Mudcat Australia-New Zealand Songbook

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 11:25 PM

CONDAMINE BELLS

    Jack Sorensen   

    first published Sydney Bulletin November 1939


    By a forge near a hut on the Condamine River,
    A blacksmith laboured at his ancient trade;
    With his hammer swinging and his anvil ringing
    He fashioned bells from a crosscut blade.


    And while he toiled by the Condamine River
    He sang a song for a job well done,
    And the song and the clamour of his busy hammer
    Merged and mingled in a tempered tone.


    And his bells rang clear from the Condamine River
    To the Gulf, to the Leeuwin, over soil and sand;
    Desert eagles winging heard his stock bells ringing
    As a first voice singing in a songless land.


    The smith is lost to the Condamine River,
    Gone is the humpy where he used to dwell,
    But the song and the clamour of his busy hammer
    Ring on through the land in the Condamine bell.

   

Love This!! A beautiful setting of Jack's poem by Chloe & Jason Roweth :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3L2ldYYeCQ


R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 06:13 PM

Well said, R-J. I agree completely with both your opinion posts above.

THE BIRCHGROVE
(M.Lilley/B.Berry)

The night fell dark on the quiet sea
The Birchgrove Park rode restlessly
A collier on the short run down
Of nineteen men there were eight men who drowned

A sudden lurch as she slid below
The way that all the colliers go
If home bound men had battened down
There’d be eight good men who would not have drowned

Oh Sydney waters are green and cold
Take life from men with a freezing hold
They say that men on the colliers drown
When the cargo rolls – not battened down

Oh beckoning lights of Sydney Town
Still beckoning men as the ship goes down
It is for the love of your winking lights
That colliers drown on lonely nights

Youtube clip

The Fagans did a fine recording of this on their 'Turning Fine' album. They had this note:

Eight seamen lost their lives when a collier called The Birchgrove sank off Sydney Heads in 1956. Merv Lilley's haunting poem was published in the anthology 'What About the People' and again in John Lahey's 'Great Australian Folk Songs' in 1965 with another of Bill Berry's wonderful
settings. We learned it from Joe and Adele flood.

--Stewie.

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

For the folks who want more of the Aussie Warhorses, here’s a little diversion :

THE SHEARER’S DREAM

attrib. Lawson

I dreamed I shore in a shearing shed and it was a dream of joy
For every one of them rouseabouts was a girl dressed up as a boy
Dressed up like a page in a pantomime, and the prettiest ever I seen
They had flaxen hair, they had coal black hair, and every shade between,
There was short plump girls, there was tall slim girls, the prettiest ever I seen
They was four foot five, they was six feet high, and every shape between.

The shed was cooled by electric fans that were over every shute
The pens were of polished mahogany and everything else to suit
The huts had springs to the mattresses and the tucker was simply grand
And every night by the billabong we danced to a German band.

Our pay was the wool on the jumbuck's back, and we shore ‘til they was blue
The sheep were washed before they were shorn and the rams was perfumed too
And we all of us wept when the shed cut out, in spite of the long hot days
For every hour them girls waltzed in with whisky and beer on trays.

There was three of them girls to every chap and as jealous as could be
There was three of them girls to every chap and six of ‘em picked on me
We was draughting them for the homeward track and shearing them off like steam
When I woke with me head in the blazing sun - to find it a shearer's dream.

This song was first published in Children of the Bush in 1902. It is usually attributed to Henry Lawson and appears in most collections of the poet, however when John Meredith collected a version from Charles Ayger in 1957, he claimed to have heard it at school when Lawson would have been about nineteen. The tune is from A.L. Lloyd, who based it on “The Girl I Left Behind.” from A.L.Loyd’s recording sleeve notes in 1960.

Here is a variant by Gary Shearston from his 1965 recording : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35GxUFAYAc


R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Nov 20 - 12:35 AM

Merv Lilley was an early BMC member, as was Bill Berry. And Joe Flood, of course is Dorothy Hewett's son, & Merv's stepson.

Bill Berry & other early BMC members Early Members Reunion 1986, Bill Scott, Frank Maher, Jack Wright, Jamie Carlin, Janet Wakefield, Alex Bowker, Rex Whalan, Barbara Gibbons, Alan Scott, Bill Berry. Barbara's son married Bill's daughter

When I finish listening to Australian Folk festival Brisbane 1964 (Duke is singing Shearing in a Bar!) I'll put on with these arms = Songs & poems of the MUA, 2003, & listen to Bill Berry singing Birchgrove.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Nov 20 - 09:57 PM

SHEARING AT CASTLEREAGH
(Banjo Paterson)

The bell is set a ringing and the engine gives a toot
There's five and thirty shearers here are shearing for the loot
So stir yourself, you penners up, and shove the sheep along
The musterers are fetching them a hundred thousand strong

And make your collie dog speak up - what would the buyers say
In London if the wool was late this year at Castlereagh
The man that rung the Tubbo shed is not the ringer here
The stripling from the Cooma side can teach him how to shear.

They trim away the ragged locks, and rip the cutter goes.
And leaves a track of snowy fleece from brisket to the nose
It's lovely how they peel it off with never stop nor stay
They're racing for the ringers' place this year at Castlereagh

The man that keeps the cutter sharp is growling in his cage
He's always in a hurry, and he's always in a rage
'You clumsy-fisted mutton-heads, you'd make a fellow sick
You pass yourself as shearers, you were born to swing a pick

Another broken cutter here, that's two you've broke today
It's awful how such crawlers come to shear at Castlereagh'
The youngsters picking up the fleece enjoy the merry din
They throw the classer up the fleece, he throws it to the bin

The pressers standing by the rack are waiting for the wool.
There's room just for a couple more, the press is nearly full
Now jump upon the lever, lads, and heave and heave away
Another bale of golden fleece is branded Castlereagh

Another one from Paterson. I prefer the tune put to it by Gerry Hallom on his 'Travelling down the Castlereagh' album, but it is not available on the Net. Chloe and Jason use a faster traditional tune. Check it out at about the 16 min mark of this clip:

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Nov 20 - 08:50 PM

FAREWELL TO THE GOLD
(P.Metsers/R.Emery)

Pilbara desert, your gold it is waning
It's weeks since the colour I've seen
But it's no use complaining or lady luck blaming
I'll pack up and make the break clean

Chorus
Farewell to the gold that never was found
Farewell to the nuggets that somewhere abound
For it's only when dreaming that I see you gleaming
Down in the dark deep underground

It's nearly two years since I left me old mother
For riches and gold by the pound
But Jimmy the prospector he was another
For the plains around Roebourne was bound

We searched at Mt Welcome to the north and the south
Dry blowing with no water around
But in the furnace-like heat we knew we were beat
Not an ounce in six months had we found

From Swan River to Cossack we sailed away
We were five boring weeks on that boat
We'd sold our belongings our fares for to pay
There was gold in our sights and our hopes

Well it's years now since Jimmy and I were out digging
Roebourne gold dried up like the rest
The hardship, the dying, those memories are gone
I remember those years as the best

Bob Emery's rewrite of Paul Metsers' 'Farewell to the Gold' for a WA context.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Nov 20 - 09:09 PM

BANKS OF THE WAIKATO
(Phil Garland)

Hark the dogs are barking
My love, I must away
The men they are all waiting
No longer can I stay
For I am bound for camp, my love
'Tis many a mile to go
To meet my fellow bushmen
On the banks of the Waikato

Sally, darling Sally, with me you cannot go
You know the men have told us
This always must be so
Your waist is far too slender
And your feet are far too small
For you to walk the distance
To the waterfall

While I'm away and working
I'll think of you with pride
I'll dream of us together
Lying side by side
Your love will warm my heart, my dear
Throughout the bitter cold
That lingers in the winter
On the banks of the Waikato

And when the work is over
To our homes we will return
We'll kiss our wives and sweethearts
We left behind to mourn
I'll hold you in my arms again
'Til next I have to go
And meet my fellow bushmen
On the banks of the Waikato

Phil Garland's rewrite of 'Banks of the Condamine' (posted above on 15 Oct).

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Nov 20 - 07:33 PM

COUNTRY'S BUGGERED
(Andrew London)

Bloody hippies, bloody Greens
Bloody tofu, bloody beans
bloody dreadlocks, bloody beards
bloody cyclists, bloody weird
back in my day, folks had more sense
country’s buggered – no offence

bloody Greenpeace saving snails
or bloody useless fat lazy whales
bloody yoghurt , non-bloody fat
bloody couscous, what the bloody hell is that?
back in my day, folks had more sense
country’s buggered – no offence

bloody townies, bloody queers
bloody poncy bloody boutique beers
bloody pubs banning bloody smokes
bloody blokes allowed to go marrying bloody blokes

bloody leftie, carry-on
bloody whingeing bloody poms
bloody Banksie’s, bloody gone
bloody Kim dot bloody Com
back in my day, folks had more sense
country’s buggered – no offence

Bloody twerking, bloody rap
bloody backward baseball cap
bloody youth, out there tagging walls
bloody anti bloody smacking bloody laws
back in my day, folks had more sense
country’s buggered – no offence

Bloody foreigners, bloody terrorists
bloody slimy televangelists
bloody chardonnay socialists
bloody hairy, bloody goddamn feminists
back in my day, folks had more sense
country’s buggered – no offence

Note with 2015 recording: 'A satirical look at enduring attitudes towards gays, immigrants, liberals, feminists and environmentalists still found in rural Aotearoa'.

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Nov 20 - 07:57 PM

too bloody right!

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Nov 20 - 08:23 PM

'I'm bloody well Australia through and through - my oath I am!' is another good one.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Nov 20 - 08:45 PM

Australian Through and Through, rritten by the Brisbane folkie and songwriter Tony Miles.


Now I've never been a shearer, never seen a shearing shed
And I don't suppose I'd recognise a sheep
I've never been a drover bringing dusty cattle over
or died of thirst beside a dried up creek
I've never been a digger on a worked out worthless claim
A rowdy rouse about or jackaroo
Never cut a field of cane, never drove a bullock train
But I'm bloody well Australian through and through,
my oath I am! I'm bloody well Australian through and through

I've never boiled me billy by a bloody billabbong
There's better ways than that your days to spend
No one humps their swags no more, what a flamin' bloody bore!
When you can duck off in the Kingswood each weekend
Now there's a mighty waggon! It's a ripper of a car
Designed for our conditions, though it's true
It's made by General Motors, but you'd hardly even notice
'Cause it's bloody well Australian through and through
My oath it is! Yes it's bloody well Australian through and through

I've never crossed the nullabor or trekked the Birdsville Track
I can't tell a wallaby from kangaroo
I know the Kookaburra 'cause its laugh is like no other
But I've only seen Koalas in a zoo!
'Cause I've been o.s. you know (that's short for overseas!)
And I've taught these poms and wogs a thing or two
And it made me feel damn proud to stand out in the crowd
Being bloody well Australian through and through
My oath I did! Being bloody well Australian through and through

'Cause there's nothing overseas that we haven't got at home
We're as cosmi - bloody - politan as them!
With "Dallas" on T.V., the best of BBC
And good old Reg Grundy on Channel Ten!
We've go disco - bloody - fever from Toorak to Tennant Creek
The Bee Gees and Olivia Newton too!
Our stars we have our share of them, and although they sound American
They're bloody well Australian through and through
My oath they are! They're bloody well Australian through and through

So let's sing no more of swaggies or Ned Kelly and his gang
Let's sing a more sophisticated theme
No longer are we hicks from the international sticks
We're jet - setters on the inter - global scene
So let us hold our heads up 'cause we've bloody well arrived
And sing no more of tied - down kangaroos - sport!
At last we've come of age, it's the universal rage
Being bloody well Australian through and through
My oath it is! Being bloody well Australian through and through.

as sung by John Thompson (but that's not him in the pic!)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Nov 20 - 09:49 PM

Thanks, Sandra!

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 01:47 AM

any other suggestions?

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 01:58 AM

I'm listening to Graham seal's Barbed wire ballads,

Lament of the Eureka Women by Graham Seal

W & m copyright Graham Seal 2008

The storming of the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat in 1854 was a bloodbath.


They came like death at dawn;
Bearing muskets through the fields.
The soldiers came with eyes of flame,
They killed with hearts of steel.

They beat the bitter drum.
Their swords and bayonets flashed.
They tore our flag like a beggar's rag,
Burned our dreams to ash.

They fired our hearths and homes;
Left them open to the skies.
With hands of blood they took our loves:
They would not meet our eyes.

No, they could not bear our eyes.

audio

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 02:00 AM

um ... maybe more Bernard Bolan and Tony Miles and Eric Bogle???

R-J :)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 02:35 AM

apart from that?

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 02:48 AM

Bernard's very old website & there are only 10 songs & Bernard is long retired.

but his songs live on!

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 05:48 PM

Scots emigrants to NZ:

RACE FOR THE SUN
(Bob McNeill)

The western bays are all silent now
The beaches we found
Deserted now, the flowing tide
Is the only sound

Still I linger here and listen while
These strange birds sing of oceans
The nights are warm and the winters mild
Not like on the island

But I left my heart
At a bend in the river
Cold harbour behind us
We took what we owned
With the smell of the bark
The spirit that lingers
With what we could could carry
In a race for the sun

Sail on?
You'll be safe now
?Nothing lasts forever?
Won't be the first time we've tried

Between the heads we wrestle her
In a mercy tide
The run between the Cabot shores
Was ever as wide

But these island boys are all strangers here 
With their dreams of ocean
The sea that pounds the eastern shore
Not like on the island

But I left my heart
At a bend in the river
We cut down the sumacs
Turned them into boats
With the smell of the bark
On our clothes as we boarded
Is all I remember
Of our race for the sun

Sail on ...

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 06:01 PM

My apologies for doubling up. I posted 'Race for the sun' in October. I should have checked. But, as Art Thieme was fond of saying, 'when your memory goes, forget it'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Nov 20 - 07:27 PM

drat! I had just listed song 479, so now we are back to 478.

I might play one of Art's albums ... Tennessee Stud is now playing

sandra

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Dec 20 - 06:52 PM

My apologies, Sandra, for messing up your count. Thanks for posting the Tony Miles song.

I was very fond of Ross Ryan recordings back in the day. I wonder what happened to him.

POSTCARD FROM BERLIN
(Ross Ryan)

July winter night after the parting
Drinking until dawn
The wine makes you warm
But your uniform now seems chilled

I was your lover, your echo and brother
But it always seemed strange
How you used to change when your dictator’s name
Came up in conversation

Refrain
And no one wins wars for love or for country
And no one applauds lovers who die
And though winter thaws and summer replaces
The tears on the faces - I still cry
La lye la lye

Instrumental break

Refrain

Where are you now, did you finally crawl home
After you had lost your fight
Perhaps I could write you, but never invite you
I’m sorry, but you changed all that

But I’ll drink a toast to the beds and the hotels
Ladies and gents we once knew
And when I am through, I’ll send to you
A postcard and sign it Berlin

Refrain

Live in the Barossa in 2007:

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Dec 20 - 07:22 PM

Ross Ryan was best known or remembered for this one:

I AM PEGASUS
(Ross Ryan)

I am Pegasus, my name means horse
And I can fly high with you
But I've changed my course
I am Michael, I am Jeffery and John
And I don't want to leave you
Unless you want me gone

I am Genesis, I have no fear
I make my plans to land for
I plan to stay here
I am Simon, I am Demetrius and John
And I don't want to leave you
Unless you want me gone

I am flying, but let me down
Oh I don't need the things
That once kept you around
It's not too late
To know who I am
I am Sagittarius

Instrumental break

I am flyin' but let me down
Oh I don't need the things
That once kept you around
It's not too late
Do you know who I am

I am Pegasus, my name means horse
And I can fly high with you now
But I've changed my course
I am Michael, I am Jeffery and John
And I don't have to leave you

I am Pegasus, my name means horse
And I can fly high with you now
But I've changed my course
I am Michael, I am Jeffery
I am Demetrius and John
And I don't have to leave you
Unless you want me gone

Youtube clip

An interesting piece about his performance at the Port Fairy Folk Festival in 1989:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 02 Dec 20 - 05:20 AM

C’mon, you know it had to happen :


The Sheik of Scrubby Creek

Chad Morgan (Chadwick William Morgan)

Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur

All the Shelias think I'm handsome
Their father's think I'm mad
Their mother's think I'm a villain
But I'm just a loveable lad

I'm loved by the poor and the wealthy
Loved by the good and the bad
Loved by the fat and the skinny
Because I'm a loveable lad

Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur

Now I've been chased by fathers
With shotguns of all kinds
And you can tell where they have aimed
By the mark that's left behind

I don't know why they do it
Cause I'm not really bad
I just chase their daughters
Because I'm a loveable lad

Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur

It's a dangerous game I'm playing
You've gotta be quick to last
When you're at the wrong end of a shotgun
You run quick or cop the full blast

You'll never see me linger
Where there are sour old tarts
And you can tell where I have been
By the trail of broken hearts

So parents do take warning
And heed what I say
Keep your daughters out of sight
When I come round your way

For the say I'm just like Casanova
I drink I smoke I swear
They say I'm the Sheik of Scrubby Creek
But I don't care...

Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur Rur


A popular radio song of my childhood from the early 1950s : I recall my brother and I walking around singing the dog-howl refrain at top volume (as you do), and most likely annoying the hell out of our poor, long-suffering Mother!!

Here is an edited early clip of this most famous “Aussie Hillbilly” song which was played at the Australian Country Music awards in 2010, before Chad's Lifetime Achievement Award presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewls4lc17hU

Well, it has been said that Australia is unsurpassed in its passion for Novelty Songs!!   Hmmmmm …..

However, Chad wasn’t a “one hit wonder” and has many other recordings to his name and a lifetime of touring the regional and outback country circuits. Interestingly, this much-loved entertainer has been having something of a Performance Renaissance – and headlining at big Folk and Country Festivals in recent (well, pre-Covid) years – making new generations of fans at 87 years old!!!

In 2011, a documentary was made about Chad’s life, entitled “I’m Not Dead Yet” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpBcrIf9cLI

But here he is dueting with John Williamson, in “Country Balladeer” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQci8daSVos

And here with Shane Howard in 2016 in “The Ballad of Bill & Eva” (aka Kullillee Woman and Wakka Wakka Man) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWRs6pxp10E



R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 01:18 AM

A childhood favourite of mine too, r-j! Chad makes his January pilgrimage here each year for the country music festival - but that won't be happening on the same scale next month. I have heard that there will be music in various pubs and clubs but no big concerts, as they draw too many people.

As today is 3rd December, the anniversary of the Eureka Rebellion, it seems appropriate to have "Cross of the South".

Cross of the South - words by Kenneth Cook, tune is 'Kelly, the boy from Killane'.

'Twas the month of December, the year fifty-four
When the men of Eureka rebelled.
And they swore that the flag they had made for themselves
Ever proudly aloft would be held.
The miners took arms in the stockade that day,
The bold word passed from mouth to mouth
'We will stand by this flag and the stars that it bears,
White stars of the Cross of the South'.

The hot blood of the heroes ran fast in their veins,
There was but one man they obeyed.
The hero of heroes they chose from their ranks
Peter Lalor their hero they made.
Peter Lalor said, 'We must stand by our guns,
Fear not the cannon's fierce mouth!
For I see the soldiers are gathering now
To tear down the Cross of the South'.

Captain Thomas charged the Eureka Stockade,
Three hundred troops by his side.
Fire and steel met them there and they fell back again,
But the first of the miners had died.
The smoke from the battle had scarce cleared away
When the soldiers came charging once more,
The miners were killed as they stood 'round their flag
Or fell from the wounds they bore.

Bold Peter Lalor lay shot on the grund
Where the soldiers had left him for dead,
And the flag that he loved lay there by his side,
The white stars all stained with red.
Peter Lalor he rose on his knees in the dust,
Wild words poured from his mouth:
'You can murder us all in black tyranny's name,
But you can't kill the Cross of the South'.

It is on John Thompson's "An Australian Folk Song a Day".

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 02:09 AM

song no. 481, an excellent song, Jennie

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 02:21 AM

Crikey! Thanks for that JennieG - I'd clean forgotten it was Eureka time!

I tried searching for Peter O'Shaughnessy [1923-2013] reciting Raffaello Carboni's experiences, but sadly most of Peter's work from "The Restless Years" is missing from online.
(At least the music dramatisation was available for download from "Paul the Stockman's" blog, (referenced by Sandra a few posts back), and odd songs from the production, by Marian Henderson, are available on YT .....)

Here is Raymond Crooke singing Charles Thatcher's "Where's Your Licence", detailing the kind of harassment that led to the Eureka Stockade : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9pyVnWrpBY

I found these of Peter's, though :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y_z8vFigG8
"A Convict's Tour to Hell" by Frank - The Poet - MacNamara. (9+mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRbvs7yBT9I    "Botany Bay" - 3 poem animations by Convicts by Jim Clark (sadly, very short ...)

Here is Jim Clark "interviewing" (talking over?!) Peter O'Shaughnessy (42+mins) on his achievements : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9XZDsUg1fg


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 02:47 AM

Re Eureka :

Just located Bill Peach's ABC-TV series on the subject : "Peach's Gold - Eureka", 1983 - but sadly there only seems to be 2 x clips of 2 mins each, but better than nothing, eh!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmE2Kn_RgzE

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr85FJ8QMik



R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 05:08 AM

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 05:39 AM

Hey Sandra! My latest copy of "The List" is up to song #425 on Nov 7th - have I missed an update?!

Going on that last listing, I'm gonna have to upset your Numbering, coz I have a few songs here that missed "The List"!!!

22Aug - The Cooma Cavaliers (Ulick O'Boyle)
04Oct - Dance Up the Sun (John Thompson)
04Oct - Down in the Goldmine (Anon / JB Geoghegan)
21Oct - Norway Yawl ( Bob McNeill) NZ
26Oct - The Miner (anon)
30Oct - Liverpool Echo aka Lawler's Balcony (Dave Oakes)
30Oct - Beneath the Southern Cross [1] (Bushwackers)
          -    "    "      "       "                   [2] (Malcolm Gordon NZ

For both versions of "Beneath the Southern Cross", the lyrics are within the links - not ideal, I know - but sometimes that's the way it has to be, as I'm not inclined to type them out at this stage!!!   :)

Cheers, R-J

PS   With your recording system, just wondering if there is any way to have a List that one can Sort Alphabetically on the Titles???

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 04:16 PM

The Bicentennial Song

by John Dengate

Cook went a-sailing, or so the record says
He roared around New Zealand and he stopped at Botany Bay

   refrain
   Oh why did he do it , who oh who can tell
   There’s bugger all at La Perouse, Cronulla or Kurnell

Cook stood on the quarterdeck, endeavouring to see
He parked his little boat beside the oil refinery

Cook saw some natives, all done up in paint
And he tried to call the Kogarah police, to put in a complaint

He went to the Sans Souci pub, to have a quiet beer
But a fight broke out in the public bar, and he nearly lost an ear

Well Cook weighed his anchor, and sailed across the foam
‘Cause he couldn’t stand the bloody row from Mascot aerodrome



Thanks to my old mate, Jeff Corfield, for this one, which I recalled him singing in Perth in the early 70s.
Jeff says : “….. John Dengate wrote it for the Cook bicentennial in 1970….. I learnt it from my old Maitland Bush Band mate, Bob Campbell ….. The tune, as I recall, was a version of the Darby Ram – the ‘ay winkle Darby’ one….. “

Does anyone know of an online recording???


R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 07:34 PM

This one was sent to 'The Queenslander', a Brisbane newspaper, in October 1894. Offence alert: n- word appears twice.

THE BUSHMAN’S FAREWELL TO QUEENSLAND
(Anon)

Queensland, thou art a land of pests
For flies and fleas one never rests
Even now mosquitoes round me revel
In fact they are the very devil

Sandflies and hornets just as bad
They nearly drive a fellow mad
The scorpion and centipede
With stinging ants of every breed

Fever and ague with the shakes
Tarantulas and poisonous snakes
Iguanas, lizards, cockatoos
Bushrangers, lags, and jackaroos

Bandicoots and swarms of rats
Bulldog ants and native cats
Stunted timber, thirsty plains
Parched-up deserts, scanty rains

There's rivers here you can't sail ships on
There's nigger women without shifts on
There's humpies, huts, and wooden houses
And nigger men who won't wear trousers

There's Barcoo rot and sandy blight
There's dingoes howling all the night
There's curlews' wail and croaking frogs
There's savage blacks and native dogs

There's scentless flowers and stinging tree
There's poisonous grass and Darling peas
Which drive the cattle raving mad,
Makes sheep and horses just as bad

And then it never rains in reason.
There's drought one year, and flood next season
Which sweep the squatters' sheep away
And then there is the devil to pay

To stay in thee, O land of mutton
I would not give a single button
But bid thee now a long farewell
Thou scorching, sunburnt land of hell!

I first came upon this in John Fahey's 'Great Australian Folk Songs' - a tune is given at p91.

This is the only musical rendition I can find on the Net:

Youtube clip

Original poem

All the versions of the poem available on the Net omit these 2 lines from the original:

There's Bathurst burr and speargrass too
Ticks and Belyando spew

Belyando is in central Queensland.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 08:15 PM

THE ORANGE AND THE GREEN
(Anon)

John Davies hears with great regret the news that's going round
That Sandy Ross has lost the fight at George's River ground
No more his crowing will be heard, no more his colours seen
For I think he's had enough this time of Foley and the green

Chorus
Oh, the green the colour of the brave, we'll raise high in the air
And to our enemies we'll show? the colour that we'll wear
For the orange flag has been pulled down, the battle fought out keen
And Sandy Ross has lost the fight at George's River green

The yellow ties they mustered strong upon that Tuesday morn
Poor Sandy he came up to time with his head and beard all shorn
When Foley stepped into the ring? to fight for Ireland's green

'Sinn Fein, Sinn Fein', he cried aloud as he saw his friends close by
'I've come to fight for Ireland's cause and for that cause I'll die
And to deny her colours ?I ne'er will be so mean
For in this ring die or win ?for dear old Ireland's green'

'Here's to him men, here's to him, boys', then Sandy Ross did say
'I've come to fight for old King Bill upon this glorious day
My yellow scarf around my waist that has come into bud
Will be dyed deep red upon this ground with this poor Fenian's blood'

They both shook hands, you'd really think no ill feeling lay between
The colours bright that made this fight, the orange and the green
For two long hours that fight did last, 'til Ross's seconds came between
And threw the sponge high in the air in favour of the green

The usual tune for this is 'Wearing of the green'. For a variant tune check out John Fahey 'Great Australian Folk Songs' p82.

Larry Foley, the Irish-Australian idol, fought Sandy Ross, a Scot, in a bare-knuckle fight that lasted 2 hours 40 minutes.

See page 231 of this document:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Dec 20 - 12:43 AM

THE GEORGETTE

Bill Jones (The Lost Quays), WA

Heave away, Haul away
The Georgette’s goin down, me boys
Heave away, Haul away
The Georgette’s goin down.

The Georgette was a mighty ship that sailed the coast in ‘76
From Fremantle she plied her trade and chased The Fenians away,
Catalpa’s tale is often told, but here’s a story we should know
For Sam and Grace and their rescue bold, heed well, it will unfold.   

To Adelaide that ship did go, with passengers and cargo stowed
It was just passed Cape Naturaliste when trouble it began,
The hull was breached, the water came, the wind it roared with might and main
But in night when the pumps gave ‘way, the Georgette’s time had come.

The passengers and crew they bailed, but by the dawn the engine failed
The captain steered her to the coast, ‘twas all that he could do,
She drifted to Calgardup Bay with ragged coast and rugged spray
But on the cliffs, a stockman watched and knew just what to do.

To the Bussell homestead Sam did race, and there he found Ellen and Grace
The men were all out working and would not be back in time,
But young Grace Bussell had a plan, she gathered horses, ropes and Sam
They head off to the cliffs that day, a rescue to perform.

Now in the Bay, the Georgette struck, the lifeboats all capsized and sunk,
The passengers and crew they were a-tossed into the waves,
When down the cliff came Grace and Sam, across the beach and through the sand
Without a thought for life and limb, they raced into the surf.

By hanging onto horse and ride, the passengers were swept aside
For four long hours young Grace and Sam, they rescued all they could,
The tale was told throughout the land and round the world their story sang
So raise a glass to Grace and Sam and the fate of the Georgette.


The story (in song) of “The Catalpa” and its rescue in April of 1876 of the “six bold Fenians” from Fremantle, WA, to freedom in Americle, has been posted above by Stewie on 27Sept.   
The fate of the vessel that failed to stop HMG’s political prisoners escaping (“The Georgette”) is the subject of this song : wrecked 144 years ago, almost to the day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPXYvmpQzs4   A presentation in May2020 by the Lost Quays of the story of the “Georgette”, who remark : “This is the product of minds pushed to the edge by the isolation of the strange times in which we live!”

I posted this song link on 28Sept but without lyrics, along with this blurb :

“…..It tells of Aboriginal stockman, Sam Isaacs, sighting the distressed SS Georgette (built 1872, 211 tons, steam/sail), from the clifftops around Calgardup Bay (allegedly, her cargo of mainly jarrah timber, leather, hides, and whale oil, had shifted and holed the vessel and the incoming water stuffed the boilers.) Sam ran the 20 Kms to Wallcliffe House where 16 year old Grace Bussell then joined him and together they rode their horses back and forth from ship to shore for around 4 hours (and remember, West Aussie does rather a good line in sharks!), and rescued many of the 50 or so remaining passengers and crew (some had drowned, but some had already made it to shore). I sure hope the horses were okay. Grace was naturally and rightly claimed a heroine (Australia’s youngest) and plaques and citations followed.   
As can be expected, recognition for Sam, took somewhat longer…………..
WA’s generally inhospitable coastline, with its tricky winds, strong surf and currents, chilling water and unusual underwater topography, is (literally) littered with shipwrecks and “lost vessels” that will probably never be found.
However, the Georgette’s final resting place is at Redgate Beach, near Margaret River, in about 5metres of water.
https://www.tracesmagazine.com.au/2013/11/saving-grace-western-australias-shipwreck-rescuer-grace-bussell/

However, the interesting writeup by the WA Museum as regards the state of the vessel before leaving Fremantle (bound for Adelaide), indicates perhaps, that all was not as it should be …… http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/wrecks/georgette.


R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Dec 20 - 04:05 AM

R-J - oops, how embarrassing - how did I miss so many (blush)

yes, you have missed an update

Date: 03 Dec 20 - 05:39 AM

Hey Sandra! My latest copy of "The List" is up to song #425 on Nov 7th - have I missed an update?!

Going on that last listing, I'm gonna have to upset your Numbering, coz I have a few songs here that missed "The List"!!!

22Aug - The Cooma Cavaliers (Ulick O'Boyle)
04Oct - Dance Up the Sun (John Thompson)
04Oct - Down in the Goldmine (Anon / JB Geoghegan)
21Oct - Norway Yawl ( Bob McNeill) NZ
26Oct - The Miner (anon)
30Oct - Liverpool Echo aka Lawler's Balcony (Dave Oakes)
30Oct - Beneath the Southern Cross [1] (Bushwackers)
          -    "    "      "       "                   [2] (Malcolm Gordon NZ

For both versions of "Beneath the Southern Cross", the lyrics are within the links - not ideal, I know - but sometimes that's the way it has to be, as I'm not inclined to type them out at this stage!!!   :)

Cheers, R-J

PS   With your recording system, just wondering if there is any way to have a List that one can Sort Alphabetically on the Titles???
==========

looks like I need to start again, but use a spreadsheet this time.

what I'll do is insert the missing ones in red in my doc, then check out the free convertors - docx to xlsx - eek!

This looks like a job for my Personal Help Desk, or my other geek friend.

first the missing ones ...

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Dec 20 - 08:04 PM

R-J, your beloved WA did not escape the poet's pen.

ODE TO WESTRALIA
(Anon)

Land of forest, fleas, and flies
Blighted hopes and blighted eyes
Art thou hell in earth’s disguise
Westralia?

Art thou some volcanic blast
By volcanoes spurned, outcast
Art unfinished, made the last
Westralia?

Wast thou once the chosen land
Where Adam broke God’s one command
That He in wrath changed thee to sand
Westralia?

Land of politicians silly
Home of wind and willy-willy
Land of blanket, tent and billy
Westralia!

Home of brokers, bummers, clerks
Nest of sharpers, mining sharks
Dried up lakes and desert parks
Westralia!

Land of humpies, brothels, inns
Old bag huts and empty tins
Land of blackest, grievous sins
Westralia!

Evidently sung to various tunes including 'Men of Harlech'. John Fahey gives a tune by Peter Evans which can be found on this page:

Click

Warren Fahey tells the story here:

Click

As published in a Tasmanian newspaper in 1899:

Click

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Dec 20 - 10:18 PM

I stumbled upon this document whilst engaged in a fruitless search for a musical rendition of Charles Thatcher's goldfields parody of 'There's a good time coming'. It has interesting notes and fine illustrations - published by the National Library of Australia.

A Small Book of Australian Ballads

--Stewie.

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

Yes Stew, “my beloved WA” can be all that and more!! Interesting to see Warren’s reprinting of Hesperian’s extensive research of “Ode to Westralia”!!   :)

Your first link (to the tune) is a page in the “Museum of Performing Arts” taken from an “unknown publication”, which of course, any Oz Folkie could have told them : it is a page torn from John Lahey’s worthy compilation : ”Great Australian Folks Songs” !! But they don’t ask us, do they? ….. sigh …..

I was happy to spend my formative years in Perth, with a few holidays in the southern “Eastern States” and eventually the obligatory – and very welcome – 3 years overseas.   
I left The Family and WA “for the last time” in 1983, heading for the magical unknown of Queensland – and very happily got side-tracked by 10 wonderful years in Darwin, meeting many memorable folks (including your very good self, haha!)   
And though Qld’s been good, as an aging widowed pensioner (cue violins), I find it passing strange that I now have an increasing ‘yearn to return’ to WA - despite(?!) The Family mostly being gone. Is this what happens in older age???
Well, it probably won’t come to much. For one thing, ya still need plenty of moolah to Rest in the West!!!

“A Small Book of Ballads” by the NLA was a good find – must be tons of stuff squirreled away in Institutions that the citizenry should know more about, eh.

R-J

PS   I'll send you Sandra's latest Song Listing soon ....

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 04:20 AM

The Roar of the Crowd

Denis Kevans © 1962

I heard the roar of the wind, boys, in the mighty, green-shirt pines.
As if the trees were blazing, like a gas-fire in the mines,
The wind's voice kept on mounting against the midnight's face,
I felt that roar well up in me, that roar has left its trace.

I heard the roar at the school-gates, when the holidays began,
When the kids raced out like brumbies, grown men turned and ran,
They raced down through the playground, and they roared out -
"We are free!" Ah, the hungry roar of those school kids, still lives inside of me.

I heard the roar at a foothball match, as it rose in the crowded stands,
When a winger leapt and took a pass, with magic, outstretched hand,
And the double roar, as he came inside, and flashed across the line,
Ah, that was a roar that stirred my soul, a roar that was a sign.

I heard the roar on the race-course, when the favourite lunged ahead,
And he grabbed the lead, at the leger, and the rest of the field seemed dead,
And the roar for horse and jockey, with the numbers in the frame,
And that was a roar that spurred my blood, and victory was its name.

And I heard the roar of soldiers when they first went to the front,
When war was only a sporting match, and they begged to go on a "stunt",
And they roared: "Come on Australia!" "Wagga!" and "Henty! and "Hay!"
Ah, that was the roar of the slaughterhouse, and there's nothen' more to say.

And I heard the roar at the Town Hall, when the delegate rose to speak,
A roar to shake the merciless, a roar to raise the weak,
To raise the weak and wandering, to give eyes to the blind,
That was the roar off a tidal wave that was making up its mind.


http://unionsong.com/u132.html (lyrics - thanks to Mark Gregory's great website)

Denis Kevans (1939-2005), fondly known as "Australia's Poet Lorikeet", thought Bob Campbell’s Home Rule band had the best version, but I haven’t found it online …..

Gary Shearston   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzcKVHRUzGU


R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 04:59 AM

CREAMSLEEVES

The Twiliters, 1965

Poor Grandma died and in her will
She left me her love and her doctor's bill
A moth-eaten cat that was always ill
And a little machine that played Greensleeves.

I had an idea and quick as a wink
I bought an old van and I painted it pink
With a freezer that came from an ice-skating rink
That only worked when I played Greensleeves.

Business was booming, I owned a fleet
My vans went tinkling down every street
The jingle of money was oh so sweet
I'll bet the Pied Piper played Greensleeves.

   Greensleeves at the rooster's crow
   The grocer's body swings to and fro
   He was condemned, he had to go
   For throttling a man who sang Greensleeves.

(slowly with feeling)
Last week they shot my best icecream man
Today they blew up their nineteenth van
For the grocers have formed their own Ku Klux Klan
And the robes that they wear all have green sleeves.

Now the army's made tanks out of every van
To send to the jungles of Vietnam
Australia's the envy of Uncle Sam
'Cause Yanks don't have tanks that play Greensleeves.

   But the army's got problems I'm telling you
   They can sell pink tanks when the war is through
   But what in the world are they going to do
   With a hundred machines that play Greensleeves?


The Twiliters - a 1960s folk trio from Perth, Western Australia. The members were Jim Maguire, Kerry White & Greg Ferris (who took the place of other founding member, Hans Stampfer). Maybe working mainly out of The Eastern States??
Sadly both Greg and Kerry (he of the beautiful voice), died too young. AFAIK, Jim and Hans are still working in Perth in medical-type professions…..

“The Twits” as they were affectionately known, were excellent entertainers and musicians and were easily one of THE best Oz folk bands of those earlier times. They had 2 x LPs and 1 xEP out and I think they are still downloadable from Paul the Stockman’s blog, [https://australianfolk.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Twiliters ], but this song is all I have found on YT (hence its appearance here on this thread).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvnjG7XEVsM


R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 05:45 AM

I used to own that NLA booklet, I think I donated it to the BMC library.

Re the (famous) list - it is a mess, I lost count on more than one occasion, & several numbers were duplicated (253 a & 253b) & once I went from no. 168 to 189 (oops) & of course there were the songs I left out.

I tried an on-line converter to convert docx to xlsx - wot a mess!, everything went into column A, so I might just paste author & title into a spreadsheet.

sandra

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 06:04 AM

r-j, the "yearn to return" is real. I left the country town where I was born and bred vowing never to return, but 40 years later I did.

However the town I returned to is not the town I left, many people are gone, things and people (including me) change, and we are happy here. Himself was a city boy but loves living in Tamworth. At least we stayed in the same state!

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 07:49 AM

Yes JennieG, I wonder how much of it is a reaction to "these Times we're living in" - looking back to when Life and Time moved more slowly and one seemed to have more of a handle on things -
       aka "more control"??! -   definitely more Youth, Physical Strength, and Energy, LoL!!



Sandra, I'm so sorry to hear you've had so much trouble with "The List"!!
um ..... I'm almost loath to mention that 3rd December's update was still missing 3 or 4 songs :

23Nov Down City Streets (Ruby Hunter)
25Nov The Shearer's Dream (attrib. Lawson)
01Dec   I Am Pegasus (Ross Ryan)
Also the 30 Oct entry still needs Malcolm Gordon's NZ song added (same name as Bushwacker's = Beneath the Southern Cross)

Sorry!   But I guess as Stewie would say : "Onwards and Upwards!"
G'Luck.


Cheers, R-J :)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 08:06 AM

Not sure if I should actually voice this concern, but the thought has crossed my mind that there's not only just the four of us POSTING here - for months now - but MAYBE we're the only ones READING as well???!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Hello?

:)

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 08:19 PM

Whatever, R-J, I am not concerned. We are assembling an eclectic collection of Oz and Kiwi songs which hopefully will survive. The rise up Mudcat proposition seems to be something of a damp squib. Perhaps the title of this thread could be altered to 'Mudcat Australian and New Zealand Songbook'. Anyhow, our mysterious moderator popped his head in on one occasion - what more could you want! Onwards and upwards.

Sandra, many thanks for your updated list which R-J forwarded to me. You are doing a splendid job.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Stewie
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 08:48 PM

A NAUTICAL YARN
(Anon/Trad)

I sing of a captain who's well known to fame
A naval commander, Bill Jinks was his name
Who sailed where the Murray's clear waters do flow
A freshwater shellback with a yo-heave-a-yo.

To the port of Wahgunyah his vessel was bound
When night came upon him and darkness around
Not a star on the waters its clear light did throw
But the vessel sped onwards with a yo-heave-a-yo

'O captain, O captain, let's make for the shore
For the winds they do rage and the winds they do roar'
'Nay, nay!' said the captain, 'though the wild winds may blow
I will stick to my vessel with a yo-heave-a-yo'

'O captain, O captain, the waves sweep the deck
O captain, O captain, we'll soon be a wreck
To the river's deep bosom, each sailor will go'
But the captain laughed lightly with a yo-heave-a-yo.

Farewell to our sweethearts, the girls we adore,
Farewell to our friends, for we'll see them no more,
The crew shrieked with terror, the captain he swore
We had struck on a sandbank, so we all walked ashore

A song of the Murray River paddle steamers. The words are attributed to Keighley Goodchild, but Ian Mudie thought this very unlikely. The usual tune is 'Villikins and his Dinah". Burl Ives was the first to record it.

R-J, you will recall that it was a favourite of Smokey and Batey.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: GUEST,Phil
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 08:58 PM

You may be the only ones posting but you're not the only ones reading the thread - please keep it up.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 09:49 PM

good to see you here Phil

R-J

3 songs added. NZ Southern Cross was one of 3 links you included in the post about Bushwackers' Southern Cross, I didn't think of them as songs to list (oops)

sandra

ps. I am the famous Picky Proofreader (ask Dale for a testimonial, I check all her articles) but proofreaders can't proofread their own work, well, that's my excuse & I'm sticking to it.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 10:34 PM

Welcome!! Phil :)

All Good, Sandra! :)

Indeed, Stewie! Best way to think of it, eh :
Mudcat Australian and New Zealand Songbook

Any more songs, JennieG?!

I think when we get to 500 songs posted (which is VERY close!), I personally need to take a small break, as work (and crap) is piling up here (and these 36* days in the colonial Hill Station of Maleny does NOT help matters!!).
But I'll be back :)

R-J

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Dec 20 - 12:38 AM

Have we done "The ballad of 1891"? Because if we haven't, we should.

Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Dec 20 - 01:45 AM

it was posted on 10th Sept, I'll send you the feral list, Jennie. It is easily searched, it's just the running numbers that are a problem, but the replacement spreadsheet is (very) slowly filling

sandra