Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook

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

THE LIGHTS OF COBB AND CO
(Lawson/Hallom)

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

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

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

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

Youtube clip

Poem

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

THE OLD AUSTRALIAN WAYS
(Paterson/Hallom)

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

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

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

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

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

Hallom's adaptation of another Paterson poem.

Youtube clip

Poem

--Stewie.

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

MALENY WASHING LINE

by Paul Lawler, 1999

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


Cheers, R-J :)

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

HERE’S TO THE SINGER

~ Jeff Corfield, c.1997


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


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



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


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


CHORUS
                        

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


CHORUS x 2


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


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

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



Cheers, R-J

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

MY OLD BLACK BILLY


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

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

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

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



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

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



Cheers, R-J

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

LIFE IS CHANGE

by Paul Lawler        

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

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

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

   Chorus

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

   Chorus

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

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

   Chorus        



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

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



Cheers, R-J

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

The Wallaby Track

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

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


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


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

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


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



Cheers, R-J

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

TOMORROW, I’m Going Down to Sydney

By Chris Buch

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


Cheers, R-J

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

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

OUR JACK
(Anon)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recorded on Danny Spooner 'Bold Brave Boys'

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

--Stewie.

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

FOR NEARLY 60 YEARS, I’VE BEEN A FOLKIE

By Bob Townshend

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

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

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

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


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

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

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



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

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



Cheers, R-J

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

LEAVING MY HOMELAND

by Noel Gardner

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

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

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

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

Noel Gardner copyright
(Corrugated Music)



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


Cheers, R-J

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

GOORIANAWA
(Duke Tritton)

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

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

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

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

Chorus

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

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

Martyn’s note:

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

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

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

Albany Emigrants

Trad, arr. Ferguson & Roche

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


Cheers, R-J

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

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

by Paul Lawler

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

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

Way back in 1493
Columbus hit the West Indies

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

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

Tasman was Abel company
He had a mania for the sea

1770 ropes belayed
Anchored Cook in Botany Bay


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


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

Paul Lawler, 2002

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




Cheers, R-J

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

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

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

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

R-J

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

Dance Up The Sun

(John Thompson)

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


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


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

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

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

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



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

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



Cheers, R-J

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

DOWN IN THE GOLDMINE

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


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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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



Cheers, R-J

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

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

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

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

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

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

sandra

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

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

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 04:14 AM

THE PROSECUTION

(Don Henderson)


Young, free and white, woke up this morning
Looked out the window and he saw
In the east a new day was dawning
A day that had never been before
And he wonders, could it be
That, in some way, mightn't he
Be as singularly unique as this new day?
Or was it simply true
There are 'Them' and 'They' and 'You'
And to 'Them' you are just another 'They'?


Ch.
And his hopes of acquittal are sinking
For the charges on which he'll appear
Are 'suspicion of unauthorised thinking'
And 'possession of a dangerous idea'.


The family is all seated round the table
The children eat their meal and ask for more
Mother says she's done the best she's able
Father swears and, leaving, slams the door
He is poor and some are not
His two hands are all he's got
His two hands built the world and hold it high
Could he build a new world where
Working men all have a share?
He wonders if he's brave enough to try.


And his hopes of acquittal are sinking
For the charges on which he'll appear
Are 'suspicion of unauthorised thinking'
And 'possession of a dangerous idea'.


Saturday night and the camp is getting jumpy
As white men after 'velvet' offer port
Jackie sits there in his scrap heap humpy
And thinks 'If this is life, thank God it's short'
On the wind faint voices came
Called him by his tribal name
And asked him what of his Dreaming, his people's land?
Then, rising from the dirt, he threw down the mission shirt
And, proud again, put on the red headband.


And his hopes of acquittal are sinking
For the charges on which he'll appear
Are 'suspicion of unauthorised thinking'
And 'possession of a dangerous idea'.


The court has been rehearsed in preparation
The executioner is well prepared
All services will join the operation
Leave is cancelled, no expense is spared
Knowing what it was he said,
Nothing's safe till he is dead
He said: "Every man's his own man in the end!"
He said: "Slaves are black and white,
The divided will unite"
He said: "Every man's his own man in the end!"


And his hopes of acquittal are sinking
For the charges on which he'll appear
Are 'suspicion of unauthorised thinking'
And 'possession of a dangerous idea'.


And his hopes of acquittal are sinking
For the charges on which he'll appear
Are 'suspicion of unauthorised thinking'
And 'possession of a dangerous idea'...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHjheDR-J_4
as sung by Tommy Leonard, c.2010 - in the now very sadly defunct UpFront Club in Maleny, Qld



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 10:28 PM

R-J, this should be of interest to you since your beloved made instruments for hydrographers in Darwin.

THE WAYWARD HYDROGRAPHER
(Mic Travers)

Well come listen all my merry friends, I’ll tell to you this yarn
It is of a young apprentice who was living up in Darwin
Water was his trade and his indentures had been signed
That was his undoing as sure as you’re a friend of mine

Da da li li etc

Well despite his youthful countenance and credit where it’s due
Our youth had had experience and he’d seen a few things too
He’d travelled round about the place, a few trips beneath his belt
But he’d never been down south in spring when snow begins to melt

Refrain

He set off one morn from Darwin and the weather it was fine
It was mid-to-late September and most morns are then you’ll find
He travelled south by east, stopping briefly here and there
But he never stopped for good till he breathed cool mountain air

Refrain

Well at this point in my story, it is fair I tell to you
The few things he had with him that he thought would see him through
He had a guage, a rod, a rain guage, a book of useful facts
An inner tube, a swag and a few things in a pack

Refrain

Well he’d been camped up there a few weeks, taking guagings of the stream
Looking for some correlation, some new insight he might glean
When he saw it in his readings and confirmed it with his eyes
That within the space of hours, the mountain stream began to rise

Refrain

Well at first he thought nought of it, still he made some little note
For it may have proved of interest to some academic bloke
But as the stream became a torrent, interest gave way to alarm
And he scampered over rocks, still with his rod under his arm

Refrain

Now without the hint of panic, our old mate knew what to do
He reached straight for his old inner tube and into it he blew
And blew with all his might, barely stopping for a spell
He had thing damn near inflated ‘fore into the stream he fell

Refrain

And so quick were his reflexes, he had time before he went
To grab his book of useful facts and to take one last measurement
He rode the old tube like a pro, steering with his guage and rod
Thumbing the index of his book for flashing floods and acts of god

Refrain

Mic spent some time in Darwin with his young family before heading to Brisbane - a fine performer and song writer.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Oct 20 - 01:19 AM

Sandra posted a couple of Greg Hastings songs above, and I remembered this one :


NULLARBORING PLAIN

Written while driving across the Nullarbor in a Diatsu 500cc Handy Van


CHORUS
Curse the blessed highway that's been going on for miles
Across the Nullaboring Plain the lonesome traveler drives
Counting cans and gum trees there isn't much to choose
But the skeletons of burnt out cars and flattend kangaroos.


You've loaded up your roof racks, supplies aare stacked and stored
You take along your best cassettes to stop from getting bored.
Maybe you've a friend or two in your car or your can or your truck
But by the time you get to Eucla mate you won't give a ..... damn.


CHORUS

You start off waving at the cars you meet along the track
And then you give up hoping you ever will wave back
You get so flaming bored that to stop yourself from sleep
You start waving at the cows, the birds, the signposts and the sheep.

CHORUS

If by chance you break down with a station miles away
There'll be no need to panic as on your knees you pray
You'll never be very lonely no matter how hard you tries
Cos you've always got the company of sixty million flies.

CHORUS

If you like your fauna as you're driving on your way
There's very little of it if you're driving in the day
You may just catch the odd roo or rabbit in the rough
But they're usually quite motionless and absolutely stuffed.

CHORUS

Then at night they jump you and they'll give you quite a scare
You'll even see them moving when they're never there
Still you've got those insects, whose guts just must be seen
And you've got the time to watch it as it spreads across the screen.

CHORUS

There's roadtrains to the left of you, roadtrains to the right
Things can get quite hairy when you're driving in the night
They look like giant Christmas trees as they cut off every bend
But you'll wind up like a fairy with one stuffed right up your end.

CHORUS

And when at last you get there be it Perth or Sydney town
A sense of great achievement no doubt you will have found
You may be tired and sweaty, your back all stiff and sore
But at least you've got your sticker says you've crossed the Nullarbor.

CHORUS


Copyright Greg Hastings © 1982

Sample excerpt :
https://www.greghastings.com/files/Greg%20Hastings%20-%20Wandering%20Man%20-%2015%20-%20Nullaboring%20Plain.mp3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T845HV-1yP0&feature=youtu.be   Greg at Roleystone Performer’s Night, 2011


In 2020, it is a roughly 3935 kilometre (or 2445 mile) journey, on Highway 1, taking maybe 41 hours with shared driving.    Apparently.

Most West Aussie Baby Boomers would have done the overland trip along the old Eyre Highway (and many of us, more than once) in the ‘bulldust’ days, long before all the roads were sealed and vehicles were air conditioned. Where you had to carry jerry cans of spare fuel and water – just in case. The roads were mostly long, hot, dry, dusty tracks (until it rained, when it was slippery mud) - covered in potholes (if large and hit at speed there goes your front end), teeth-rattling corrugations, and limestone outcrops to shred the tyres of the tired and unwary, with mostly only the occasional truck-cum-roadtrain for fleeting company (or sometimes a Speleo Expedition of cavers, as the land is littered with huge underground cave systems and sinkholes).
And the road just went on for Bloody Miles and Miles!! Great fun. The only relief was stopping at the bore water tanks where you could sluice off the grime with hot - very salty – undrinkable water.
I recall my Aunt and Uncle, then resident in Tasmania, visiting their Perth families in the mid 1950s - with 3 kids under 5, in a small sedan car. And they did it again a few years later, with an extra child!
West Aussies (and Returned Soldiers), sure were built tough!!

I’ve now a mind to revisit some of the books written about the early post-WWII journeys undertaken (like by Ion Idriess), and about the famous Redex trials that started in 1953 (with drivers like “Gelignite Jack” Murray and Jack Brabbham), and films of which excited everyone so much at the local flicks!

https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/redex_trials_the_legend


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 05 Oct 20 - 10:23 PM

SOON MAY THE WELLERMAN COME
(Anon)

There was a ship that put to sea
The name of the ship was the Billy of Tea
The winds blew up, her bow dipped down
Oh blow me bully boys blow

Chorus
Soon may the Wellerman come
And bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day when the tonguin’ is done
We’ll take our leave and go

She had not been two weeks from shore
When down on her a wright whale bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He’d take that whale in tow

Before the boat had hit the water
The whale’s tail came up and caught her
All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her
When she dived down below

No line was cut, no whale was freed
The captain’s mind was not of greed
But he belonged to the wheelman’s creed
She took the ship in tow

For forty days or even more
The line went slack, then tight once more
All boats were lost - there were only four
But still the whale did go

As far as I’ve heard, the fight’s still on
The line’s not cut and the whale’s not gone
The Wellerman makes his regular call
To encourage the captain, crew and all

Shore-whalers, unlike whalers on ships, could not return to their native lands. Even if there were a ship, they couldn’t afford the passage for they saw no money. Whaling companies, such as Wellers of Sydney, sent agents across the Tasman to collect the bone and oil and to pay the men in sugar and rum. When the companies ceased to operate, the men began to work on their own - whaling, some fishing, a little farming.’Song of a Young Country’ p10.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 05 Oct 20 - 10:42 PM

ODE TO STREAM
(Mic Travers)

Well I’m cuttin’ all my ties and I’ve sung all my goodbyes
There’s no tellin’ when I might return
For I’ve heard it in the streams and I’m out to catch my dreams
There’s a light within my soul that does burn

Chorus
Yes, pack your bags, girl, be my friend on the road
Together we will find again the good times that we know’d
And our love emerge unscathed from the baptism of waves
It’s written in the sands, in the lines upon our hands
It will be so

From life’s impossible defeats to her euphoric craigie peaks
I’ve staggered over many the ragged mile
From this material mirage, I leap for the universe at large
Blind and trusting as a new-born child

Chorus

And now I close my eyes and dream of that gentle flowing stream
And the words of wisdom it must whisper still
I drink deeply from its banks and I offer up my thanks
Oh will I return again, I probably will

Chorus

Now it’s time to press upon the road, sing a song to light our load
Let the hook and fire rekindle our soul
But there’s every chance we’ll weather if we can but stick together
Whatever tempest mother nature throws

Chorus

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 02:54 AM

HARD TACK

trad

I'm a shearer, yes, I am, and I’ve shorn both sheep and lamb
From the Wimmera to the Darling Downs and back
And I've run a shed or two when the fleece was tough as glue
But I'll tell you where I struck the ’ardest tack.

I was down round Yenda way, killin' time from day to day
Till the big sheds started movin' further out
When I met a bloke by chance that I summed up at a glance
As a cocky from a vineyard round about.

Now it seems he picked me too—well, it wasn't hard to do
'Cause I had me tongs a-hangin' at me hip
“Well, I got a mob,” he said, “just about two hundred head
And I'd give a ten pound note to get the clip.”

I says, “Right, I'll take the stand”, it meant gettin’ in me hand
And by nine o’clock we'd rounded up the mob
In a shed sunk in the ground with wine-casks all around
And that was where I started on me job.

I goes easy for a bit whilst me hand was gettin’ fit
And by dinner time I'd done about a score
With the cockie pickin' up, and handin' me a cup
Of pinkie after every sheep I shore.

Well, he had to go away about the seventh day
After showin’ me the kind of casks to use
Then I'd do the pickin' up, and manipulate the cup
Strollin' round them wine-casks just to pick and choose.

Then I'd stagger to the pen, grab a sheep and start again
With a sound between an 'iccup and a sob
And sometimes I'd fall asleep with me arms around a sheep
Worn and weary from me over-arduous job.

And so six weeks went by, till one day, with a sigh
I shoved the dear old cobbler through the door
I gathered in the cocky's pay, and staggered on me way
From the hardest flamin' shed I'd ever shorn.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaisYXk0tsE&list=PLETVuiXKS2qBiKClqcaTxb5V5juZC7tdf&index=13
sung here by Declan Affley on LP “The Day the Pub Burned Down”

Notes by A.L.Lloyd are taken from LP “The Great Australian Legend” :
“Already in the nineteenth.century, in South Australia and Victoria, vineyards were being planted, mostly by German settlers. And notably in the period between the World wars, with the establishment of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, the orchard and vineyard districts of New South Wales began to spread and encroach on regions that formerly had been devoted to sheep. To their astonishment, shearers found themselves drinking wine instead of their famed staple beverage, beer. The culture collision between vineyard and sheep land, wine and beer, is well expressed in the Hard Tack song.”

tongs: hand shears / pickin’ up: picking up and baling the fleeces as they are shorn / pinkie: wine / cobbler: last sheep to be shorn
https://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL203.pdf



Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 03:02 AM

Just came across Greg Windred on YT.

He's from Armidale, NSW and likes a wide range of music and styles.

Have a listen to his powerful "BLOOD ON THE WATTLE", set to a great slideshow :

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




Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 04:43 AM

A song not often heard, but a goodun nonetheless.

On the Road with Liddy

William Miller, 1934

I'm on the road with Liddy with five hundred head of fats.
We string' em on the stony ground and wheel 'em on the flats,
And when the evenin' stars come out, with laughter and with song,
We round the cattle up, and camp by some quiet billabong.

Our cook's a ball of muscles when he's rustling up a feed,
And Bob Delany's home and dried when steadying the lead,
And if the cattle run at night, there's one chap out in front
Striking matches on the bullock's horns, a chap named Georgie Hunt.

And when we get to Wyndham, there's Tom Cole with his whip
To steer the lead across the hill and put 'em on the ship.
And when the mob is all on board, we'll have some blasted fun,
We'll get Jack Roberts with his car to take us for a run.

We'll try and dig Bob Cooper up, then to that bag of tricks,
The pub that's kept by Teddy Clark they call the Double-Six.
We'll sing again them drovin' songs we sang along the track,
Have a show on the screen for an hour or two, then off again out-back.


Sung here by A.L. Lloyd : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_PN6XMFQXw

He notes on the afore-mentioned LP “The Great Australian Legend :
“They used to say that the heart of Australian nation was the nomad tribe - the teamsters, shearers, drovers—always on the move across the continent. Men with plenty of resourcefulness and few responsibilities. At the head of the nomad tribe were the drovers, the overlanders, who shifted herds and flocks across the plains to distant stations or sale-yards. With the spread of railways, the need for the long drives diminished, but they haven't quite disappeared yet. The old forms of bush life have lasted best in the remote country of the Northern Territories and the northern part of West Australia. Mateship is a basic necessity in such empty country; a free and easy hospitability makes up for a life that is otherwise monotonous, repetitious, terribly short of event. Slowness, a certain melancholy, and eager snatch at chance for diversion characterises the existence of the cattlemen of the far outback, even today. The relatively recent North-west drover's song, On the Road with Liddy, shows it all.

This unusual lyric was made, presumably in the 1920s, by a Northern Territory cattle-hand named William Miller. Tommy Liddy was a well-known drover and horseman of the time. The narrative concerns a cattle-drive to the north-west Australian port of Wyndham. I've not seen this one in print.”

All that info was pulled from the excellent Mainly Norfolk website: https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/ontheroadwithliddy.html

The info following is from the also excellent Folkstream.com website by Mark Gregory :
See also the original published version from the Darwin Newspaper the Northern Standard The Droving Days in this collection
From the singing of A.L.Lloyd. Printed in Australian Tradition , Oct 1971
Wyndham - port town in northern WA   / Lloyd describes Liddy as a well known drover of the area and Liddy's is also known as a bottle tree near Cockatoo Bore, the other side of Kununurra / Fats - road bullocks / Tom Cole - contract musterer and station manager who settled in Wyndham in 1924 / Georgie Hunt - drover on the VRD, Victoria River Downs in the Northern Territory / Teddy Clark's wife ran a pub called the Six Mile in about 1923 / Filmshows were put on at the meatworks in Wyndham in those days.


My previous hearing of this song was an a cappella group harmony version, but just by whom, has now been lost to me!


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 07:11 PM

Today would be a good day for John Dengate's 'Dying Treasurer' song......if I have time later.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 07:37 PM

Indeed! JennieG - and we haven't had near enough here from John, have we??!   Go for it!

R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 08:39 PM

I'm on my way out, but Ive just gathered my Dengate books & will check Leyne's website - The John Dengate Collection A library of John Dengate words, music, videos, photos and memories - when I get back - assuming you haven't checked the Lyrics & Poems page & posted stuff yourselves!

ps. we now have 292 songs, I've sent you a copy of the list, Jennie

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 08:42 PM

THE FORBES FLOOD

Another great disaster has come upon this land
Out where the Lachlan River flows on its way so grand
Was in the month of August and the town was bright and gay
And the folks out on the lachlan they were happy all the day

And then the skies grew cloudy and the rain came fallen down
All day the mighty torrents came falling to the ground
The streams throughout the country kept swelling day by day
Until the angry Lachlan, it was roaring on its way

And then there came a warning , the levees cannot stand
A brave important struggle to save their native land
But still the raging water kept pounding at the shores
Until it broke the levee banks and into Forbes it poured

How many homes were flooded and brave men knelt to pray
As all that they had cherished was madly swept away
The world will gladly help them to pay the awful cost
But no-one can ever give them back the treasures they have lost

We can't explain the reason these great disasters come
But we all must remember to say "Thy will be done"
And though the good may suffer for other people's sins
There is a crown awaiting where eternal life begins.

As recorded on Alan Musgrave 'Songs They Used to Sing: A Panorama of Australian Folksong'.

Traditional singer, Ebb Wren, made a few minor changes to Carson Robison's 'The Mississippi Flood'. Full details, including Robison's original text, may been found on this 20-year-old Mudcat thread:

Click

Since then, a video of Ebb Wren has been posted to YT. Go to circa 1 minute mark.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 09:04 PM

NEWELL HIGHWAY
(J.Warner/G.Parry)

Awake before the dawn, within the spires of range
Where magpies ornate melodies
Engrave the chilly morning breeze
Beneath the towering stone
Beneath the towering stone

On nights of silver moon, too rich to waste on sleep
In silence make your way to seek
The choirs of frogs in swamp and creek
That sing beneath the stars
That sing beneath the stars

Out on the Western Plain beside the roaring road
Where trucks snarl by without a care
Are billabongs with ibis there
And wedge-tail eagles soar
And wedge-tail eagles soar

All you that love the earth and make her ways your choice
Cry out against the noise of trade
Demand that silence should be made
So that all may hear her voice
Her ancient, matchless voice

Recorded on Danny Spooner 'Emerging Tradition'.

Danny noted:

John Warner penned this piece in 1985, after a visit to the Warrumbungle Mountains in inland New South Wales. A committed conservationist, John borrowed the tune of the well-loved Anglican hymn 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind' (G.H.H. Parry) to remind us how ‘progress’ has encroached upon and damaged some of our most precious assets and continues to do so.

--Stewie.

Recording by Kerr, Fagan, Harbron.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 09:38 PM

MURDERERS ROCK
(N.Colquhoun)

Murderer’s Rock stands on the track
And watches all that passes
Victorian miners, hard old-timers
And wash-a-bit move-along asses
For the Dunstan, just as the Tuapek did
That gave us all gold fever
Has little that’s left of payable dirt
And we are bound to leave her (x2)

Let your ears flap as they hears
A tale that’ll certain displease you
About four wild colonial men
Begetting their gold at leisure
Dick Burgess, Kelly and Phillip Levy
That now stand trial in the dock
They butchered poor Mathieu and his friends
For their gold at Murderers Rock (2)

The four had planned their evil work
When Mathieu spoke up louder
And told the company in the bar
Hard savings - no man prouder
They travelled ahead to wait and rob
And not one was fair fighter
If a single robber has stood with fists
My story could have been brighter (x2)

Hang down your head, Dick Burgess
’Twill make no difference further
You know you’ll hang from the gallows tree
And pay for your terrible murder
For Kelly too I haven’t much time
Though for Levy I am warmer
The jury has to make up its mind
On the evidence of an informer (x2)

Murderer’s Rock stands on the track
And watches all that passes
Victorian miners, hard old-timers
And wash-a-bit move-along asses
My story’s ended, I am done
And all take warning from it
Don’t take another man’s life for gold
Or the gallows you’ll hang upon it (x2)


This beaut rendition by Tamburlaine makes up for the doggerel verse:

Youtube clip

Full details of the incident may be found here:

Click

—Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 10:27 PM

RERENGA’S WOOL
(B.Paterson (attributed)/m.Anon)

’Twas down at Wellington
A noble Maori came
A Rangatira of the best
Rerenga was his name
He stalked into the bank they call
The Great Financial Hell
And told the Chief Financial Fiend
The tribe had wool to sell

The bold bank manager looked grave
The price of wool was high
He said, ‘We’ll lend you what you need
We’re not disposed to buy
You ship the wool to England, Chief
You’ll find it’s good advice
And meanwhile you can draw from us
The local market price’

Rerenga thanked him courteously
And said he wished to state
In all th Rotoiti tribe
His mana would be great
Wedged into a cargo ship
Full up from stem to bow
A mighty clip of wool went Home
Form Rotoiti-au

It was the bold bank manager
Who made the heavy cheque
Rerenga cashed it thoughtfully
Then clasped him round the neck
‘To show my gratitude’, he said
As he pouched the pelf
‘I’ll haha for you, generous sir
In honour of yourself’

He haka’d most effectively
Then with an airy grace
Pressed noses with the manager
And vanished into space
And when the wool return came back
Aha what sighs and groans
For every bale of Maori wool
Was loaded up with stones

As recorded by Tommy and Margaret Wood on 'Song of a Young Country' LP.

Youtube clip

It is attibuted to Banjo Paterson. The full poem as printed in 'Saltbush Bill JP, And Other Verses':

Click

Note in 'Song of a Young Country':

Since the 1840s, first the Company's agents, then the government's agents, had been buying land from the Maori for resale to the settlers. Land ownership was complicated and anyone who presented himself as a great Chief with sole selling rights to a block of land was welcomed with open arms - his claims not too closely investigated and an advance quickly given to help prevent a change of mind ... Anybody could be chief, and sell his enemy's land from under him.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 10:48 PM

As (sort of) promised.

Dying Treasurer
John Dengate

Tune: Dying Stockman

A Federal Treasurer lay dying,
His budget supporting his head.
The cabinet stood plausibly lying
As he raised on his elbow and said -
        Wrap me up in my jiggery-pokery,
        Wrap me round in my legerdemain.
        Bury me deep in the rhetoric
        Right next to the monetary drain.

There's booze in the cut-glass decanter,
Place the tumblers all in a row
And toast more and more unemployment -
May the total continue to grow.
        Wrap me up in my jiggery-pokery,
        Wrap me round in my legerdemain.
        Bury me deep in the rhetoric
        Right next to the monetary drain.

Cut down the consumer price index
Put wages and salaries on ice.
Lock up one or two union leaders
To help me attain paradise.
        Wrap me up in my jiggery-pokery,
        Wrap me round in my legerdemain.
        Bury me deep in the rhetoric
        Right next to the monetary drain.

Oh, had I the flight of a bronze-wing
Instead of a blind silver-tail
I'd fly in the face of all reason
And I'd write my last Budget in Braille.
        Wrap me up in my jiggery-pokery,
        Wrap me round in my legerdemain.
        Bury me deep in the rhetoric
        Right next to the monetary drain.

Alternate last verse:

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

The last verse is a doozy, considering that emus don't fly.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Oct 20 - 11:54 PM

EXcellent, JennieG - don't stop there!!

R-J :)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 01:03 AM

THE AMITY MEN

Composer?   (presumed to be one/some of the Albany Shanytmen, in WA)

Ch.
A town they made those Amity Men, A town that set them free
A town they made those Amity Men, A town called Albany.


1.   From New Bruswick, Canada, borne in the icy breeze
A block and square-rigged sailing brig, she steered fine weatherly
With top forebones? of Hackmatack, she crossed the Atlantic seas
Ploughing through the ocean troughs, she’s bound for Albany.


2.   From Scotland to Tasmania, a new world there to see
The Roaring Forties, blazing sun, she steered fine weatherly
Then off to West Australia, set off the old barque(-ee)?
In Eighteen Hundred and Twenty Six, sailed into Albany.


3.   Major Lockyer’s convict crew, with McCabe, Dinneen, Magee
???……………………craftsmen, she steered fine weatherly
For five days they unloaded her, salt pork, cut tacks, split peas
Timber, rifles, tools, and tents, they founded Albany.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qql0bTPmWjY      The Amity Men (The Albany Shantymen)

Thanks to Stewie for helping discern some of those lyrics - and any Old Salts’ further suggestions are very welcome! Plus, does anyone know the composer/s??


The Amity is the (relatively small) vessel which in 1826, brought Major Edmund Lockyer (with crew and naval party, 19 soldiers of the 39th Foot, 23 convicts (11 each English & Irish, + 1 Yank), storekeeper, gardener, 2 overseers, 3 women, 2 kids, animals, building materials, and stores) from the Colony of New South Wales to establish a British presence on the West Coast, thus greatly reducing the chance of a feared claim by the French.

There is a replica ship on the foreshore in Albany (in the SW corner of WA), built in the mid 1970s to mark Albany’s 150th anniversary.
Incidentally, The Amity also featured strongly in the Moreton Bay area’s convict history, on the East Coast (and the land now known as Qld, was only formerly excised from NSW in 1859 – quite late in the scheme of things!)


Now this may not be the most brilliant song going, but I must confess that my interest in it is because my GGGrandfather, William Thacker, a Londoner, was amongst this initial trusted Convict crew of 23 to sail with the Amity from Sydney (landing in Dec 1826) and he gained his freedom at King George Sound / Frederickstown (later known as Albany), and in Dec 1830, headed up to the Swan River Colony (newly founded, June 1829) via the Nimrod, eventually taking up land in Upper Swan. There he met and married young Eliza Cook, a Peel Estater, who had arrived May 1830 on the ill-fated Rockingham.

So the family regard him as one of West Aussie’s earliest (if not THE earliest!) settlers (esp as he stayed in WA when many new arrivees balked at the place and promptly shot-through to the Eastern States).
However, I fear the Landed Gentry still do not approve of such a low-class wretch (Crikey! He was only an opportunistic thief!!), being accorded any high civil and historical status, LoL!! (sniff)



Cheers, R-J (doffing cap and tugging forelock :)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 01:35 AM

This one was a great favourite back in the Joh and Flo days. As posted by Tony in Darwin a good few years ago.

CUNNAMULLA
(John Dengate)

[Tune: It's a Long Way to Tipperary]

First verse and chorus:
It's a long way to Cunnamulla, it's a long way to go,
It's a long way to Cunnamulla on the River Warrego.
I know there's been a gerrymander and I know it isn't fair,
But I have to rely on Cunnamulla; they vote for me there.

Mr. Bjelke Petersen is a genius, it's true.
Mr. Bjelke Petersen makes five votes equal two.
He divides up the whole electorate, subtracts Aunt Edna's twins,
And he multiplies the rural fraction and that's how he wins.

Chorus

[Tune: Pack up Your Troubles]

Here is your ticket to the Senate, Flo, That's guile, guile, guile.
Pack up your pumpkin scones and portmanteau; goose-step round the pile.
Tell the mob in Canberra, I waltzed you down the aisle,
So here is your nepotistic ticket, Flo, seig Heil! Heil! Heil!

[Tune: It's a Long Way to Tipperary]

Chorus

Old Caligula the Roman, so the history text books say,
Put his horse into the Senate where it always voted "neigh".
But a horse is still considered useful on the River Warrego,
So! The ancient Romans got an old grey mare and Queensland got Flo.

Chorus

Why not go to sunny Queensland, why not venture forth?
Why not join the Country Party in that lovely land up north?
Ignore the electorate in Brisbane; to hell with Moreton Bay;
As long as you win in Cunnamulla, you'll be O.K.

Chorus

From "My Shout: Songs and Poems by John Dengate" pub. Bush Music Club, Sydney, Easter, 1982.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 02:28 AM

A member of my ukulele group (currently in recession due to the plague) once suggested doing "It's a long way to Tipperary"......I couldn't. I kept singing John's words for 'Cunnamulla'. We never did do 'Tipperary'.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 03:36 AM

Sure, the days of Joh & Flo are over and the infamous Brown Paper Bag gone with them ....... or has it???

However, years later, we are still saddled with their mate in the form of Australia’s 11th richest billionaire, who is some kind of Loki, causing expensive and heart-breaking chaos everywhere - and who “coincidentally” was Joh’s big supporter and backer, particularly in his push to become Prime Minister. (Perish the Thought, indeed!)

WHERE then, are the songs about this character and his questionable deeds?????

Surely Master Dengate should be sending them to Dale, from Beyond, in the form of automatic writing perhaps???!!!
R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 03:38 AM

congratulations, Stewie Cunnamulla is no. 300!

& it can only be followed by 2 more of John's great songs that were going to end the show about the centenary of John Meredith's birth at the 2020 National - cancelled due to covid!

penultimate song - Queensland Medley aka Farewell to Joh.
ultimate song - The Melbourne Medley


The relevance of singing J.D’s Farewell and Adieu was that Merro enjoyed J.D’s protest songs and anti-Joh with strong criticism, but No swearing, songs. He especially liked the use of traditional ‘Farewell’ songs including ‘Farewell and adieu to you Brisbane Ladies’ It is a fine example of parody and Ralph and I felt it had a great chorus to sing as the penultimate song. (Ralph Pride joined BMC in the early 60s, around the same time John & Dale joined.)

Queensland Medley - Farewell to Joh. Tune: Brisbane Ladies - Augathella Station

Farewell and adieu to the Premier of Queensland
Farewell and adieu and goodbye to Sir Joh
You useless old bastard, too long you have lasted
Now your mates have decided that you have to go.

Chorus - You ranted and roared at the reds and the greenies,
You ranted and roared at the black and the white;

You postured and strutted, just like Mussolini ...
Now your mates have betrayed you and that serves you right.

You pineapple vandal, they've snuffed out your candle,
Get back to your peanuts, you senile old sod;
Take Flo and her pumpkins, you great pair of bumpkins,
You can start playing lawn bowls and stop playing God.

Chorus

You Lutheran pastor cum paw paw disaster
You Darling Downs despot, you Kingaroy clown
Get back to your tractor, you seventh rate actor
You pious, hypocritical, adjective noun.

Stick that up your jumper, you old Bible-thumper,
You second-rate Hitler, you goose-stepping goose;
The poisonous old cane toad's in gone-down-the-drain mode,
Like a dribble of Bundaberg sugar cane juice.

Chorus

Tune changes to It's a Long Way to Tipperary

It's a long way to Cunnamulla, it's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Cunnamulla on the River Warrago.
I know there's been a gerrymander and I know it isn't fair.
But I have to rely on Cunnamulla, they vote for me there.

After some devastating serves to Joh B-J, John had just about run out of ‘Dengate expletives’ but ‘adjective noun’, with the innuendo of too terrible to say it, always gets a laugh. (email from Dale, 15/04/20)

to be followed by The Melbourne Medley

What does the Melbourne do on a cruise from Jervis Bay?
She sails on the briny blue with the Voyager in the way.
So it’s hard a-port for who’d’ve thought on a peaceful summer’s night.
A destroyer would sail and a carrier fail to give way on the right.

Oh, the weather was fair for a Boson’s chair so the Captain went for a ride.
He piped all hands to elastic bands as it loomed on the starboard side.
“A ship” cries he “It’s the enemy! Whatever shall I do?”
So they cut her in half just for a laugh, and drowned one third of the crew.

Box the compass, port the helm and all that nautical stuff.
The whistle blew and the Captain flew to the bridge in an awful huff,
Crying East by West is the course that’s best, so come on all you men.
There was great distress in the officer’s mess that night in the RAN.

So, sing with Pride of the suicide and cheer for the Commonwealth.
Who needs a war? There’s a wind off-shore, we’ll go and sink our-self.
…………….

HMAS Melbourne goes sailing the world,
With her radar antenna and her ensign unfurled.
Here is a fact that I’m sure will astound,
The Melbourne goes over what the others go ‘round.

CHORUS
And it’s duck for cover, quickly before she arrives,
Here comes the Melbourne my jolly brave tars,
So swim, swim for your lives.

There’s a man on the Melbourne and he gets double pay,
His job is to keep shouting “Out of the way”.
Sing ho for a carrier out on the blue,
If you get in their way they will cut you in two.

All you destroyers take warning by me,
Beware for the Melbourne is out on the sea.
Subs go below, planes above and it’s true,
Most ships go around but the Melbourne goes through.

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 05:38 AM

Thank you for that post, Sandra - they are indeed GEMS!!!

(and so many of us were waiting for Joh to be deposed before migrating to QLD - and now there are SO many newcomers who really don't know why he was so bad, and probably don't particularly care :(

R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 05:42 AM

Dale does a bit of song writing

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 06:09 AM

Ask her from me to CHANNEL John!! :)
R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 08:16 PM

THE WATERWITCH
(Trad)

A neat little packet from Hobart set sail
To cruise the wide oceans for the monster sperm whale
To cruise to the wide oceans where the stormy winds blow
Bound away in the Waterwitch to the west'ard we'll go

Chorus
Bound away, bound away, where the stormy winds blow
Bound away in the Waterwitch to the west'ard we'll go

Oh ‘twas early one morning just as the sun rose
The man from her mast head cries out, 'There she blows'
‘Where away' cries our skipper and springing aloft
‘Three points off yer lee bow and scarce three miles off'

Chorus

We sailed off the west wind and came up a pace
The whale boats was lowered and set for the chase
Get yer lines in the boats see yer box line is clear
And lower her down boys and after him steer

Chorus

We fought him alongside, the harpoon thrust in
In just over an hour, he rolled out his fin
The whale was cut in boys, tried out and stowed down
He's worth more to us, boys, than five hundred pound

Chorus

When the ship she gets full boys to Hobart we'll steer
Where there's plenty of pretty girls and plenty good beer
We'll spend our money freely with the girls on the shore
And when it's all gone go a-whaling for more

Chorus

As recorded in Danny Spooner 'The Great Leviathan'

Danny's note:

From the singing of a Mr Jack Davies of Hobart, this is similar to The Coast of Peru and New Zealand Whales. It recalls the days when Tasmanian whalers hunted the Southern Right Whale from the Derwent across the Tasman sea. I got the words originally from Lloyd Robson, who with Norm O'Connor, recorded Mr Davies in the early 1960s.

Also recorded in Alan Musgrave 'Songs They Used To Sing'

Youtube clip

You can hear Jack Davies sing it on Mark Gregory's site:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 09:21 PM

BOB MAHONEY AND HIS CREW
(Trad)

While outward bound far o’er the deep
Slung in me hammock I fell asleep
I had a dream which I thought was true
Concerning Mahoney and his boat’s crew

With a crew of seamen he sailed away
To hunt the black whale in Recherche Bay
Off yon green Island, not far from here
There we lost Mahoney and his boat’s gear

There’s Captain Kennedy of Hobart town
There’s Captain Reynolds of high renown
There’s Captain Robertson and many, many more
They’ve long been cruising Macquarie’s shore

They cruised east and they cruised west
Round the sou’west cape where they thought best
No tide nor tale could they see or hear
Concerning Mahoney or his boat’s gear

In Recherche Bay where the black whale blow
The tale of Mahoney they all do know
They say he’s gone like many, many more
He left his home to return no more

As we draw nearer to Hobart’s shore
I saw a fair maid in deep deplore
She was sobbing, sighing, saying ‘Pity me
I’ve lost my brother poor Bob Mahoney

She wrung her hands and she tore her hair
Like a maid distracted in deep despair
‘I’ve lost my brother no more to see
I’ve lost my brother poor Bob Mahoney

And now my burden it brings me pain
For long-lost Mahoney I’ve searched in vain
A thousand pounds I would give to you
To see Bob Mahoney and his boat’s crew

As recorded in Alan Musgrave ’Songs They Used To Sing’.

A Danny Spooner recording, ‘The Loss of Mahoney’, can be found in ’The Great Leviathan’ and ’Song Lines’:

Youtube clip

The song came from the singing of Jack Davies. You can hear him here:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 10:13 PM

THE BALLINA WHALERS
(Harry Robertson)

In ‘56 I sailed on board a ship called Byron One
She carried trawler men on deck and a harpoon whaling gun
With a tractor for a whale winch, our ship an old Fairmile
Twin diesels turned the screws around and we whaled the Aussie style

Chorus
Heigh ho ye trawler men come on, forget the snapper and the prawn
And it’s out of Ballina we’ll sail a-fishing for the humpback whale

So keep a sharp lookout me lads, for the whale is on the run
And we’ll chase him into Byron Bay and kill him with our gun
The harpoon and the line fly true, bedding deep into the whale
But she split the timbers of our ship with a flurry of her tail

Chorus

Our
rigging struts were snapped in two, we reeled beneath the blow
But the gunner fired a killer shot and the humpback sank below

Chorus

Now make her tail fast to the bow, we’ve got no time for bed
For four and twenty hours each day we kept that factory fed
The flensing men upon the land, some had been jackaroos
But they skinned the blubber off them whales like they’d skinned the kangaroos

Chorus

One hundred whales, then fifty more, to the factory we did send
Till a message said, ‘Knock off me lads' - the season’s at an end
Back into Ballina we sailed, tied up and stowed the gear
Then all hands headed for the pub and we filled ourselves with beer

As recorded by Danny Spooner - 'The Great Leviathan' CD.

Danny's note:

Another of Harry Robertson's songs sings the praise of the adaptable Aussie worker. The men who manned the old ex-naval Fairmile to hunt humpback whales out of Byron Bay were trawler men used to fishing and prawning with nets. Now with a tractor mounted on the deck for a whale winch and a harpoon gut mounted forward, they went whale hunting Aussie Style.

Danny's recording is not on the Net, but Nic Jones recorded it as 'The Humpback Whale' on his 'Penguin Eggs' LP.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 07:33 PM

LOOK OUT BELOW
(Charles Thatcher – Tune ‘The Pirate King’)

A young man left his native shore
For trade was bad at home
To seek his fortune in this land
He crossed the briny foam
And when he came to Ballarat
It put him in a glow,
To hear the sound of the windlasses
And the cry, ‘Look out below’

Wherever he turned his wandering eyes
Great wealth he did behold
And peace and plenty hand in hand
By the magic power of gold
Quoth he, ‘As I am young and strong
To the diggings I will go
For I like the sound of the windlasses
And the cry, "Look out below"’

Amongst the rest he took his chance
And his luck at first was vile
But still he resolved to persevere
And at length he made his pile
So says he, ‘I'll take my passage
And home again I'll go
And say farewell to the windlasses
And the cry, “Look out below”’

Arrived in London once again
His gold he freely spent
And into every gaiety
And dissipation went
But pleasure, if prolonged too much
Oft causes pain you know
And he missed the sound of the windlasses
And the cry, ‘Look out below’

And thus he reasoned with himself
‘Oh why did I return?
For a digger's independent life
I now begin to yearn’
Here, purse-proud lords the poor oppress,
But there it is not so
Give me the sound of the windlasses
And the cry, ‘Look out below’

So he started for this land once again
With a charming little wife.
And he finds there's nothing comes up to
A jolly digger's life
Ask him if he'll go back one day
He'll quickly answer, ‘No’
for he loves the sound of the windlasses
And the cry, "Look out below’

Some great images in this video:

Youtube clip

Information on Thatcher:

Australian Dictionary of Biography

NZ Dictionary of Biography

Robert Hoskins 'Goldfield Balladeer' Collins 1977.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 08:06 PM

WHERE'S YOUR LICENCE
(Charles Thatcher - Tune 'The Cavalier')

The morning was fine,
The sun brightly did shine
The diggers were working away
When the inspector of traps
Said now my fine chaps
We'll go licence hunting today
Some went this way, some that
Some to Bendigo Flat
And a lot to the White Hills did tramp
Whilst others did bear
Up towards Golden Square
And the rest of them kept round the camp

Each turned his eye
To the holes close by
Expecting on some down to drop
But not one could they nail
For they'd give 'em leg bail
Diggers aren't often caught on the hop
The little word 'Joe'
That most of you know
Is a signal the traps are quite near
Made them all cut their sticks
And they hooked it like bricks
I believe you, my boys, no fear

Now a tall, ugly trap
He espied a young chap
Up the gully a-cutting like fun
So he quickly gave chase
But 'twas a hard race
For mind you, the digger could run
Down the hole he did pop
While the bobby up top
Says - 'just come up', shaking his staff
'Young man of the crown.
If yer wants me come down
For I'm not to be caught with such chaff'

Of course you'd have thought
The sly fox he'd have caught
By lugging him out of the hole
But this crusher no fear
Quite scorned the idea
Of burrowing the earth like a mole
But wiser by half
He put by his staff
And as onward he went sung he
'When a cove's down a drive
Whether dead or alive
He may stay there till doomsday for me'

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

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

THE WAKAMARINA
(C.Thatcher/N.Colquhoun)

On the banks of the Wakamarina a walk
Out from Nelson about thirty miles
A splendid gold yield’s been discovered, a field
Where dozens are making their piles
Well they work with a pan in the river-bed sand
And in many a crevice I’m told
With knives they can dig out the nuggets so big
A nice easy way to get gold

Chorus
I am waiting for fresh information and yes
If the gold is all there you will see
I’m off to the golden location I guess
It’s the Wakamarina for me

It’s affecting just pretty well all of the city
Provisions have gone up in price
And servants and tradesmen have started to fade
To the diggings, all scorning advice
Milkmen give customers warning and most
Are leaving their usual walks
And off to the Wakamarina the cart
And old Dobbin are walking the chalks

The crews all desert from the ships and I’ve heard
That the skipper on board vainly grieves
To help to discharge the ship’s cargo it’s hard
But he’s got to turn up in shirt-sleeves
Blacksmiths and bakers get cheeky when they
Get to think of the new golden ground
And butchers are talking of raising by fourpence
Pleuro to a shilling a pound

The rush will soon clear out Otago I hear how
For passengers ships advertise
Each steamer will bring up a cargo of dinkum
Victorian diggers – no flies
They are the men that can drop on the metal
And when from Dunedin they come
They’ll all get the gold from the river I’m told
There’ll be nothing left for a new chum


As printed in ‘Song of a Young Country’. Colquhoun shortened and made minor alterations to Thatcher’s original text. He also supplied a tune. Thatcher intended it to be sung to ‘Twig of the Shannon'.

Youtube clip

Colquhoun’s note:

They sang their songs while panning for nuggets along the river banks … From where many of these songs came, we’ll never know except that they are ‘folk’ - examples of the parody-process that takes hold of anonymous verse. But some are clearly introduced by the ‘pop star’ of the day – the goldfields entertainer. Most famous of these was Charles Thatcher who sang his own topical song to Irish ballad-tunes. 'Song of a Young Country' p31.

--Stewie.