Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 04:26 AM

There was a fair bit of detective work on Sandgroper's ballads. He was a BMC member, so I knew he wrote the ballads, he included his address so I looked it up on google maps & I wouldn't mind living there!

Victorian Folk Music Club (est 1959 as Bush Music Club of Victoria) published one of his songs as being from Perth Bush Music Club. I don't have much info on Perth BMC but the State Library of WA has nothing about them, tho they do have 5 publication of the (Sydney) Bush Music Club.

State Library of WA has a copy of both of his ballad folders with very incomplete citation - just Perth, WA & question mark

John posted his song in 2011 & asked around about the author & got no information.

I located the folders in BMC Archives in 2018 & emailed a few friends & contacts in Perth. The friends who had been around in the 70s didn't know him, & alas, the addresses I found online which might have known him didn't answer. But I did find a 1983 book in SLWA by a bloke of the same name, probably him.

I've been saying I need to contact State library WA for a couple of years now ...

sandra (starting an email)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 11:43 PM

How Good is The Power of The ‘Cat??!!


DOWN IN THE GOLDMINE [2]

I posted this song pertaining to the amazing West Australian mine rescue near Coolgardie in 1907, in this thread back on 4th Oct 2020.

The song was sourced and recorded by the late John Thompson in his “Oz Folk Song a Day” blog : http://ozfolksongaday.blogspot.com/search?q=Down+in+the+Goldmine

This song was also recorded by CLOUDSTREET (John Thompson & Nicole Murray), on their “CIRCUS OF DESIRES” album : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXDAPqqWuzg&list=OLAK5uy_mieorNy1H81gSIqJ6CP6REfRouU1qtyDE


John had it listed as “anon” with the tune “Down in the Coalmine” and Cloudy John said : “A song I found in a folio entitled, Moondyne Joe and Other Sandgroper Ballads. It is a parody of a music hall song, Down in the Coal Mine.
This link is to the story which I first read about the rescue of this Italian miner from a flooded goldmine in the desert in 1907 : https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-great-survival-20060506-gdnhry.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Enquiries around the folk scene in Australia have not revealed the songwriter's name. Any advice would be appreciated.”


Fast forward to fellow ‘Catter, Sandra-in-Sydney’s post in this thread on 26thJan2021 of a Manuscript of various compositions from WA, including correspondence, (that phrase is important!!), received in 1970, at Sydney’s Bush Music Club
and detailed in their blog, which she linked to : https://blog.bushmusic.org.au/2018/07/moondyne-joe-and-other-sandgroper.html#gsc.tab=0

It transpires from the said “Correspondence” that this song was in fact written by one Lloyd G. Montgomery (aka Sandgroper) and he lists his melody as being taken from an Irish air : “The Roving Journeyman, or, The Red-Haired Boy.
But not being a reader of music, I am unable to say if John Thompson’s music hall tune by Joseph Bryan Geoghegan is the same or similar or completely different!!! No doubt someone will tell me!!


So there you go!! (thanks Sandra! .....and John is probably aware now too, on some other level :)


Now I just came across this presentation on YT by WA’s State Library, re Bonnievale’s 1907 “Westralia” mine (East extn), massively flooded due to torrential rain, and the subsequent rescue of the last Miner, some 300metres below.
They even use Cloudstreet’s singing behind the slideshow!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6iSo209fPU

The trapped Miner was Modesto Varischetti and the last of 161 miners underground that day. He was a family man from Italy and his rescuer was local Diver Frank Hughes, from Wales. Another local Diver, Fox, initially assisted until injured, along with with Perth Divers, Hearne and Curtis. Herbert Hoover (later to become a US President) was the mining engineer, but the one who made the suggestion to use the Divers, was John, the young son of Josiah Crabb, the Cornish Mine Inspector.
The record 10? hour speed, set by the train carrying the two Perth Divers and the extra long air hoses and diving rescue gear for 565kms, stood for 50 years!!!   
Hughes made various attempts to reach Varischetti and though exhausted, after five days was finally able to bring food, light, letters, and hope to the Miner in his air pocket rise. Around 20 men were working underground in the water and mud to facilitate this rescue, including local Doctors, Mitchell and Ellis. As the water level gradually lowered with the constant surface pumping and baling, Hughes made a sixth trip down to the Miner, who after nine days of entrapment, was finally able to be brought to the surface.
Varischetti lived and worked at underground mining until 1920 when he died of Pulmonary Fibrosis.   Hughes was awarded the Albert Medal.
The location of Bonnievale, originally 12kms from Coolgardie, like so many Australian mining towns is now remembered only by a signpost.


PS    I have decided to post below, Mr Montgomery’s lyrics from his 14th May 1970 correspondence to Dale Dengate of the Bush Music Club – there are a few differences to that which John sings, but IMHO, nothing really drastic :

DOWN IN THE GOLDMINE [2]

Coolgardie folk remember well, a torrent from the sky
Westralia’s tunnel took the flood, and men were forced to fly
It chilled the blood to have to hear, that wailing whistle blow
For miner Varischetti lay, a thousand feet below.

Chorus :
Down in the Goldmine, underneath the ground
Floods are apt to fill the mine, men are apt to drown
Dare the dark an’ dreary water, send a diver down
Deep down in the Goldmine, underneath the ground.

They heard a hammer down below and ran to break the news –
To tread the gloomy catacomb, they sent for Diver Hughes
It’s half-a-hope, or sudden death – now are y’game to go?
Where miner Varischetti is, a thousand feet below.

Fremantle found the diving gear – a train began to roar
The engine got the right-o’-way, a hundred mile or more
She hit the track at sixty-five and set the night aglow
As miner Varischetti lay, a thousand feet below.

A million gallons rose above the captive in the cave
Then Diver Hughes, he brought him up and left an empty grave –
An’ life’ll keep a lamp alight, if men are game to go
Where miner Verischetti lay, a thousand feet below.



I do so love a happy ending!!
R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 11:38 PM

BLUBBER LADDIE Lyrics and Music: Harry Robertson, from the official Harry Robertson website.

Audio

Oh it’s sailing oot o’ Scotland and it’s heading south we go
To the cold Antarctic oceans where the Blue and Fin Whale blow
And the first time is adventure and you’re feeling kind of glad
That you’re sailing on a Factory Ship to be a Blubber Lad.

Chorus
Over rattling winches, and the icy winds that sigh,
Blubber Laddie! Keep it moving! You can hear the Flensers cry!

Aye there’s men who flense the blubber and there’s men who work the saws,
For many skills are needed doon among the ice and snows,
And the Cooker Men are clever getting oil wi’ steaming heat,
But the Lads who swing a blubber hook are canny lads to meet.

Chorus

Watch them balance on a rolling deck where heaps o’ blubber lie,
As they drag the strips o’ blubber to the manhole’s waiting eye,
And their hooks are flashing quickly, they dance like the imps o’ hell,
On the bloody freezing deck that reeks o’ whaling factory smell.

Chorus

When the season’s work is over and we’re back on shore again,
And ye wonder why the city folk can tell ye’re Whaling Men,
It’s no secret to them shipmates when you see them stand and look
As the Laddies walk along the street and swing their blubber hook.

Chorus

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 10:15 PM

PHONES OUT OF RANGE
(Dave Myers/Tune: 'Home, home on the range')

Oh give me a phone that will work when I roam
In the country when I need to ring
Where seldom is found any kind of a sound
You'd be better with tins on a string

Chorus
Phones, phones out of range
In the bush where the punters all pay
Where seldom is heard any kind of a word
And reception is cloudy all day

Chorus

How often at night where the heavens are bright
When I'm stranded by some lonely tree
Have I sat there amazed and asked as I gazed
Where the hell is that Telstra's 'Next G'

Chorus

Oh give me a land where the towers all stand
By the roadside wherever I go
Where seldom are seen any out-of-range screens
And my mobile is always aglow

Chorus

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 10:04 PM

R-J, many thanks for your excellent spreadsheets.

The late David Myers was a regular attendee at Top End Folk Festivals in both Darwin and Alice Springs. He was a member of the Shiny Bum Singers and contributed many songs to their repertoire.

Shiny Bums

LAPTOPS IN THE SKY
(Dave Myers/Tune: 'Ghost riders in the sky')

A local bloke he caught a plane one cold and frosty morn
To beat the fog in Canberra he had to leave at dawn
When all at once a red-eyed bunch of businessmen he spied
Working on their laptops, lattes by their sides

Chorus
Yippie aye eh
Yippie aye oh
Laptops in the sky

Their gazes fixed, their eyes were blurred, their fingers running hot
Their work it seemed important but really it was not
They could be writing novels or doing difficult sums
But they were only writing emails to their mums

Chorus

Their keys were jumping off the board, their brows were soaked with sweat
They missed both lunch and dinner but haven't noticed yet
Then they hit some turbulence and things began to fly
There was debris in the cabin and laptops in the sky

Chorus

The captain said 'We're landing now in Darwin's summer heat
So stow your trusty laptops underneath your seats'
And as they hit the tarmac there came a strangled roar
A hundred sliding laptops went racing down the floor

Chorus

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 05:52 AM

It being the eve of the Easter break here Down Under, I have finalised (correctly I hope :) the last 3 months of Song Posts in this thread.
So if you desire an Excel spreadsheet for Jan-Mar2021 (or the Aug-Dec2020 one), then send a Mudcat PM to Sandra-in-Sydney for a copy!!

Hopefully the Easter holiday will also encourage more folks to add songs, eh!! :)

Avagoodwun.

Cheers!
R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 03:17 AM

FRIENDS WON'T LET YOU DOWN, © Denis Kevans 1999, tune © Denis Rice 2007

Audio

"Your friends will never forget you", the fluttering leaflet said,
"Your friends will never forget you", and then o’er the valley spread,
The wide sky cowed in sorrow, and the eyes of the angels wept,
For a promise made by the soldiers that their leaders never kept.

For soldiers are there when you need them, they're there to suffer and die,
And to make the eyes of the angels weep in the depths of the tropical sky,
And the soldiers are there to laugh it off, and shoulder their blistering gun,
And fight anew in the mud like glue, and the sweat of the tropical sun.

And soldiers were there, and their mates were there, their mates the East Timorese,
Who fought and died beside them in the night of the jungle trees,
Who bled and fought and suffered, so Australia might still be free,
And the Aussies cried, when their leaders lied, and poisoned the Timor Sea.

"Your friends will never forget you", the fluttering leaflet said,
Dropped from the biscuit bomber, and then o’er the valley spread,
The wide sky cowed in sorrow, and the eyes of the angels wept,
For a promise made by the soldiers that their leaders never kept.

Notes

Many thanks to Denis Kevans and Denis Rice for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.


Why Australia owes a lot to East Timor

During World War Two in 1942, Timorese villagers assisted the Australian soldiers who were fighting the Japanese Imperial Army. More than 40,000 Timorese were killed by the Japanese in reprisal for their support of the Australians.

Upon withdrawal of the Australian troops from Timor, hundreds of leaflets were dropped by air over the villages in Timor that read "YOUR FRIENDS WILL NEVER FORGET YOU". This initial declaration of friendship has led to friendship agreements between Australian and Timorese communities.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 03:05 AM

TRAINS OF TREASURE © 1984 Denis Kevans

Audio

They are leaving, trains of treasure, without measure, everyday,
Trains of corn and coal and ore for the countries far away,
Treasure trains and treasure troves, leaving for the ports and coves,
Taking loads of gleaming treasure to the countries far away.

When I'm walking home, at midnight, roaming through the city's heart,
I can hear the trains uncouple, and the motor's purring start,
They pass me. like a film, forty carriages, all told,
Whipping round the curve at midnight with their cargo-loads of gold.

Like a film of the wartime, when the victors iced the cake,
With the corn and coal and ore of the countries they would take,
Like a film, they are leaving, treasure trains, and treasure troves,
Richer than the reefs of Midas, and lost Lasseter's last gold.

Tracks of steel I thought weren't used now, tunnels...mushrooms there I thought,
From the lights of Darling harbour, and Glebe Island, to the port,
Just a smiling driver, standing with his cap at jockey tilt,
I knew they carried treasure by the little bit they spilt.

And they pass you through the tunnels where the funnels used to smoke,
Round the curving lines of cities where the signals watch them go,
Just a wave, a nod, a yahoo, from the guard who throws the brake,
And the trains of treasure rumble, like a memory, through the State.

And the shunter's yard exploding in the deepest, darkest night,
And the trucks, they are unloading, in a light that's brightest white,
And the coupled trains uncouple, and the shunter's glove is shown,
And another train of treasure trundles down the iron road.

They are leaving, trains of treasure, without measure, everyday,
Trains of corn and coal and ore for the countries far away,
Treasure trains and treasure troves, leaving for the ports and coves,
Taking loads of gleaming treasure to the countries far away.

Recorded on Trains of Treasure 1985 cassette, 1999 CD

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 02:57 AM

MONUMENTS © Denis Kevans 1970, music Kate Fagan

Audio

Some leave a marble monument, or a statue made of brass
That stands in cold retirement, getting tickled by the grass
Some leave a passive portrait they've commissioned for a fee,
But no one comes to sculpt or carve, or paint a pic of me.

Don't worry, I've been carved up by experts, not a few
Subbies, foremen use their knives to carve a pound or two.
I've been sculpted by the cleaver winds that scream up in the struts.
I've been painted by the mud and slush in bogging rickshaw ruts

I am a kind of portrait if you could read between
The lines that mark my face with time and see just what they mean
The leagues and laughs and lands I've known, the years of wear and tear
No gypsy woman on the earth could glean the stories there.

From the mullock heavy rickshaw to the hook that rides with ease,
From the sucking clay caught shovel, to the steel walk in the breeze,
From the jack pick gun's staccato to the steady chisel chip
I've worked upon my monument in a life's apprenticeship.

From the convict's pickmarked alphabet in Hawkesbury River stone
To where the dogman carves his name in the concrete rise alone
From mud in acres poured and squared, to the bright mosaic eye,
I've worked upon my monument, and build before I die.

I see your monuments displayed in cavalcades of war,
In lands where you make ashes from the courage of the poor.
In little children hobbling down to drink from sorrow's well
Looking sadly at their faces, cut to bits by petrol gel.

I see your monuments displayed in smog polluted air.
To the wraiths of black shawled mountains, in the wake of 'I don't care'
In oil choked harbours, upturned fish, and nuclear sullied seas
In forests felled, and deserts made from songbird's aviaries

You've had your chance, you've run the world your way, we know it's true.
Your monuments stick in my craw, the monuments to you.
We leave the cities of the world cemented with our sweat
The cemeteries of our youthful years, but we're not beaten yet.

For there's a living monument to all we've lived and learned
The green bans we've created, and the victories we have earned
And one day when our cities are but dust upon the air
The pollen from our fighting hearts will bloom again somewhere.

Recorded on City of Green - Green Ban Songs & Beyond, 1996?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 02:48 AM

CITY OF GREEN, © Denis Kevans, music Kate Fagan

audio

I built a city of green, the city of my dreams,
Oh my city of green, the best you've ever seen.
For, still and all, we all must dream, far better it is to try,
To build a city all of green, than to let your dreaming die.
And so, my friends, if you have a dream, do not let it die,
Then, when you are dead and gone, you'll be alive as I.

I was riding high on a plank of steel, with old Sydney stretched below,
I saw them grey, in the living day. scurrying to and fro,
As I watched those moving shadows in tho streets way down there,
I wished that just one fall of light would strike on their lovely hair would ignite their dancing hair.

As the day was born, in the hungover dawn, we fronted the old change shed,
And we slammed the door, and we cursed and swore, at the lies the press chiefs spread.
Our blood had dried in the concrete dust, the steel fix cut our hands,
Our ears were sore with the jackpick's roar, but we could understand, yes, we could understand.

Like a giant stonehenge, this city we built, for the worshippers of gold,
And we ripped and tore, to the jackpick's roar,
In the burning heat and cold,
And the worshippers came with their pallid flame, to bow their heads and tell
All the sins they had never committed, and the ones they had dreamed as well.

The big clowns said this shall be so, now knock that theatre down,
These rows of terraces can go in the best part of the town,
They used their words so hunt me, I can tell you that they stung,
I copped plenty and I gave plenty, with my fists and fighting tongue, my fists and fighting tongue.

In a mighty tide of human pride, we surged through Sydney's streets,
And the mark of green, on the concrete keen, was a kingtide, full and sweet,
Our names unknown, nor gold on stone, but still our hearts were high
To overturn the lies that burn the life from you and I.

I marched out front, I took the dump, on me they tipped the can,
I saw the heroes point and say:"Do you call it a man?"
But when the coppers buckled me, and slammed the paddy van,
I saw the heroes stop and think - perhaps I was a man, perhaps I was a man.

And now my friends, my hair is grey, and I am growing young,
For in the sky, the stars will play, where once smog curtains hung,
I see the oceans shine with fish. the rivers glint with bream,
And there wont be any beaches where the kiddies cannot swim.

I built a city of green, the city of my dreams.
Oh my city of green, the best you've ever seen,
For, still and all, we all must dream, far better it is to try,
To build a city all of green, than to let your dreaming die,
And so, my friends, it you have a dream, do not let it die,
Then, when you are dead and gone, you'll be alive as I.

Recorded on City of Green - Green Ban Songs & Beyond, 1996?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 11:43 PM

we have 3 of Denis's songs, Across the Western Suburbs, The Roar of the Crowd, & Green Ban Fusileers, all very famous, & now this also new to me.

CD c.1995/6, City of Green - Green Ban Songs & Beyond with Kate Fagan, Bob Fagan, Denis Kevans, Wyn Jonea, Sonia Bennett, Ralph Kelly, Jack Mundey, Milton Taylor, Bill Berry, & more. All songs by Denis, but no words, I'll see what I can find.

sandra

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 10:07 PM

R-J, it is unlikely that I posted a link. The only collection of Kevans' poems that I have is 'The Great Prawn War and Other Poems' which doesn't include 'Ah, white Man'. I can't remember obtaining the book, but I must have got it from him personally because inside the front cover there is handwritten 'I called him a worship, your bastard' and 'warmest greetings, Denis Kevans'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 09:01 PM

A friend just sent me this link to Denis Kevans, 1939-2005 (“Australia’s Poet Lorikeet”!) reciting his work : “Ah White Man, Have You Any Sacred Sites?” (I thought maybe Stewie had posted that last year????),
but this link also included his poem “Mend the Torn Air“ set to music by Denis Rice, and which was new to me :


MEND THE TORN AIR

Denis Kevans

Your beak is the needle, The thread is your song,
And you mend the torn air, When the madness is gone,
And the harmonies old, of the bushland unfold,
When you mend the torn air with your song.

And when harmony reigned In the forest of green,
And no screaming steel Desecrated the scene,
All the birds of the air made the harmony there,
And they threaded the air with their song.

Now they tear down the trees, And a nightmare it seems,
The timeless old forest And the screaming machines,
But you with your song, you follow along,
And you mend the torn air with your song.

When the screaming of shells And the big guns did roar,
The larks, with their song, Tried to even the score,
They near burst their hearts, in singing their parts,
And they mended the air with their song.

So your beak is the needle, The thread is your song,
To mend the torn air, When the madness is gone,
Like the larks in the war Who have done it before,
You mend the torn air with your song.

(lyrics cut-and-pasted from KV’s Comment on webpage)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFKp_OqVd6I
Denis (poet) / Loosely Woven (singers), Sydney

About Denis :

http://humph.org/lw/concerts/05fogs/c_03_dennis.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Kevans



R-J

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

THE OLD KEG OF RUM
(Anon)

My name is old Jack Palmer, and I once dug for gold
And the song I'm going to sing you recalls the days of old
When I'd plenty mates around me, and the talk would fairly hum
As we all sat together round the old keg of rum

Chorus
The old keg of rum, the old keg of rum
As we all sat together round the old keg of rum

There was Bluey Watt, the breaker, and old Tom Hynes
And little Doyle, the ringer, who now in glory shines
And many more hard-doers, all gone to Kingdom Come
We were all associated round the old keg of rum

When the shearing time was over at the sheds on the Bree
We'd raise a keg from somewhere, and we'd all have a spree
We'd sit and sing together till we got so blind and dumb
That we couldn't find the bung-hole of the old keg of rum

There was some would last the night out, and some would have a snooze
And some were full of fight, boys, but all were full of booze
Till often in a scrimmage I have corked it with my thumb
To keep the life from leakin' from the old keg of rum

And now my song is ended, I've got to travel on
Just an old buffer skiting of days dead and gone
You young folk who hear me will perhaps in years to come
Remember old Jack Palmer and his old keg of rum

The above is close to the version that circulated during the folk boom. It was popular here in Darwin, particularly with a group that called themselves Bludger O'Toole. I took this from the Folk Lore Council compilation. It is also on the Mark Gregory and John Thompson sites. There is a much longer version in Paterson's 'Old Bush Songs' from which this perhaps derives.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 03:18 AM

Damn! I doubled up again with 'Pig-catcher'. My apologies R-J. I will aim to do better.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 12:26 AM

Here's another one in the Folk Lore Council compilation in a similar vein to 'Dying Bagman'. The compilation doesn't give authors for any of the songs. However, this one is also included in Ron Edwards' big book. He notes that it was written by Jack Crossland, a cane-cutter and avid pig hunter from Cairns.

THE PIG-CATCHER'S LOVE SONG
(Jack Crossland/Tune: 'On top of Old Smokey')

Oh, marry me darling, I love you sincere
I love you the way I love Cairns Bitter Beer

Chorus (changes each verse)
Oh Cairns Bitter Beer, love, Cairns Bitter Beer
I love you the way I love Cairns Bitter Beer

I've got an old humpy, a camp-oven or two
A rifle and pig-dogs, now I only want you

Chorus
I only want you, love, I only want you
A rifle and pig-dogs - now I only want you

You'll never go hungry as long as you live
With sweet-bucks and mango and slab of wild pig

I'll always be faithful and reasonably true
I may love other women, but I'll mostly love you

I'll often get drunken and sometime tell lies
But I often will tell you how blue are your eyes

Oh, marry me darling, I never will fail
There are worse blokes than me, love, but they're mostly in jail

--Stewie

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Mar 21 - 10:15 PM

THE DYING BAGMAN
(Unknown/Tune: 'The dying stockman')

A strapping young bagman lay dying
His swag was supporting his head
Around him his mates sat a-crying
For a handout of corned beef and bread

Chorus
Wrap him up in his nosebag and blanket
And bury him deep down below
Where the demons and wallopers won't worry him
For he's gone where all good bagmen go

He'd jumped every freight in Australia
He'd batted handouts by the score
He'd learned all the rorts as a whaler
But, alas, he will battle no more

There was Diver, the wild kid from Brunswick
And Timetable Tommy as well
Philadelphia and old Boxcar Harry
To bid him a bagman's farewell

Those coppers that wait at Rockhampton
Those demons that wait at Yarell
The blighters can wait there forever
For he's catching a fast train to hell!

I got this one from a little compilation by the Folk Lore Council of Australia: 'Australian Folksongs of the Land and its People' published 1974.

Meredith & Anderson gave a shorter and less interesting version at page 118 of their 'Folk Song of Australia'. Meredith collected it in Sydney from Bill Foster who learned it while on the track during the depression. Here it is:

THE DYING BAGMAN

A strapping young bagman lay dying
His nosebag supporting his head
All around him his cobbers were crying
As he rose on his elbow and said

Chorus
Wrap me up in my old police blanket
And bury me deep down below
Where the coppers and squatters can't touch me
In the shade where the old rattler blows

There's tea in the battered old billy
The pannikins lie in a row
So we'll drink to the last merry meetin'
Of bagmen before I go

--Stewie.

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

EUREKA LEAD

Kenneth Cook   (tune is “The Parting Glass”)

To make my fortune finding gold
I left my love behind in tears
I said that I would come home soon
But I've been gone for all these years

I have a pick I have a pan
I wander here in the dusty heat
With a memory of a lovely lass
Whose hands were soft and whose kiss was sweet

There is no gold like the gold of her hair
No jewel as fair as I left behind
To wander this weary land alone
Seeking gold of a duller kind

And so on down the lonely days
I fear I'll keep a-wandering
So very far from the lass I love
And still the years are squandering


Mudcat Guest, Michael Thompson, who provided these lyrics in Sept 2010 in a now newly-revived thread, thought there was another verse. (my Patricia Cook L.P. has long since “gone to God”!)


“ EUREKA LEAD (The tune is The Parting Glass; see elsewhere on this list) By Kenneth Cook, ca 1960    The song (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CemoDoPDWyM) is an early work by novelist-songwriter Kenneth Cook. He doubtless wrote the words, and his wife, Patricia Cook probably set it to the Irish tune. It appears in Cook’s play ‘Stockade’, which had its first production in 1971. The words and music appear in the book of the play, published by Penguin Books in 1975.

The song was included on William Clauson’s second LP of Australian folk songs, c.1962. which was titled ‘All Among the Wool, Boys’; see http://www.williamclauson.com/albums/. On the record the song is given the attribution ‘Trad. Arr. Cook-Clauson’, but the ‘trad’ part would apply only to the tune.

Cook was in the habit of not claiming authorship of his lyrics, a practice which has resulted in a number of his songs – such as the well-known ‘Cross of the South’ –erroneously being recorded by other artists as ‘traditional’.- Keith McKenry “

http://www.vfmc.org.au/FiresideFiddlers/EurekaLead.pdf


Here is William Clauson’s recording of the song (early 60s?) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CemoDoPDWyM


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 10:03 AM

RIDING THE WIND by Kevin Baker

video

CHORUS - We are riding the wind; we are sailing the storm
Through a new age of darkness we are helmsmen of the dawn
Though our Captains have deserted and all hope's contraband
We will bring this ship to harbour where the sun breaks on the land

O you seers of new world order see the seeds you have sewn
With your mantras of money you take more than you should own.
See how privilege and power crush the hopes of the poor;
Can you really claim that all this pain can open heaven's door.

CHORUS

See the news of the nations war and hunger abound;
Hear the cries of the children from each continent resound.
While you chant your false promise you can't hear what they say
Nor reflect on those dead eyes from which hope's been blown away.

CHORUS

See the young on our streets walking poverty's beat
Staring in at barred windows with their futures in retreat.
Hopelessness sleeps in doorways cast from your covenants
You turn rich cities' ghettos into concentration camps.

CHORUS

See our farmers and workers those whom debt has dragged down,
You foreclose on their futures in our cities and our towns.
You are scorching our earth while you retreat with the wealth
That you steal from the people 'neath a screen of lies and stealth

CHORUS

You have trained hoards of minions filled their minds with your greed,
Made them prey of their people feeding with a frenzied need
But the History of people shows they're better than you
And the love of the many will bring all the people through.

CHORUS

Recorded on Riding the wind. The Songs of Kevin Baker Volume IV. 2004

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 09:32 AM

ROSS RIVER COWBOY

Dave Oakes

Out in the Eastern McDonalds he roams
With his swag and his camels, so far from home
Dining on parrots and wallaby stew
Drinking his coffee; there’s so much to do,
When the Condamine’s quiet and the sun has gone west
The Ross River Cowboy by his campfire he rests
He looks so much younger than the years of his age
The Ross River Cowboy, the Spinifex Sage.

Chorus
Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie aye
The Ross River Cowboy don’t have much to say
Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie eye
The Ross River Cowboy, he’s just getting by.

When horizons are miraged and the summer’s ablaze
And the snake’s breath’s entwining the ranges with haze
By his campfire he sits and he passes the hours
Drinking and smoking and taking cold showers,
He’s preparing his saddles for that time in the fall
When he takes to the creeks and the low lands that call
And he drinks in the air like he’s dry as a bone
The Ross River Cowboy, he’s heading home.

I once saw a sunset, he said with a sigh
When the world was young and so was I
When the sky was much brighter than the garnets of Hale*
And when campfires at night told so many tales,
But now the Toyotas, they are scouring the land
You can drive to Arltunga* just using one hand
No one sees the forest for the trees, I am sure
And I’ve never heard him say so much before.


*Hale is a river to the East of Alice, mostly dry. Ross River is an early small settlement East of Alice. Arltunga is an historical gold mining area East of Alice Springs, being the first European settlement from the 1880s.

This song is by DAVE OAKES, resident of Central Aust, written mid 1980s – now from his inaugural 2014 CD recording, “Made in Alice Springs” – but I have not yet found his work online.

Interviews : https://timberandsteel.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/national-folk-festival-interview-dave-oakes/    and    https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2015/02/15/a-tuneful-tick-off-daves-bucket-list/

In one of the above interviews, Dave said this song was inspired by his travels with local Centralian identity and cameleer, Hal Duell.
I had it in my memory from years ago, that this song was actually about Noel Fullerton, the Alice Springs “Camel King” (1934-2015) …… and maybe it still was! Anyhoo, here are some Camel links for The Alice.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-07/camel-king-noel-fullerton-dies-aged-81/6754934

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015 : The Alice Springs Camel Cup (2012) + a Noel Fullerton interview.

A Chicago journalist on Noel’s Centralian Camel Safari in 1985 : https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-09-29-8503060244-story.html



R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 04:16 AM

UNDER THE MILKY WAY TONIGHT

Steve Kilbey & Karin Jansson

“an accidental Australian anthem”

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty
Sound of their breath fades with the lights
I think about the loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Lower the curtain down on Memphis
Lower the curtain down all right
I got no time for private consultation
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find

And it's something quite peculiar
Something shimmering and white
It leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find.

And it's something quite peculiar
Something that’s shimmering and white
Leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight.

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find.

Under the Milky Way tonight
Under the Milky Way tonight
Under the Milky Way tonight


THE DRY :   I’m still waiting to see this 2020 mystery/drama/thriller movie, with Eric Bana, filmed across numerous Victorian towns.   
The theme music is UNDER THE MILKY WAY TONIGHT by The Church,1988, but sung in the movie by Bebe Bettencourt.   

As for what the song’s about, Kilbey tells Guardian Australia: “It’s not about anything. Like all my songs, it’s a portal into your own mind where I give you a guided meditation. It’s a blank, abstract canvas for people to lose themselves in.” …..
“While it was never his intention, he’s chuffed at how “Australians have adopted it as their own song”.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2014/jul/15/the-church-under-the-milky-way-an-accidental-australian-a
This vidclip of THE CHURCH recording has a Cosmic backdrop to assist in your personal meditation! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA54NBtPKdI

But here is an even mellower version by Aussie Aboriginal country legend, JIMMY LITTLE (1937-2012) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHVdpdK1-qc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Little


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 12:23 AM

RAINBIRD IN THE TEA-TREE

Peter Cape

When the Rainbird sings in the Tea-Tree
There’s cloud on the hills out the back
Look out of your window and you’ll see me
I’ll be coming in off the track.

I’ll be droving a mob of the black bulls
The dogs’ll be footsore and done
Call out as I go past your window
Just to show you, you are The One.

It’s a long drove up from the Puhoi
By Woodcocks and Kaipara Flats
I’ll be sick of my oilskins and my jumper
And the rain pelting down on my back.

I’ve a stockwhip over my shoulder
And a plain gold ring in my pack
Perhaps as I go past your window
I’ll be coming in off the track.

So when the Rainbird sings in the Tea-Tree
There’s cloud on the hills out the back
Look out of your window and you’ll see me
I’ll be coming in off the track.
Look out of your window and you’ll see me
I’ll be coming in off the track.


Another of those lovely EnZed songs, sung here by Chris Priestley & Friends : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8NG05fNHCk


My question to me is : Will I ever make it to The Land of the Long White Cloud, in this Lifetime??!!
….. sigh …..
(s’pose maybe I already have - in a Parallel World, eh!! :)


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 12:19 AM

Re “Old TI / Oh TI” - No wurries, Stewie, about the doubling up. I reckon it doesn’t matter too much coz there’s usually always song variants and different audio links and extra info. So, all good!

Although I wouldn’t say No to some more input in this thread from other folkies (hint hint!), I do like how, with some very small overlap, the main 4 of us, have posted a great variety of songs and research, but each in our own individual way and preferences.

Stew, you once said my record collection was very “eclectic” and I s’pose my posts here reflect that too – rather all over the place like the proverbial *madwoman’s footprints! – but I reckon all our efforts are making for a very interesting collection (some 800+ by now, Sandra reports).


Anyone else out there in cyberspace got any comments (or songs)??!!

Cheers, R-J


*just as well this is not a strictly "PC" thread! :)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 08:57 PM

My apologies R-J for doubling up again. I thought I had checked, but my search was for 'Oh TI' rather than 'Old TI'. Anyhow, I added a little extra info and the original.

In light of the recent mass protests by Australia women, it is pertinent to note that women have had some victories against male-dominated organisations.

THE GIANT FEELS THEIR STING
(Sue Edmonds 1985)

There's stories 'bout the heroes
Who faced the giant's wrath
Tales about the heroines
Forced to spin gold cloth
Jack and the beanstalk
Rumplestiltskin the Dwarf
Now the women from Wollongong
Have met the giant's force

Chorus:
The giant's made of iron and steel
Didn't feel a thing
But the women worked together
Now the giant feels their sting

This giant big Australian
Had the pickings of the crop
Only used the work of men
To keep it at the top
Women were rejected
Without a second thought
So 34 good women
Took the giant to the court

Chorus

Out heroines of history
Fought for equal rights
Now we're fighting for a job
We face the giant's might
We've learnt to work together
Like the Amazons of old
Make that mighty patriarch
To loose its might hold

This is the first song in the 1988 publication by the Victorian Trade Union Labour Day Celebration Committee: 'Strike a Light: Contemporary songs of Australian working Life' Selected and Edited by Gillian Harrison. The song with its tune is printed at page 11.

Note with the song:

In 1985, 34 women for Wollongong won their case against Australian Iron and Steel in the Equal Opportunity Tribunal in New South Wales. The tribunal found that the 55 complaints of sex discrimination on the basis of delaying hiring of women, retrenchment procedures, threat of retrenchment and sexist attitudes among senior company officers were all substantiated. It had taken years of persistence to get jobs in the traditionally male steelworks, only to lose them during the steel crisis in the early 1980s. The decision was a major triumph for the Jobs-for-Women Campaign and has had far-reaching consequences on business practice throughout the country. For the women, it brought to an end nearly six years years of what they said was 'fighting for the right to work'. The song by Sue Edmonds is a tribute to those who fought and won this landmark case'.

Australian Iron and Steel was owned by BHP.

Steely women

Film project

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 09:06 AM

Having fun expressing political fury…..Dale

THE YEAR OF Ts : TOXIC TERMITE TONY TROUBLES TRAGIC TURNCOAT TURNBULL
AND OVERSEAS WE SEE TWITTERING TRUMP TORMENTS ALL THINKERS! by Dale Dengate, 2015

TUNE: Villikins and his Dinah.video Much sung street ballad in the sixties, which started with: There was a rich merchant who in London did dwell….. and ended with the death of Dinah from a cup of cold pizen ... SO ...

There was a rich merchant who in Canberra did dwell,
But he faced a big problem till his right wing he’d quell.
‘Twas led by a fellow, termite tony by name,
Who was very adept at just playing his game.

Chorus:
Singing Turali urali urali eh.
Entitlements for me but not for you, eh!

No sniping or wrecking, no leaking or a-betting.
No self-serving claims; those are just not my aims,
Says tough termite tony to his troubled leader.
Those rumours are phony like an archbishop’s plead-ing,

Chorus:
Singing Turali urali urali eh.
Entitlements for me but not for you, eh!

Now all you old pollies take warning by me
Though a unit on the Gold Coast looks enticing to thee
Take a look at your own mob, for your seat they might rob
Spoken - Instead of Villikins and his Dinah,-
Think of old toxic tony with his ‘cup of cold of Pizen’.

Chorus:
Singing Turali urali urali eh.
Entitlements for me but not for you, eh!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 05:09 AM

Thanks Stew, "Old TI" is such a lovely old singalong song, redolent of past times and the fragrance of the tropics on the air! See also Dec 8th posting for a link to a version by Jessie Lloyd (Joe Gaia's daughter!), and one by Ted Egan.


MEANWHILE : Apparently this song continues to be Hugely popular amongst many Aussies, so, here it is :

GREAT SOUTHERN LAND

Iva Davies

Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day down in the harbor
Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you it’s a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years.

Great Southern Land, burned you black

So you look into the land and it will tell you a story
Story 'bout a journey ended long ago
Listen to the motion of the wind in the mountains
Maybe you can hear them talking like I do
They're gonna betray you, they're gonna forget you
Are you gonna let them take you over that way.

Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
You walk alone, like a primitive man
And they make it work, with sticks and bones
See their hungry eyes, its a hungry land.

I hear the sound of the stranger's voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes
Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
They burned you black, black against the ground.

Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day down in the harbor
Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you it’s a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years.

Great Southern Land, in the sleeping sun
You walk alone with the ghost of time
Where they burned you black, black against the ground
And they make it work with rocks and sand.

I hear the sound of the strangers’ voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes

Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
You walk alone, like a primitive man
You walk alone with the ghost of time
And they burned you black
Yeah, they burned you black
Great Southern Land

Great Southern Land
Great Southern Land
Great Southern Land



This is the 1982 original by ICEHOUSE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWHcQPR2S-U

This is the 1989 clip for the “Young Einstein” movie : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtP4yQNpNF4

This is the 2012 remake vidclip with various artists and locations, by Tourism Australia : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kHUYXAM3yc

“In November 2014 the song was selected for inclusion on the Australian National Film & Sound Archive's "Sounds of Australia" list.”

WIKI : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Southern_Land


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 09:59 PM

There are numerous variations in tune and content of 'Oh, TI'. The lyrics below are those printed in Ron Edwards' big book and reproduced in Bill Scott's 'Second Penguin Australian Songbook'. The song was well-known in north Queensland and the Northern Territory, particularly among Aboriginal people. It was sometimes called 'Old TI' and 'Old PI', the latter referencing Palm Island rather than Thursday Island. Ron Edwards also collected what he called an 'old version' which was composed in 1936 by Jarfar Ahmat. Edwards collected it from Charley Ahmat, the brother of Jarfar, in 1965.

OH, TI

Why are you looking so sad, my dear
Why are you feeling so blue?
I'm thinking of someone so far away
In that beautiful place called TI

Chorus:
Oh TI my beautiful home
That's the place where I was born
Where the moon and stars that shine, make me longing for home
Oh TI my beautiful home

Take me across the sea
Over the deep blue sea
Darling won't you take me
Back to my home TI

TI my beautiful home
TI my home sweet home
I'll be there forever
The sun is setting farewell

Youtube clip

OH, TI (Old version)

Oh TI my beautiful home
That's the place where I was born
Where the moon and stars that shine, make me long for home
Oh TI my beautiful home

Take me across the sea
Over the deep blue sea
Darling won't you take me
Back to my home TI

When at the break of dawn
Your dear face I cannot see
You will always think
Always think of me

Up above the clouds
Your dear face I cannot see
But in your memories dear
Never, never say goodbye

Oh my Rose, my beautiful Rose
You're the one that nobody knows
Your eyes are blue, like the sky above, your lips were made for love
Oh my Rose, my beautiful Rose

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 10:01 AM

And now for a song from Dale Dengate. Dale carries on the Dengate parody tradition, unfortunately for this thread, most of her parodies are poems.

A PARODY MUG MYSTERY by Dale Dengate, 2020 Tune: Adaption of Streets of Forbes.

video of Marion Henderson singing "Streets of Forbes" 1966

Come all of ye Figgy folk,
And a sorrowful tale I’ll tell.
Concerning of Mike Martin,
From Candelo he came.

Mike strode into the tent and said:
Concerning Dengate’s mug,
I have a parody, I wrote
Then he began to quote:

Mike dreamt he was in parliament.
It was a dream of joy.
For everyone was honourable.
The type you would employ.
And so it went until he woke,
To cheers from bleating YOUS.

All in that year of 2-0-1-5,
There was many a clever verse
But the judge declared that Mike had won,
So called upon Sircomraderuss.
But as he rose, a tear he shed
He’d lost the Dengate’s mug.
I stood it on the bar, he said,
But it’s no longer there.

So Mike ne’re got ol’ Dengate’s mug
Although he won that day.
The years rolled on and Covid came
And kept us all at home.

So Comraderuss took to his shed
And into boxes dove.
’Twas there he found the battered mug.
Where it had hid for years,
So now at last this song can end
And Mike might get his mug.

Figgy Folk is a session run by Illawarra Folk Club, on zoom last year, but now live.
John & Dale Dengate Parody Competition, Illawarra Folk Festival, 2014 to 2017

Subject: ADD: Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)[Callaghan]
From: rich-joy
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 10:01 AM

SOUNDS OF THEN (This Is Australia)
Mark Callaghan

I think I hear the sounds of then, and people talking
The scenes recalled, by minute movement
And songs they fall, from the backing tape
That certain texture, that certain smell.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room, of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings home the heavy days
Brings home the the night time swell.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

The block is awkward - it faces west
Long diagonals, and sloping too
And in the distance, through the heat haze
In convoys of silence, the cattle graze
That certain texture, that certain beat
Brings forth the night-time heat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   Laugh and think that this is Australia.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings forth the heavy days
Brings forth the night-time sweat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

This is Australia etc…...


Mark Callaghan of GANGgajang : wrote this 1985 song about his childhood memories as a recent English immigrant to Bundy (Bundaberg, sub-tropical coastal city in central Queensland) :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9h3I5Uktw

WIKI : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounds_of_Then



R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 09:58 AM

SOUNDS OF THEN (This Is Australia)

Mark Callaghan

I think I hear the sounds of then, and people talking
The scenes recalled, by minute movement
And songs they fall, from the backing tape
That certain texture, that certain smell.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room, of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings home the heavy days
Brings home the the night time swell.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

The block is awkward - it faces west
Long diagonals, and sloping too
And in the distance, through the heat haze
In convoys of silence, the cattle graze
That certain texture, that certain beat
Brings forth the night-time heat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   Laugh and think that this is Australia.

To lie in sweat, on familiar sheets
In brick veneer on financed beds
In a room of silent hardiflex
That certain texture, that certain smell
Brings forth the heavy days
Brings forth the night-time sweat.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

   Out on the patio, we'd sit
   And the humidity, we'd breathe
   We'd watch the lightning crack over canefields
   And laugh and think, this is Australia.

This is Australia etc…...


Mark Callaghan of GANGgajang : wrote this 1985 song about his childhood memories as a recent English immigrant to Bundy (Bundaberg, sub-tropical coastal city in central Queensland) :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9h3I5Uktw

WIKI : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounds_of_Then



R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 09:45 AM

A parody of The Shearers Dream, posted on page 13 at 25 Nov 20 - 12:25 AM by Rich-Joy

THE PEOPLE'S DREAM by Mike Martin © 2015, tune The Shearer's Dream, winner of 2015 Dengate Parody Mug competition, Illawarra Folk Festival

I am very honoured to have won such a trophy, John was not only a mate but an inspiration to a generation of Folkies. A great writer and a peer of excellence.

I dreamt I was in Parliament. It as a dream of joy
For every member was honourable, the type you would employ
There were no collars, suits or ties, just overalls, boots and pies
There were no broken promises, and nobody ever told lies.

I dreamt no votes on Party lines, no money ever changed hands
They'd legislate the people's will, for the battler, for the working man
There were equal rights for both black and white. Men, women and both
Where money couldn't buy or influence, the way you decide to vote.

I dreamt I gave my maiden speech, a tear came to my eye
I spoke of justice and freedom, the reason the diggers died
I spoke of poverty and of greed, the demise of democracy
I spoke of sustainability and biodiversity.

I dreamt every member understood my words, I was as proud as proud could be
The call from the floor was for more, and the gallery they all agreed,
But then I awoke in a shearing shed, on a bed of greasy wool
The clapping the clatter of cutters and combs
       ...    And the cheering was the bleating of YOUS ...

video of Lionel Long singing The Shearer's Dream

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Mar 21 - 05:46 AM

brilliant!

audio of LIBRARY-O

sandra (retired librarian)

"https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/the_grubby_urchins_-_library-o_-_master_210209.mp3"

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: GerryM
Date: 22 Mar 21 - 02:42 AM

The Grubby Urchins - Library-O
Daniel Bornstein and Joe Hillel
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about-library/publications/openbook/shanty-town-mark-dapin-extract

When I was young, but ten and three
Hi-o, hi-o, librari-o
My parents asked, what trade for thee?
Send them out on loan
And so next morning I began
Hi-o, hi-o, librari-o
To train as a librar-i-an
Send them out on loan

Chorus (after each verse):
So turn 'em, scan 'em, bin 'em, bag 'em
Heave 'em out to roam-i-o
Two weeks in the open world
Before they come back home-i-o
When they're back and through the slot
It's to the shelves they'll go-i-o
Send them out on loan-i-o
Send them out on loan

I dreamed that evening as I slept
Hi-o ...
On where the books are neatly kept
Send ...
I dreamed of shelves ten fathoms high
Hi-o ...
Where books from every land do lie
Send ...

Chorus

I dreamed of bins and stacks and shelves
Where readers go and help theirselves
I dreamed of books in tidy rows
From ancient verse to modern prose

The libr'y life is free from woes
The chief concern is where books goes
So growl ye may, but read ye must
You talk too loud, your head they'll bust

If friendly staff is what ye seeks
Bring back your books within two weeks
Be warned when on a reading spree
Late books incur a nominal fee

The lib'ry trade takes stalwart guts
For every year bring government cuts
They say that borrowing books is hard
For those without a lib'ry card

And when their lending time is through
It's back you'll mosey to renew
And when the readin's good and done
It's back to pick another one

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 10:56 PM

In the links in my previous post, I missed Truganini:

Truganini

If you click on 'Show More' under the video, you will find many other links.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 09:50 PM

At the 2021 Golden Guitar Awards, Luke O'Shea won the 'Traditional Country Album of the Year' award for his 'There in the Ochre'. He also was awarded a golden guitar award for 'Heritage Song of the Year' for his collaboration with Kevin Bennett on 'Happy Australia Day' - and deservedly so, a brilliant song for our times. The youtube video is also exceptional.


HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY
(Luke O’Shea & Kevin Bennett)

Cowboys vs Indians, white man vs savages
Is what I was shown on TV
I knew more about the world wars, the Zulu and the Navaho
Than I did of my own history
But as you begin to uncover the sin
You can feel your heart drowning in shame
It all starts with a lie we no longer deny
And it’s time we all knew your name

So Pemulwuy are you still fighting?
Windradyne your song we shall sing
And for all your senseless suffering
Truganini, did it mean anything?
For every chain that has bound you
For every child stolen away
Well the river still runs from the same poisoned well
Happy Australia Day - Australia Day

Well, the wheel still turns, the memory still burns
And there’s still so much more left to write
But if I am a man who is born on this land
Then my history is both black and white

So Yagan, are you still fighting?
Jandamarra your song we shall sing
And for all you absorbed as you travelled the world
Bennelong did it mean anything?
For every shot that was fired intending to drive you away
The river still runs from the same poisoned well
Happy Australia Day - Australia Day

Let the truth fill the space in between us
Replacing the blame and the fear
And we must learn first we are better than our worst
And respect for each other starts here
So why celebrate this great nation
On a day that insults and divides
For regardless of clan, we all love this land
Find a way where we stand unified

Charlie Perkins I’ll stand beside you
Uncle Jimmy your song I shall sing
And for all you selfless suffering
Mumma Shirl well I feel everything
For every right that’s denied us
For our children stolen away
Well everyone drinks from the same poisoned well
And it’s time that we all shared the pain
Yes, everyone drinks from the same poisoned well
Happy Australia Day - Australia Day

Youtube clip

Luke O'Shea and Kevin Bennett

Pemulwuy

Windradyne

Yagan

Jandamarra

Bennelong

Charlie Perkins

Jimmy Little

Mum Shirl

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 07:58 AM

MR MURDOCH’S SONG. John Dengate 2011, tune: The Wearing of the Green

‘I’m not responsible’… just totally irresponsible.

Mr Murdoch ‘s very wealthy, there are lots of things he owns
But his speciality is tapping into other peoples’ phones.
All the citizens of England, when they ring their kith and kin;
Say ‘Hello’ to Mr Murdoch, for he always listens in.

CHORUS

He’s a snooping, prying bastard, he invades your privacy;
Cover up the bathroom keyhole if you go in for a pee.
If you ring up your girlfriend, don’t be ardent or risqué
Or the whole of bloody Britain will be reading it next day.

Mr Murdoch may be wrinkled, Mr Murdoch may be aged
But he takes an avid interest when your telephone’s engaged.
Keep the conversation flowing, don’t be taciturn or strained –
That’s not fair to Mr Murdoch, you must keep him entertained.

CHORUS

Rely on Mr Murdoch, all you Pommies, don’t despair
If your telephone starts ringing, Mr Murdoch will be there.
With his earphones and recorders and his electronic gear –
Make sure that you enunciate… he’s deaf in his left ear.

CHORUS

tune - The Wearing of the Green

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 07:52 AM

THE MAD MONK c. John Dengate 2009, 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.

tune - Villikins and his Dinah

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:56 AM

BtW, re my posting of renowned Upper Yarra Aussie singer Diana Trask on March 16th, I have now finished reading her very entertaining 2010 Autobiography - and can thoroughly recommend it!!
( available from her website (if your library doesn't have it!) : https://dianatrask.com/product/whatever-happened-to-diana-trask-official-autobiography/ )


R-J :)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:42 AM

MOTHERLODE

Ken Ferguson


“Uranium Exploration Geologist, thinks twice” KF: Alice Springs, 1983

I am walking on this land with a hammer in my hand
And the spinifex is cutting to the bone
Though I was sent to look for wealth that is hidden in the earth
I have found a Motherlode that they can’t own.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.

The explorers gave you names for your ridges and your plains
Though they feared your ancient landscape like a foe
But your weathered rocks and stones, that to me feel more like home
Have deeper names than I will ever know.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.

Well, the gaps that cut your ranges have paintings in their caves
And Galahs in screeching clouds around the mills
But the sand between your toes where the river rarely flows
Shows your creeks are even older than your hills.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.



Another track from “singing geologist”, the late Ken Ferguson, from his 1997 CD “Basic Blue”.
For more info, see my posting on March 5th of his “Alice on the Line” – March 20th posting for “Franklin’s River” - and also his Mudcat Obit.

[Sadly, I am yet to find any of his work online …….]


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:40 AM

FRANKLIN’S RIVER

Ken Ferguson


“For John Franklin, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Dieman’s Land in the 1840s, a trip to the West Coast was a welcome respite from the political jungle of Hobart Town. A contrast that has more recent reverberations.” KF, 1990

A winding path has led us here
From Derwent to Arrowsmith’s quartz grey peak
Lowering forest and sodden heath
Aching bones and rattling teeth
The clouds above, the earth beneath
Leaving the world behind.

And all this way the forest’s hush
No barking dog nor settler’s axe
Just the cry of a cockatoo
Or rarer still, a kangaroo
In the groves that the sorrowing native knew
All trace of him is gone.

And the rain falls down on Franklin’s river
So much that the water and air are one
Watercolour hues and a fragile beauty
Free from the restless hand of man.

Now on the shining river’s side
We lie in Eden’s innocent vale
The serpent glides but the fruit is free
Of poisoned word or traitor’s creed
Of envy’s leer or careless greed
Like Man before The Fall.

And the rain falls down on Franklin’s river
So much that the water and air are one
Watercolour hues and a fragile beauty
Free from the restless hand of man.


Ken Ferguson, 1990. From his 1997 CD “Basic Blue”.
(the late) Ken, along with Tony Phipps, wrote a “Folk Opera” concerning Tasmanian Governor John Franklin, which was performed in Perth, WA, but unfortunately I have not yet located any more info about this project - (nor his others) - online.
I posted here on March 5th, “Alice on the Line” from his and Bloodwood’s project “The Singing Wire”.


https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/11/05/2734403.htm Sir John Franklin was the most distinguished man to be appointed Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land…..

A 1980 journey down the Franklin River in Tasmania’s SW with the late Romanian botanist, Antonius Moscal : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCCGkRoChQ

And more recently, the exciting possibilities of the world-renowned : “Top river journeys: Rafting the Franklin River :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__6KXCAKHGM&t=319s


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:32 AM

CHARITY BEGINS AT ROME

Paul Lawler

My belly it is swollen; I’m sorry I can’t stand
The food I want I cannot get from this barren land
For your well-intentioned powdered milk
Thanks, but don’t you see
That sipping life just once a week prolongs my agony.

   And the Pope said : Happy Christmas
   Happy Easter, everyone
   In Nomine Patris
   Et fillet mignon

If you’d sent an IUD to stop brother, or a tractor for my dad
I may not have made it to my teens, but, I might have been a lad
A drilling rig for water could save parts of this land
I cannot eat the secondhand clothes sold by thieving bands.

If Rome had sent some help to us, here in the Sudan
Their supposed Christian ethic, might have helped me be a man
But Catholics is politics, a sham, a bloody lie
The Vatican grows rich and fat, but as for me I die.


©   Paul O. Lawler,   Darwin, 1985


1985 famine news :
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/08/famine-refugees-united-nations-sudan-ethiopia-africa


This song hasn’t made it to Paul’s posthumous YT channel yet – but one day soon!


R-J

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 21 Mar 21 - 04:29 AM

LOVE’S LABOURS LOST (aka Back Seat of the Holden)

Paul Lawler

Well I went to the dance on the Friday night
Met a little girl, such a pretty, pretty sight
She said that she wouldn’t, but I thought that she might
Lie with me, in the back seat of the Holden.

Well her eyes were blue and her hair was gold
She said my advances were very, very bold
Although she said no, I thought she’d get rolled
With me in the back seat of the Holden.

Well in comes Don Juan and he asks her for a dance
There was a wilt in me trousers; something happened to me lance
And I knew that this bloke, would take away me chance
For to lie in the back seat of the Holden.

Well I watched him drink his Martini dry
And knew that a visit to the lavatory was nigh
The door hit him faster than he undid his fly
I was off to the back seat of the Holden.

With Don Juan’s nose flat, I carried on the quest
To try and get this little lady safely on the nest
I said, you look tired, why don’t you have a rest
Lie with me in the back seat of the Holden.

Well we walked to the car, I was full of hope
- I was also full of beer - but still I thought I’d cope
But after the kissing - and just before the grope -
I fell asleep … in the back seat of the Holden.


(the late) Paul Lawler, Darwin 1984 ©


In these current climes, possibly a rather non-PC song!! But this self-deprecating little ditty (which, however, Paul swore was not autobiographical!!), was very popular in its time in Darwin’s folk scene.
He wrote it to be accompanied by his appalachian dulcimer, as in this Top End Folk Club recording from the song’s early days : go to 30:34   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7PsCsWL6Pk&t=15s


R-J

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

On a recent Music Show I was listening to an interview with a country singer who spoke Australian & sang American - admittedly she, like other country stars, has spent time in Nashville, some even live there!

I just emailed Dale asking if she would like to update it now that Ameralians spend time in Nashvile. (Nashvile was a typo & I was going to correct it, but left it!)

so here is the song about Ameralia, published in Singabout 1(3), Winter 1956. - no audio, only dots!

AMERALIA, words W.J. Mann, music Jennifer Mann

Down Darling's green banks I once happened to stray,
And met a young stranger was walking my way,
Black bearded like Kelly, and sunburnt and strong,
And all the time singing this quaint little song.

Refrain:
They've sent us their Marilyn and six crates of gum,
And they've copped all our oil and uranium;
Sing yankee sing doodle sing dinky-di dink,
We're the United States of Australia (Inc.)

I gave him a good day, and I said how'd you be?
And how'd you expect me to bloody well be?
Fair dinkum, before you all lonely I stand,
The last bloody Aussie that's left in this land.

The blade in my razor I wished to renew,
So I went to the shop and they showed me a few,
But the sign USA on each one appeared,
And that's why I'm wearing this dirty great beard.

From Chicago, Sears Roebuck came here to try
To put us in debt till we flaming well die,
These time payment experts are exceedingly tough,
Quite prepared to take over where Kelly left off.

For Ben Hall and Kelly are long dead and gone,
But Hoppalong Cassidy and Crockett live on;
Our stockmen are cowboys, our stockyards corrals,
Our duffers are rustlers, our sheilas are dolls.

When you remember how history was made,
By the diggers who died at Eureka Stockade,
You'll agree we have heroes to equal the best
That ever came out of the Yankee wild west.

Then I gave him my hand and I let out a cheer,
And I said "Fair Go, Aussie! There's two of us here."
Now I've told you this story so you'll understand
There are still a few Aussies alive in this land.

Ameralia byW.J. Mann with a tune by his 16 year old daughter Jennifer

Ameralia byW.J. Mann with a tune by his 16 year old daughter Jennifer, page2

from page 6 - Meet Jennifer Mann - 16 years Jenny Mann ... has written tunes for poems by David Martin, Merv Lilley, Mary Gilmore and her father, Jim Mann. Jim Mann is related to working-class leader Thomas Mann.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 10:41 PM

MY TONGUE GOES BUNGLING THROUGH GEORGIA
(John Dengate/Tune: Marching through Georgia)

Yes, I’m a local lad, I live in Cammeray
I’ve never travelled further than the beach at Byron Bay
But when I pick my guitar up, I’m off and far away
To Tennessee and California

Chorus:
Guitar! Guitar! I touch the finger board
Then my accent changes from Australian strong and broad
And my tongue goes bungling through Georgia

I go roaming through Wyonming on my tonsils every day
I play a chord and I’m abroad in sunny Santa Fe
And I’ve never left the kitchen of my house in Cammeray
As my tongue goes bungling through Georgia

Chorus

I think Australia’s very dull, our history is a bore
We should be like America and have a civil war
We could all kill one another and make movies by the score
In accents that make sense in Georgia

Chorus

I do not like Australian vowels, they sound all bloody wrong
They don’t go with my new blue jeans and don’t fit in my song
Ah wish ah was in Dixie, that’s the place where ah belong
That’s me, ma, going ‘wee-hah!’ in Georgia

Chorus

I know that it’s all bullshit and I know that I’m a sham
I don’t know why I do it, I just don’t give a damn
I’m a bloody little traitor, mate, that’s really what I am
As my tongue goes bungling through Georgia

Chorus

From John Dengate ‘My Shout Again’.

John noted:

Dedicated to all the deluded Aussies who sing in pseudo-American accents. There is a direct correlation between guitar strumming and this weird metamorphosis.

The song was written decades ago but, sadly, it still happens.

Marching through Georgia

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 10:01 AM

HOLD THAT LINE, ©1989 Geoff Francis and Peter Hicks, Revised March 2002

lyrics & audio

Oh, we're standing here together,
One for all and all for one;
And we'll keep right on here standing
Till our victory we have won,
We're united in our struggle,
No, there's none us can divide
We'll yield nothing to the enemy
'Cos we've justice on our side.

Chorus:
Hold that line!
Hold that line!
Sisters, brothers, never weaken,
Stand and hold that picket line!

Hold that line against the bosses
When they try to drive us back,
Hold that line against the coppers
And their armed baton attacks,
Hold that line against the government,
'Gainst all enemies of our class,
And hold that line against the scabs too,
No, we'll never let them pass.

Hold that line against the World Bank
And against the IMF,
Hold that line and keep on holding it
As long as we have breath.
Hold that line against their dogma
Hold that line against their creed
Hold that line to save the future
From their plunder and their greed.

Oh, we're standing with the millions
Reaching out across this world,
And with those who fought before us,
Our banners here unfurled..
But there's more room yet beside us,
If you'll come and join our cause,
For the chains that now enslave you,
They are all you have to lose.

Hold That Line already has quite a history. It was published in the most recent edition of the famous IWW song book. It was featured on the CD In Union is Strength. More recently this revised version was on the shortlist of six of the Wobbly Radio Workers Song Competition in 2002.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 09:58 AM

AUSTRALIANS LET US ALL REJOICE, by Geoff Francis & Peter Hicks 2004

Australians let us all rejoice
Fr we have tasted greed;
Our mortgage rates mean more to us,
Than mere humanity;
Our land abounds with credit cards
And John Howard took us there;
Don’t stop to count as your debts mount,
Advance Australia fair!
Don’t stop to count as your debts mount,
"Advance Australia fair!"


While refugees from terror sail'd,
To trace wide oceans o'er,
To Iraq with Little John we went,
To start a bloody war.
The sick, the old have all been sold,
Our children's future care;
They’re all worth nowt, so rise and shout,
Advance Australia fair!
They’re all worth nowt, so rise and shout,
Advance Australia fair!

do we really need this tune?

source of words, email 2012.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 21 - 09:42 AM

HOOKER REX by Don Henderson

Singabout 5(2), Jan 1963, lyrics & dots, p.20, info about record p.14

There's been a lot of talk and controversy,
'Bout the White Australia policy,
But there's lots of land and plenty more still,
If someone doesn't have it, L.J. Hooker will.

Chorus -
Everywhere we look we see Hooker-Rex,
Wonder where it's gonna pop up next,
Maybe one day we'll live to see
It inscribed on the back of our currency.

Yanks and the Russians racing to the moon,
In a space-ship and a rocket and a barrage balloon,
When they get there a sign said "Too late!",
The whole damn thing is now a Hooker Estate.

I've often though a better name would be ,
Green-belt Hooker Proprietary,
But Hooker-Australia is alright I guess,
Till they start to use that apostrophe 's.


published in - Oh, Pay Me. Blue & White Collar records ... For the first time in the history of Australia, a record has been issued with songs specifically aimed at promoting trade union demands. The A.C.T.U. , the Australian Council of Salaried and Professional Associations and the High Council of Commonwealth Public Service Organisations ...

Alas, this record does not seem to have survived in any library or collection,

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Stewie
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 08:41 PM

Six decks to Darwin' won the 'Bush Ballad of the Year' category in the 2021 golden guitar awards. It is of particular interest to me as it references my hometown.

SIX DECKS TO DARWIN
(D.Perrett, K.Dixon, R.Garland)

Six decks to Darwin hauling up the Duncan Road
I just drove out of Newry with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

On the stations in the Top End they are mustering the steers
For live export out of Wyndham and the Darwin Harbour piers
So we got the roadtrains rolling and we’re heading out to load
In this fabled series Kenworth I power up the road

When the soft grey light of morning comes a-creeping through the sky
The trailers are a-rattlin’ as we load the cattle high
One eighty head of brahman beauties are ready for the ride
And to tell you that I love the job should come as no surprise

Yeah, I got six decks to Darwin hauling up the Buntine Road
Just drove out of Camfield with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

I glance back in my mirrors where the trailers track behind
I see a dust cloud risin’ and fillin’ up the sky
I’ll stop to check the cattle now and then along the way
Then when we hit the bitumen, the wind will fill our sails

From the red dust and the ranges to the ocean deep and blue
You’ll hear the old girl growlin’ as the gear shift changes through
There’s the song of travellin’ cattle to the rhythm of the road
While the horses ‘neath the bonnet knuckle down and bear the load

Yeah, I got six decks to Darwin hauling up the Barkly Road
Just rolled out of Lake Nash with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

Yeah, I got six decks to Darwin hauling up the Duncan Road
Just rolled out of Rosewood with a load of Top End gold
Heading for the export ships, those drovers of the sea
Six decks bound for Darwin, big heart of the Territory

Youtube clip

Dean Perrett recorded and wrote most of the song. He explains the background in this clip:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 16 Mar 21 - 07:11 AM

July 17, 2010 Federal Election announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. A Parody for the times.

HAS-BEEN HAZARDS by Phyl Lobl, 2010, Tune Trad: Cushy Butterfield/One of the Has-beens

I'm one of the has-beens, a Prime Minister ex,
I once used to advertise Ko-koda treks,
But I stayed far too long on the political trail,
I was put out to pasture by an up-start female.

Now I've been overlooked by the cricketing mob.(Aughh ughugh)
No that's not a cough, it's a strangulated sob.
The game that they served me it just wasn't fair,
You could not call it cricket but they didn't care.

NOW THERE* is a new chum in line for the Lodge, (* pause to emphasize each word in capitals)
But that straw-berry blonde has ex-PM's to dodge.
(Repeat last line with Audience participation as chorus)

I'm a has-been as well, or so the press say,
But my name is still fore-front by the hand of D'Alpuget
My silvery mane it still covers my head,
I do not wear budgies, I'm called one instead.

PAST PM's* are not helping the sheila it seems,
They are too busy trying to mend broken dreams.
(Audience repeats last line)

I'm another of the has-beens, I freed up the banks
I was all for getting rid of the Brits not the Yanks,
But at least I have a musical, and though it's not the top job
I still like to spar with a Budgie called Bob.

NOW THIS* stella, sheila new chum, some thought she was Red
But that Copper-top, that Ranga, looks blue now instead.
(Audience repeats last line)

I was not a PM, just up for the job,
I was feisty I was frantic to strike with a left lob.
But one blow too many and Howard won through,
I wish I had dyed my hair now, and called myself Blue.

YES THAT* Redhead is striking her light very well,
She a match for Tony Abbott the chief lib-er-al
(Audience repeats last line)

I'm Kevin from Queensland an ex-PM too,
My end it came suddenly, a bolt from The Blue
My life was up-turned I did not see the trend,
Unlike Mist-er Beckham I never learnt to bend.

God, if it was you who decided the coup
I don't understand 'cos she doesn't talk to you,

All those Sundays in church had me feeling secure,
Now I'm here in the wilderness, lost and unsure.

BUT SHE'S* a Redhead, a Coppertop, a Ranga, a Blue,
With a rival like that let's hope Abbott's gone too.
(Audience repeats last line

Cushy Butterfield by The Ian Campbell Folk Group

Subject: RE: Mudcat Australia/NZ Songbook
From: rich-joy
Date: 16 Mar 21 - 05:33 AM

I’d read of this happening to other Posters, but this is a first for me : my whole post just disappeared into cyberspace! :(

As I just started reading the *autobiography* of the lauded Aussie singer from Victoria, DIANA TRASK, I thought I’d add this “Country-Pop” hit of hers, regularly heard on Nostalgia Radio these days.
She was a familiar figure on early TV variety shows Down Under (also hosting her own), and could sing anything (she loved jazz), and became a well-known performer in America, friends with and singing with, many of the greats in Show-Biz.


OH BOY (The Mood I’m In)
Tony Romeo

It's so warm in here
Outside the night is clear
Think I need a walk
Have myself a little talk
Sleep, baby sleep
While your mama walks the street tonight
To think about your daddy

Boy, (oh boy) the mood I'm in
The pain I feel in missin’ him
Oh boy, (oh boy) I can't explain
He haunts my mind and racks my brain

I could comb every home, every neighbourhood bar
I could ride every greyhound or railroad car
Just to find him and say
Hey, wherever you are
Come on home, we love you, boy

So I walk and weep
Through the downtown streets I wander sadly

Boy, (oh boy) the mood I'm in
The pain I feel in missin’ him
Oh boy, (oh boy) I can't explain
He haunts my mind and racks my brain

I could comb every home, every neighbourhood bar
I could ride every greyhound and railroad car
Just to find him and say
Hey, wherever you are
Come on home, we love you

Boy, (oh boy) the mood I'm in
The pain I feel in missin’ him
Oh boy, (oh boy) I can't explain
He haunts my mind racks my brain


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4oHALmefko Diana Trask performing “Oh Boy” in 1975 on “Pop! Goes the Country”.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z8LJwzU4Oc   This is Diana on “Sing Along with Mitch Miller” in the very early 60s, beautifully singing the ultimate Stalking song!!

“ ….. In recent years, Diana has studied natural medicine and graduated with honours as a Master Herbalist ….. “    https://dianatrask.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeKgtj_MclQ an interview c. 2015 – after some 20 years, she’d gone back to singing and songwriting!
[BtW, she turns 81 this June……]

*Whatever Happened to Diana Trask* – a memoir by Diana Trask, with Alison Campbell Rate, published in 2010 : https://melbournebooks.com.au/uploads/product/156/diana_info_sheet.pdf



R-J