its day now and won't be used again
No more drovers’ horse bells ringin' will be heard
For the cattle-loaded roadtrain, smothered in its diesel fumes
Now struggles up the rise in lower third
When I travel up the Canning, I am sure to be alone
With my camels and some thoughts of yesterday
They will take me slowly northward, 'til at last the trip is done
And find contentment when I've stowed the packs away.

The camp gear's in the storeroom, all the packs are in the shed
With the dust of seven summers on their hide
Saddle straps are hard and brittle, stirrup irons are rusty red
For the Canning Stock Route finished when Wally Dowling died …..

* Munjon : believed to be a Kimberley word for a wild (bush) aborigine ……
* Wally Dowling was possibly the best-known drover along the route; by all accounts a strong man, a hard man, but who died in 1959 from influenza and the droving along with him…..   
Most of the Drovers were Aboriginal, rarely named or recorded and when paid, it was “in kind”. Most were women, and many were used….. https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/19412/Yiwarra-Kuju-droving.pdf
https://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s2018935.htm    So there’s an Aboriginal side to the CSR story too, that has only just begun to be told.



#2   THE CANNING STOCK ROUTE

Bob Emery

From Wiluna to Halls Creek is 900 miles
A wilderness of spinifex and sand
The men who sunk the wells, had their troubles and their trials
They opened up this outback desert land.

In nineteen hundred and six, Alf Canning took his team
At 26, the best man in the land
With a hundred tons of cargo, a camel team as well
For two long years they worked this desert land.

Tommy Windich was a native guide who knew the territory
And Windich Springs, his monument through time
Great pools of flowing water, he found to their delight
Sundowner parrots led him to this prize.

Dust and sand and stoney desert, Canning and his team push on
Bringing up artesian water, from. way. down. below.

52 wells later, Alf Canning he returned,
And said to guv’nor “well, the job is done”
Now to get those cattle moving, they’re waiting in the north
A water track now spans the desert lands.

Hare wallabies jumped in sheer surprise, the mala it was stunned
To see the cattle moving through the scrub
The parrots and the kangaroo rats who had to share the land
With a thousand head of cattle as they passed.

Dust and sand and stoney desert, Canning and his team push on
Bringing up artesian water, from. way. down. below.

Well the roadway to the north and the trucks that shake the night
Do the job those drovers did so well
And the mighty Canning Stock Route is forgotten all too soon
And the men who built and rode it are all gone.

From Wiluna to Halls Creek is 900 miles
A wilderness of spinifex and sand
The men who sunk the wells had their troubles and their trials
They opened up this outback desert land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfqQ-rCE9uk   FIDDLER’S GREEN BUSH BAND



#3      There was a Mudcat thread /mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=109469 from 2008 where the OP wanted a WA song by “The Westerner” about the Canning Stock Route and which he used to have on an old tape.
He gave the chorus as below, BUT, I have not found it online ….

“Coming down the Canning we sing the cattle song
Farewell to Kimberly move the mob along
Its early in the morning we give the whip salute
Coming down the Canning on the old stock route”

HOWEVER! Turns out this is another of the songs by Lloyd G. Montgomery (aka Sandgroper), which came to light amongst a folder of compositions sent in May 1970 to Dale Dengate of the Bush Music Club in Sydney!!
https://blog.bushmusic.org.au/2018/07/moondyne-joe-and-other-sandgroper.html#gsc.tab=0


Here are Lloyd’s lyrics :

CANNING STOCK ROUTE

Lloyd G. Montgomery

We’ll meet the cattle at “The Creek”, the drover said, y’know
Then off to leave the Kimberley, Wiluna-way to go
Like Canning-of-the-Outback, a desert man to be –
We’ll take the Track together, my brumby mate an’ me.

We stumble in the spinifex, ‘til over in the haze
Big Sandy looms across the world, beyond the breakaways –
We ride the Devil’s Switchback, to Waddawalla ‘Hole
Then help to raise the water, with the whipstick pole.

We find the grave at Haunting Well, beside a desert oak
And fight the blacks along the way, to reach Karrara Soak –
From Durba by the Salt Lake, we give the hides a boot
And rush ‘em through the poison, on the old Stock Route.

At Well Eleven, by the Fort, we light the drover’s lamp
To talk of ‘Tracks and Cattle Kings, around the cattle camp
Then onward in the day-dawn, the stoney plain to see –
We ride across the desert, my brumby mate an’ me.

Chorus :
Coming down the Canning, we sing the cattle song
Farewell to Kimberley, boot the beef along
From early in the morning, we make the whip salute
Coming down the Canning, on the old Stock Route.

Lloyd notes on the score that the melody is a variant of a Traditional air (possibly Scottish?)

So, has anyone found a recording of this song??


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GerryM
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 05:26 AM

THE LATKE
Tune: Traditional ("The Coo Coo")
Lyrics: Gerry Myerson

It has become traditional in some congregations to hold a debate, as part of the annual Purim celebration, on the relative merits of latkes and hamentashen. Hamentashen are associated with Purim; latkes with the holiday of Chanukah (and, to a lesser extent, Passover). This was my contribution to the debate at North Shore Temple Emanuel, Chatswood, New South Wales, in 2021.

Oh, the latke
Is so tasty,
And it sizzles as it fries.
And you never
Eat a latke
Until Kislev 25.

Gonna build me
A yeshiva
On a mountain, so high,
So that I can
See those latkes,
As they go in to fry.

Hamentashen,
Hamentashen,
I know you of old.
You have robbed
My poor pockets
Of their silver and their gold.

I've had latkes
From Long Island,
I've had latkes from Tel Aviv.
But the latkes
Made in Sydney
Are the best ones, I believe.

Take potato,
Egg and onion,
Matzo meal, and salt to taste.
In the skillet,
Flip 'em over,
And they'll never go to waste.

(Repeat first stanza)

Notes:
Chanukah begins each year on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev.
The geographical references in the 4th stanza can be adjusted to the situation.
A version, with alterations to the 3rd stanza, will be posted to the Passover songs thread.

Here's a recording, by David Holt, of The Coo Coo.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GerryM
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 05:04 AM

THE OLD REBEL FLAG IN THE REAR (A MAY-DAY SONG)

The Old Rebel Flag In The Rear is a poem by Henry Lawson, who gave it the subtitle, "A May-Day Song". First, the full version; then, a shortened version due to Chris Kempster, who set it to music. I couldn't find a recording of that version online, but here is a version by Bruce Hearn.

The Old Rebel Flag in the Rear
A May-Day Song
Full version

Henry Lawson, 1892

Whenever the march of oppression
Reduces a land to despair,
No matter how mighty the victors,
The flag of Rebellion is there.
The might of coercion may triumph,
And Freedom be laid on her bier —
Yet over the graves of the conquered there waves
That Old Rebel Flag in the Rear

A king may be great in a country
That cheers when a monarch is crown'd
But still, in his capital city,
The flag of the rebel is found.
A people may boast a Republic,
Where Liberty dies in a year;
But close on their flag comes that old stubborn rag,
The Old Rebel Flag in the Rear

We sing of the Queen of England,
Her banner that flaunts in the van,
Yet out from the slums of her capital comes
That vengeful red banner of man!
Lift up the proud Union of England,
And bear it along with a cheer,
But England! take care in your triumph, for there
Is the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

There's the great cruel Eagle of Russia,
Where thousands are sunk in despair,
And the hand of the tyrant is mighty,
But the flag of rebellion is there!
There's the bloodthirsty flag of the Kaiser,
A monarch whom nations can fear,
But William will pause ere he marches, because
Of the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

There's the Red, White and Blue of the Frenchmen,
Where soldiers of Freedom are true,
But lo! from the rear comes a banner,
Whose skirts lack the white and the blue!
There's the flag of a boastful republic,
A country where freedom is dear —
But still, in the States there's an army that waits
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

There's a new mongrel flag in Australia,
And the "Banner of Britain" is here,
But, to break from the past, we are gathering fast
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.
There are men in the ranks who are traitors,
And men who will falter and fear,
Yet on thro' the arch of the morning we march
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

Some men, for the sake of their conscience,
Will join and be true in the strife,
And some for the sake of a moment to break
The terrible dullness of life!
They march 'neath the flag of the rebels,
With lives overburden'd and drear,
And fling them away on a terrible day
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

A spirit calls out of the future,
And bids us to strike in our youth —
And the voice of to-day is appealing
For Liberty, Justice, and Truth;
And the blood that was shed by old rebels,
For rights that shall ever be dear,
Drips down from the red of the flag overhead,
Of the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

Oh! brothers of mine and of mankind!
The banner I sing of is red
With life-blood of men who were foemen
To wrong, and oppression, and dread.
Then march 'neath the flag of the rebels,
The red days of battle are near,
Let your feet never lag as you march 'neath the flag,
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

Perhaps there'll be no reformation,
But Oh! for a moment to rise
And ride on the storm of rebellion,
And strike at the things that I hate and despise!
When Progress is stayed by a red barricade,
And down in the city we hear
The roll of a hymn of defiance
That ends in a desperate cheer,
And on, for a day they'll remember,
Comes the Old Rebel Flag from the Rear.

It rose from the birth of the lords of the earth,
That Old Rebel Flag in the Rear;
The rebels are bred by the tyrants who dread
That Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.
'Twill never be furl'd while there's wrong in the world,
It never will fall till there's Justice for all,
THAT OLD REBEL FLAG IN THE REAR!

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

This is the shorter version, as Chris Kempster arranged and recorded it:

Whenever the march of oppression
Reduces a land to despair,
No matter how mighty the victors,
The flag of Rebellion is there.
A spirit calls out of the future,
And bids us to strike in our youth —
And the voice of to-day is appealing
For Liberty, Justice, and Truth;
There are men in the ranks who are traitors,
And men who will falter and fear,
Yet on thro' the arch of the morning we march
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

Chorus (after each verse):
'Twill never be furl'd while there's wrong in the world,
It never will fall till there's Justice for all,
That old rebel flag, that old rebel flag, that old rebel flag in the rear!

There's the Red, White and Blue of the Frenchmen,
Where soldiers of Freedom are true,
But lo! from the rear comes a banner,
Whose skirts lack the white and the blue!
There's the flag of a boastful republic,
A country where freedom is dear —
But still, in the States there's an army that waits
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.
There's a new mongrel flag in Australia,
And the "Banner of Britain" is here,
But, to break from the past, we are gathering fast
'Neath the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.

There's the great cruel Eagle of Russia,
Where thousands are sunk in despair,
And the hand of the tyrant is mighty,
But the flag of rebellion is there!
There's the bloodthirsty flag of the Kaiser,
A monarch whom nations can fear,
But William will pause ere he marches, because
Of the Old Rebel Flag in the Rear.
We sing of the Queen of England,
Her banner that flaunts in the van,
Yet out from the slums of her capital comes
That vengeful red banner of man!

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

Bush Music club's were small select clubs, they weren't secret societies, they wanted to tell people about their heritage, they wanted members, but US & UK folk was more famous, & played on the radio & TV...

The hunt for the Bush Music Clubs of Australia

Perth Bush Music Club was est 1964, 10 years after the first BMC was established in Sydney.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 05:37 AM

Good Work, Sandra!

Well, I lived in Perth from 50s-80s, just a few miles from his abode in Rivervale (BUT despite the river, in those days those areas were decidedly NOT swanky!!!)   
I was into the Folk Scene from my mid teens - but I can't recall hearing of a Perth Bush Music Club!!!

I'll be very interested in what you further uncover!

R-J