Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 10 Oct 20 - 05:35 AM no Judy Small - wot kind of session is this??? Mothers, Daughters, Wives Chorus (after every other verse): The first time it was fathers, the last time it was sons, And in between your husbands marched away with drums and guns. And you never stopped to question, you just went on with your lives, For all they’d taught you who to be was mothers, daughters, wives. You can only just remember the tears your mother shed; As she sat and read their papers, through the lists and lists of dead. And the gold frames held the photographs that mothers kissed each night, And the doorframes held the shocked and silent strangers from the fight. And twenty-one years later, with children of your own, The trumpets sounded once again and the soldier boys were gone. And you drove their trucks and made their guns and tended to their wounds, And at night you kissed the photographs and prayed for safe returns. And after it was over, you had to learn again To just be wives and mothers when you’d done the work of men, So you worked to help the needy and you never trod on toes And the photos on the pianos they struck a happy family pose. Then your daughters grew to women and your little boys to men, And you prayed that you were dreaming when the call-up came again. But you proudly smiled and held your tears as they bravely waved goodbye And the photos on the mantelpiece, they always made you cry. And now you’re getting older and with times the photos fade And in widowhood you're sitting, and reflect on the parade, Of the passing of your memories as your daughters change their lives, Seeing more to their existence than just mothers, daughters, wives. Final chorus: The first time it was fathers, the last time it was sons, And in between your husbands marched away with drums and guns. And you never stopped to question, you just went on with your lives, For all they’d taught you who to be was mothers, daughters, wives, And you believed them. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 10 Oct 20 - 05:52 AM a song I love - even tho I'm a very atypical Australian. I can't swim, hate summer heat, glare & humidity & never go to The Beach (I do like looking at beaches & oceans etc, & taking photos of them, tho - I also hate seeing places spoiled by over-development) CHARLESWORTH BAY by Judy Small I have heard the songs about the coal mines stripping mountainsides of beauty Heard the songs of whales to make a marble statue weep And I have wept to see the ice run crimson For the sake of human fashion Heard the forests groaning as the axes cut them deep But it never touched me deeper than the tears upon my face And it never lasted than a day Until that summer when I went back home to visit friends and family And I saw what they have done to Charlesworth Bay. Now it's not the kind of place that ad-men want to glorify in posters Not the kind of place to set a greenies heart alight And I can't say that it filled my dreams or even held a special memory But when I look back on my life It's in my line of sight And the cry left my lips that day came not from conscience thinking I had no chance to think of what to say It was a grief so pure and deep that I cannot tell where it came from When I saw what they had done to Charlesworth Bay. Now I have spent my holidays in hotels at the seaside I have stood on sun-drenched balconies and breathed the salt sea mist But not again shall I lie by some pool or stroll some private shoreline Without wandering whose Charlesworth Bay was this? So now when I hear songs of coalmines or of forests gone forever Or of city buildings sacrificed to feed the millionaires I see again the giant shadow cast where once the marsh and swamp were Feel again the rising anger and the bitter sting of tears For I have never felt so frightened for the future as that morning When I saw what they had done to Charlesworth Bay Oh just look at what they've done to Charlesworth Bay |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 10 Oct 20 - 05:54 AM another favourite - From the Lambing to the Wool (Judy Small) My father was a cocky as his father was before him And I married me a cocky nearly fifty years ago And I've lived here on this station and I've seen the seasons changing From the drought round to the flooding, from the lambing to the wool And there've been times when I've wondered If it all was worth the doing And there've been times when I've thought This was the finest place there is For though the life here's never easy And the hours are long and heavy I'm quite contented nowadays To have joined my life to his Together through the thirties while others' lives were broken We worked from dawn to twilight to hold on to what was ours And at night we'd sit exhausted and I'd stroke his dusty forehead With him too tired to talk to me and me too tired to care CHORUS Then the children came unbidden bringing laughter to the homestead And I thanked the Lord my sons were young, too young for battle then And I counted myself lucky to lose no-one close to family Though the neighbours lost their only son, sold up and moved to town CHORUS And the children have grown and left me for careers in town and city And I'm proud of them but sadly for none chose station life And now I smile to hear them talking of the hard slog in the office For when I think of working hard I see a cocky and his wife CHORUS |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 10 Oct 20 - 08:20 PM The Westgate Bridge Disaster A song by Ken Mansell ©Ken Mansell Oh time is a power that is precious and golden That's needed so much by a working class bloke. It's ours in the cradle then sold, seized and stolen. If you're caught off your guard it is snuffed at a stroke. Oh time is our own when we wake in the morning, When stomachs are empty we clock on each day. And high on the scaffold you are given no warning; If a pylon comes crashing it will take you away. There are men with more time than they know what to do with; Who decided one day that a bridge we would build. We rushed the job through to save costs on its finance; The structure it split and cost thirty five killed. It's safe in the boardroom when wind a bridge seizes. When you hear the bolts snapping you can't strike for more pay. They can hire more and fire more, start again when it pleases, But the man who builds bridges, he is crushed in the clay. The concreted decks bore down hard on the girders; The foremen were blind when we looked down with fear. While experts debate, who will punish these murderers? 'It's tragic; some say, 'for our two engineers', For each one that forgets us there'll be two who remember That profit, the culprit, in its greed was revealed. Though many will stand by me, now I'm only an ember, The lips of the judges have a price, and are sealed. You can speed through the Westgate, AItona and Newport, Past widows and children whose memories can't fade, And use it for business or use it for pleasure, Spare a thought for the men from whose flesh it was made. Don't wait for the inquest or coroner's verdict; Don't send for the priest to place me below; But tell all my mates, if there's any still breathin' To fight for the day when our time is our own. Listen to this song here : https://unionsong.com/u317.html The tune being based on the (trad Scots?) song "The Blantyre Explosion" “Notes : Many thanks to Ken Mansell for permission to add this songs to the Union Songs collection. This song details the tragic events of the 15th October 1970 when a steel span on the west bank of the Yarra River in Melbourne collapsed and 35 workers were killed. Visit the West Gate Bridge Memorial Committee web site at http://www.westgatebridge.org/ “ All data has been taken from Mark Gregory’s excellent “Union Songs” website, with thanks. I was reminded of it because of this article on today’s ABC news website regarding the 15th Oct,1970 bridge collapse : West Gate Bridge disaster still haunts the men who were there, 50 years on : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-11/west-gate-bridge-collapse-haunts-survivors-50-years-on/12739324 R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 10 Oct 20 - 09:31 PM AROUND THE BOREE LOG (John O’Brien) Oh stick me in the old caboose this night of wind and rain And let the doves of fancy loose to bill and coo again I want to feel the pulse of love that warmed the blood like wine I want to see the smile above this kind old land of mine So come you by your parted ways that wind the wide world through And make a ring around the blaze the way we used to do The fountain on the sooted crane will sing the old, old song Of common joys in homely vein forgotten, ah, too long The years have turned the rusted key, and time is on the jog? Yet spend another night with me around the boree log Now someone driving through the rain will happen in I bet So fill the fountain up again and leave the table set For this was ours with pride to say - and all the world defy No stranger ever turned away, no neighbour passed us by Bedad, he'll have to stay the night, the rain is going to pour So make the rattling windows tight and close the kitchen door And bring the old lopsided chair, the tattered cushion too We'll make the stranger happy there, the way we used to do The years have turned the rusted key, and time is on the jog?Y Yet spend another night with me around the boree log He'll fill his pipe and good and well and all aglow within We'll hear the news he has to tell, the yarns he has to spin Yarns, yes, and super yarns, forsooth, to set the eyes agog And freeze the blood of trusting youth around the boree log Then stir it up and make it burn, the poker’s next to you Come let us poke it all in turn, the way we used to do There's many a memory bright and fair will tingle at a name But leave unstirred the embers there we cannot fan to flame For years have turned the rusted key and time is on the jog ?Still, spend the fleeting night with me around the boree log Youtube clip John O'Brien was pseudonym for Patrick Hartigan who was a Catholic priest. My mother, a devout Catholic, used to read his poetry to me. By the time I was in my teens, she correctly pointed out that I had 'no more religion in me than the cat'. However, I maintain a great fondness for the poems in the collection 'Around the Boree Log'. Australian Dictionary of Biography --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 10 Oct 20 - 10:03 PM THEY THOUGHT I WAS ASLEEP (Paul Kelly & The Stormwater Boys) We were driving back from the country one night Mum and dad up the front and the rest of us snug and tight My kid brother grizzled for a little minute 'Til my big sister told him he'd better quit it or die It had been a long day in the countryside Playing with the cousins on my mother's side The sound of the radio closed our eyes, drifting across the seat And then I fell asleep Well, I don’t know what woke me up Maybe a country song or a big truck passing by But I could hear mama and papa talking Papa said something, then mama began to cry No more words then, just soft sobs and my head began to throb I just lay there playing dog, breathing slow and deep They thought I was asleep They thought I was asleep It seemed like forever ’til the sobbing stopped Then they talked a little, but just too soft to hear Daddy kept looking at the side of her face One hand on the wheel and one hand stroking her hair The headlights shining from the other way Showed tears on the cheeks of daddy’s face I prayed for Jesus to send his grace And all our souls to keep Back then I believed They thought I was asleep The night was dark and deep How I wishedI was asleep Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 10 Oct 20 - 10:18 PM BEDS ARE BURNING (P.Garrett et alia) Out where the river broke The bloodwood and the desert oak Holden wrecks and boiling diesels Steam in forty five degrees The time has come To say fair's fair To pay the rent To pay our share The time has come A fact's a fact It belongs to them Let's give it back How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning The time has come To say fair's fair To pay the rent, now To pay our share Four wheels scare the cockatoos From Kintore East to Yuendemu The western desert lives and breathes In forty five degrees The time has come To say fair's fair To pay the rent To pay our share The time has come A fact's a fact It belongs to them Let's give it back How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning The time has come To say fair's fair To pay the rent, now To pay our share The time has come A fact's a fact It belongs to them We're gonna give it back How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 11 Oct 20 - 01:52 AM 314 songs! |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 11 Oct 20 - 08:53 PM Wongawilli's reworking of a Lawson - a good'un: SONG OF THE BULLOCK DRIVER (Henry Lawson) Far back in the days when the blacks used to ramble In long single file 'neath the evergreen tree The wool teams in season came down from Coonamble And journeyed for weeks on their way to the sea With mates who have gone to the great Never-Never And mates whom I've not seen for many a day I camped on the banks of the Cudgegong River And yarned at the fire by the old bullock-dray We rose with the dawn, were it ever so chilly When yokes and tarpaulins were covered with frost And toasted the bacon and boiled the black billy Where high on the campfire the branches were tossed On flats where the air was suggestive of 'possums And homesteads and fences were hinting of change We saw the faint glimmer of appletree blossoms And far in the distance the blue of the range And here in the rain, there was small use in flogging The poor, tortured bullocks that tugged at the load When down to the axles the wagons were bogging And traffic was making a marsh of the road Then slowly we crawled by the trees that kept tally Of miles that were passed on the long journey down. We saw the wild beauty of Capertee Valley As slowly we rounded the base of the Crown Twas hard on the beasts on the terrible pinches Where two teams of bullocks were yoked to a load And tugging and slipping, and moving by inches Halfway to the summit they clung to the road And then, when the last of the pinches was bested (You'll surely not say that a glass was a sin?) The bullocks lay down 'neath the gum trees and rested The bullockies steered for the bar of the inn And, oh! but the best-paying load that I carried Was one to the run where my sweetheart was nurse We courted awhile, and agreed to get married And couple our futures for better or worse And as my old feet grew too weary to drag on The miles of rough metal they met by the way My eldest grew up and I gave him the wagon He's plodding along by the bullocks today Youtube clip Poem --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 11 Oct 20 - 09:38 PM LOVE'S REQUEST (Traditional) Thy form it is airy and slight, love Its graces are free from restraint Thy hair sheds a halo of light, love Round features like those of a saint Oh, to bathe in the light of thine eyes What destiny sweeter could be But visions of doubt will arise, love Could you make me a damper for tea? Thy mouth is a fountain of song, love Whence melody flows like a stream To list to thee all the day long, love Would be pleasure too sweet for a dream But my courage to ask for thee fails, love To accept my hand, oh would you stoop And again, if I brought you the tails, love Would you make me some kangaroo soup? And so then I bid thee farewell, love And my claims to another I yield But you will not grieve, I can tell, love There are others than me in the field You can sing, you can play, you can dance, love But your feelings I don't mean to hurt Your charms you would greatly enhance, love Could you make me a Crimean shirt? As printed at p226 of Ron Edwards 'The Big Book of Australian Folk Song'. Ron's note: 'Love's Request' is a gently ironical song, based on the form of the popular love song of the day, but with a sting in its tail. It is from 'The Native Companion Songster 1889' and is to the tune of 'We have lived and loved together' by Nicolo. Crimean shirts, mentioned in the last line, were introduced into Australia during the period of the gold rushes and, together with cabbage tree hats, became the mark of the bushman of the period. Martyn Wyndham-read recorded it and penned a new penultimate stanza: Oh to be with you out in the day, love With pride I’d take hold of your hand And at night with the stars shining brightly We would dance to a shearers’ bush band But I wonder at times if your heart, love Would take me to be your good mate And again, if I asked you right now, love Would you wash all the dishes and plates? Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 13 Oct 20 - 04:32 AM Great Northern Line collected from Duke Tritton by John Meredith My love he is a teamster, a handsome man is he, Red shirt, white moleskin trousers, and hat of cabbage-tree; He drives a team of bullocks, and whether it's wet or fine You will hear his whip a-cracking on the Great Northern Line. Chorus: Watch him, pipe him, twig him how he goes, With his little team of bullocks, he cuts no dirty shows; He's one of the flash young carriers that on the road do shine, With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line. And when he swings the greenhide whip he raises skin and hair; His bullocks all have shrivelled horns, for, Lordy, can he swear! ut I will always love him, this splendid man of mine, With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line. When he bogged at Mundowie and the bullocks took the yoke, y strained with bellies on the ground until the bar-chain broke. e fixed it up with wire and brought wool from Bundamine With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line. When he comes into Tamworth you will hear the ladies sigh, And parents guard their daughters, for he has a roving eye; But he signals with his bullock-whip as he comes through the pine, With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 13 Oct 20 - 04:48 AM Hughie by Duke Tritton Halfway through the shearing and the weather was very dry, But the clouds were gathering, and lowdown in the sky; Just as we were having a smoke, a shower came over the plain, And we heard from the shearing shed the rouseabouts roaring refrain: Chorus: Send it down a little bit harder, dear old Hughie do! Send it down a little bit harder and we'll love you; Send it down for a week or two, All the rousies will stick like glue, Just a little bit harder - dear old Hughie do! It is known as the rouseabouts prayer, it's been sung in every shed, For when the sheep are too wet to shear the rousies get board and bed, And their pay goes on if it's wet or dry, and they haven't a worry or care, So they lay in their bunk and sleep or read, and sing the rouseabouts' prayer: CHORUS Ten points of rain and the shearers vote on whether it's wet or dry, And if they all decide to shear, you will hear the rouseabouts sigh, 'Spare me days', you will hear them say, 'There's frogs in the blanky wool”, And they stare over the counting pens and sing, for their hearts are full: CHORUS When the rain is tumbling down the shearers grumble and curse, And the boss goes round with a hungry look, for it hits him in the purse; So he prowls about the shed all day like a bull in a stockyard ring, And grinds his teeth in futile rage when he hears the rouseabout sing: CHORUS |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 13 Oct 20 - 04:49 AM ps. we now have 318 songs. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: JennieG Date: 13 Oct 20 - 05:44 AM I must have missed him when he came through on the Great Northern Line....... |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 13 Oct 20 - 08:44 PM There is some interesting stuff in Roger Montgomery's fascinating 'Pilbara Connection' compilation. He included a song by my good mate, Alex Green, who spent several years in Darwin before moving to Queensland after Cyclone Tracy. 'Mile Seven' was written when he was working for a mining company in the Pilbara. The tune may be found at p138 of 'Pilbara Connection'. MILE SEVEN (Alex Green) The sun comes o'er the red rock hills To the east of Dampier town It breathes its fire upon the earth It turns the dust red-brown It breathes its fire upon the men who work upon the track It burns their minds and it burns their souls It turns their bodies black Into this hell of flies and sweat For money men are driven To work upon the railroad track At a place they call Mile Seven To earn their pay, to buy their drinks To earn a young gin's smile Down in the camp they share their bunks Just like a prison cell In the pubs, they drink and talk Of girls they once knew well They drink and talk of girls they knew Until their hearts are sore Then back into the empty room And close the money door Repeat stanza 1 --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 13 Oct 20 - 09:15 PM THE MAYOR OF PARABURDOO (J.Wain/R.Montgomery) I would have to blame the missus For the reason I got caught 'Cos we wintered up in England Through a raffle she had bought We had seen most of the places And were ready to shoot through But I was tonguing for a tinnier Like we have in Paraburdoo So I'm standing in a London pub When this joke stands by me And I can tell by his expression That he'd like some company When ya drinking in strange places Ya sometimes shoot a line or two So I hits him with a beauty 'I'm the mayor of Paraburdoo' He sounded posh and proper When he said, 'By jove, that's nice' So I thinks, the mug's a pommy Won't know wheat from bloody rice I'll dish him up some bull-o He wouldn't have a bloody clue 'I'm a cocky and my station's On the plains of Paraburdoo' I thought that that would rock him But he asked me, 'Stock or sheep?' 'Naw, I'm keeping bloody goannas And we milk them once a week Ya must have heard of goanna oil And about the good they do Keeping white ants out of jumbo jets That land in Paraburdoo' No, he said, he hadn't heard it As he handed me a drink So I tells him, 'Not to worry It was scarcer than you think Soon we'll start the season shearing I've forty thousand jack-a-roo Grazing out upon the alpine slopes Just above from Paraburdoo' 'Forty thousand, why that's amazing But I find it hard to guess Will you use the wide combs and cutters With a cradle and a press?' 'Naw, shearing jack-o's them are different For their legs are only two Which makes the crutching harder In the sheds at Parabadoo' Then I thought I'd better lay off Try and think of some grand thing To praise this flamin' ice-block They call the Mother Land I says, 'Ya beer is bloody lousy For you get a bonza brew Drinking H.I. Export Lager When it's made in Paraburdoo' 'Oh', he said, 'I'm not a pommy And I hope I've not misled But I come from bally Melbourne Where the woolly bunyip's bred Like you, I'm just a farmer Growing something I find nice Easter eggs on my selection Down south from Mount Tom Price Words: S.J. (Jack) Wain, Paraburdoo, WA. Tune: Roger Montgomery. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 13 Oct 20 - 09:19 PM Apologies, in the penultimate line of the first stanza, the word should be 'tinnie' - a can of beer. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 14 Oct 20 - 12:13 AM I just noticed another ridiculous typo. In the last line of 'Mile Seven' the word should be 'lonely' not 'money'. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 14 Oct 20 - 01:57 AM typos noted on my list of 320 songs! |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 14 Oct 20 - 08:19 PM TOOK THE CHILDREN AWAY (Archie Roach) This story's right, this story's true I would not tell lies to you Like the promises they did not keep And how they fenced us in like sheep Said to us come take our hand Sent us off to mission land. Taught us to read, to write and pray Then they took the children away Took the children away The children away Snatched from their mother's breast Said this is for the best Took them away The welfare and the policeman Said you've got to understand We'll give them what you can't give Teach them how to really live Teach them how to live they said Humiliated them instead Taught them that and taught them this And others taught them prejudice You took the children away The children away Breaking their mother’s heart Tearing us all apart Took them away One dark day on Framingham Came and didn't give a damn My mother cried go get their dad He came running, fighting mad Mother's tears were falling down Dad shaped up and stood his ground He said 'You touch my kids and you fight me' And they took us from our family Took us away They took us away Snatched from our mother's breast Said this was for the best Took us away Told us what to do and say Told us all the white man's ways Then they split us up again And gave us gifts to ease the pain Sent us off to foster homes As we grew up we felt alone Cause we were acting white Yet feeling black One sweet day all the children came back The children came back The children came back Back where their hearts grow strong Back where they all belong The children came back Said the children came back The children came back Back where they understand Back to their mother's land The children come back Back to their mother Back to their father Back to their sister Back to their brother Back to their people Back to their land All the children came back The children came back The children came back Yes I came back Youtube clip The Story --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 14 Oct 20 - 09:44 PM A song from 'Pilbara Connection' relating to an even darker side of the horrendous ill-treatment of Aboriginal people. Editor's note: Early Western Australian history tells us of slave trading. Aboriginal women out collecting mai (food) were captured by the two Shay Brothers and sold to fishermen at the port of Broome. THE SHAY BROTHERS (Laughton/Lambert) Here's another lubra, Bill Just push her down the back Our cart is full of native girls And who cares if they're black We've earned some gold this side of Broome Then brought it to the port Let's hope this load brings fifty pounds And none of us gets caught It's stinking hot around these hills Those bucks might miss these here I'd hate to cop a boomerang Or stop an Abo spear The horses sweat too much, I guess Some camels may be best We'd better get those women there And we can stop and rest The sun sinks low in bed of gold There's thirty miles to sea I hoped to be in town 'fore dark ... those blacks are after me You use the gun and kill a few If someone starts to fight By looks of faces on our dray They'd have our guts by night Another mile, another turn I need another drink The water's low - don't give them much I'm glad they're black, not pink Yeah! Perfect pearls inside that bay Are paid to me with price I'll hand this mob to China Joe And keep the one that's nice We've made the grade - a sun-up sale There's some they train to dive If we go out again next week Can we get back alive? Now shove 'em up ... the stubborn ...cuss! She bit me on me 'and I'll use the whip - it keeps them right To make them understand Another week - it's time to go Bought camels from a Jap I hired a man who's seen some tribe That's camped along our gap Hold on, Bill - we're ambushed here So there's no turning back I dunno why these blasted blacks Decided to attack! Written by V.J. Laughton of South Hedland. Source: pp148-150 'Pilbara Connection' compiled by Roger Montgomery. I couldn't find anything specifically about the Shay Brothers on the Net, but there is plenty of info about black birding and the pearling industry. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: GUEST,henryp Date: 15 Oct 20 - 07:34 AM Andy Irvine sang The Dandenong on his 2013 CD with Rens van der Zalm, Parachilna. In his chorus he changed the phrases “I dream of” to “I long for”. He noted: The Dandenong, a song that Australian folk singer Kate Burke found in the archives of the National Library of Australia. Collected in 1954 by John Meredith from a Mrs Mary Byrnes, an old lady of Irish descent, the song tells the story of the loss of the Dandenong and most of its passengers during a voyage from Melbourne to Newcastle, NSW in 1876. From Mainly Norfolk |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 15 Oct 20 - 09:20 AM thanks, henryp I've found 3 items in the Meredith collection about the Byrnes siblings, Tom Byrnes, Mary Byrnes and Alf Fuller interviewed by John Meredith & Mary Byrnes interviewed by John Meredith & Mary Byrnes & others interviewed by John Meredith - this one includes The Dandenong sandra |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 15 Oct 20 - 07:17 PM This song is a favourite with Alice Springs folkies. OLD BAMBOO CHAIR (Alan Hughes) He sits on his porch in his old bamboo chair, his old eyes straining to see The smoke curling up from a campfire so clear as the sun rose on men making tea He could see the first rays strike the wattle in bloom, he could smell the sweet tang of the trees Don’t pity this tired old man who is blind for he surely sees more than we see Chorus: For he’s been around, he’s walked to the gulf, he’s driven a steer or two From Barcaldine down to Narromine, he’s seen a lot it’s true He’s a bushy, a drover, a man of the land, a poet and a sage Now he sits on his porch in his old bamboo chair for his eyes have died of old age Now pity is not what this old man needs, he needs time for memories to flow He can still hear the cracks of the whips in the hills, the snorting of cattle in snow And the old blue dog running with joy at the heels of the pony he’s had for so long And young Sandy Duggin edging the herd, crooning the cattle a song Chorus His mind wandered back to those days long gone by and the mates that he knew e’er so well To the stock camps and shearing sheds out to the west on the plains where the summers are hell To the high country streams with their tinkling sweet wine and mountain ash grow straight and tall His mind drew him back to a vision sublime, but his eyes would not heed the call Chorus Now far, far away from the outer Barcoo in a township down by the sea This weary old man sits alone on his porch and dreams of black billy tea And he dreams of returning to those rolling plains where the myall and sheoak still stand And his heart swells with pride as he recalls his life in that wide and wonderful land Chorus Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 15 Oct 20 - 07:42 PM BUNDABERG RUM (Bill Scott) God made the sugar cane grow where it's hot And teetotal abstainers to grow where it's not Let the sin bosun warn of perdition to come We'll drink it and chance it, so bring on the rum Chorus: Bundaberg rum, and it's overproof rum Will tan your inside and grow hair on your bum Let the blue ribbon beat on his empty old drum Or his waterlogged belly, but we'll stick to our rum We're men who drink it, oh yes, men indeed Of the bushranging hairy-necked olden time breed We shave with our axes, we dress in old rags We feed on old boots and we sleep on old bags Chorus Dull care flies away when our voices resound And the grass shrivels up when we spit on the ground When we finally die and are buried in clay Our bodies are pickled and never decay Chorus On the Morning of Judgment, when the skies are rolled back We'll stroll from our graves up the long golden track And our voices will echo throughout kingdom come As we toast the archangels in Bundaberg rum Chorus Source: Graham Jenkin 'Great Australian Balladists' p130. Youtube clip Bill Scott --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 15 Oct 20 - 08:27 PM As sung by Trevor Lucas: ON THE BANKS OF THE CONDAMINE Oh hark! The dogs are barking now, I can no longer stay The men have all gone mustering and it is nearly day And I must be off in the morning, love, before the sun does shine To meet the Sydney shearers on the banks of the Condamine Oh Willie, dearest Willie, oh let me go with you I'll cut off all of my auburn fringe and I'll be a shearer too And I'll help you count your tally, love, while ringer-o you shine And I'll wash your greasy moleskins on the banks of the Condamine Oh Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know you cannot go The boss has given his orders, love, no woman shall do so And your delicate constitution isn't equal unto mine To stand that constant tigering on the banks of the Condamine Oh Willie, dearest Willie, then stay at home with me We'll take up a selection, love, and a farmer's wife I'll be And I'll help you husk the corn, my love, and I'll cook your meals so fine You'll forget that ram-stag mutton on the banks of the Condamine Oh Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know I cannot stay The men have all gone mustering, I heard the publican say So here's a goodbye kiss, my love, to homeward I'll incline When we've shorn the last of the jumbucks on the banks of the Condamine Youtube clip Note from Mark Gregory's Australian Folk Songs site: Folklorist Dr Edgar Waters writes (Australian Tradition Oct 1966) : "The Banks of the Condamine seems to have been one of the most widely distributed bush songs. In recent years it has been reported from singers in northern Victoria and the Northern Territory, and a number of different versions have been recorded in New South Wales and in Queensland. Sometimes the man is going off to a horse-breaking camp rather than a shearing shed. In Victoria, and at least in southern New South Wales, it seems to have been known as 'The Banks of the Riverine', and perhaps this was the original form. The words of 'The Banks of the Condamine' were made over from 'The Banks of the Nile', a British Ballad of the beginning of the nineteenth century." --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 16 Oct 20 - 08:54 PM WEST BY NORTH AGAIN (Harry Morant) We've drunk our wine, we've kissed our girls and funds are sinking low The horses must be thinking it's a fair thing now to go Sling the swags on Condamine and strap the billies fast And stuff a bottle in the bags and let's be off at last What matter if the creeks are up - the cash, alas, runs down A very sure and certain sign we're long enough in town Old Bobby rides the boko and you'd better take the bay Quart Pot will do to carry me the stage we go today No grass this side the border fence and all the mulga's dead The horses for a day or two will have to spiel ahead Man never yet from Queensland brought a bullock or a hack But lost condition on that God-abandoned border track When once we're through the rabbit-proof - it's certain since the rain There's whips o' grass and water so it's west by north again There's feed on Tyson's country - we can spell the mokes a week Where Billy Stevens last year trapped his brumbies on Bough Creek The Paroo may be quickly crossed - the Eulo Common's bare And, anyhow, it isn't wise, old man, to dally there Alack-a-day, far wiser men than you and I succumb To woman's wiles, and potency of Queensland wayside rum Then over sand and spinifex and o'er the ridge and plain The nags are fresh - besides, they know we’re north by west again The brand upon old Darkie's thigh is that upon the hide Of bullocks we must muster on the Diamantina side We'll light our campfires where we may and yarn beside their blaze The jingling hobble-chains shall make a music through the days And while the tuckerbags are right, and we've a stick of weed A swagman shall be welcome to a pipe-full and a feed So, fill your pipe and, ere we mount, we'll drink another nip Here's how that west by north again may prove a lucky trip Then back again - I trust you'll find your best girl's merry face Or, if she jilts you, may you get a better in her place Repeat stanza 1 Youtube clip Harry 'Breaker' Morant --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 16 Oct 20 - 09:28 PM THE BRIGALOW BRIGADE (Harry Morant) There’s a band of decent fellows On a cattle run outback You’ll hear the timber smashing If you follow in their track Their ways are rough and hearty And they call a spade a spade And a pretty rapid party Are the Brigalow Brigade They are mostly short of sugar And their pockets if turned out Would scarcely yield the needful For a decent four-man shout But they’ll scramble through a tight place Or a big fence unafraid And their hearts are in the right place In the Brigalow Brigade They’ve painted Parkes vermilion They’ve coloured Orange blue They broken lots of top-rails ‘Twixt the sea and Dandaloo They like their grog and palings Just as stiff as they are made These are two little failings Of the Brigalow Brigade The Brigalow Brigade are Fastidious in their taste In the matter of a maiden And the inches of her waist She must be sweet and tender And her eyes a decent shade Then her Ma can safely send her To the Brigalow Brigade But women, grog and horses With polo in between Are mighty potent forces In keeping purses lean But the spurs are never rusty Though they seldom need their aid For the cuddles ain’t too dusty In the Brigalow Brigade Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) is a wattle occurring in inland areas of NSW and Queensland. The Brigalow Brigade refers to stockmen and drovers who worked in remote areas. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 16 Oct 20 - 10:28 PM A softer side of the breaker: WHEN STOCK GO BY (Harry Morant) Tom rode a bonny dark bay nag He wore a battered cabbage-tree And as I filled our water-bag He came and asked a drink from me The cattle passed our hometead gate Beside our well I watched them pass While dad was in a fearful state About his water and his grass Tom said that drink was just like wine He said my eyes were soft and brown He said there were no eyes like mine From Dandaloo to Sydney Town I watched him with a trembling lip Yet little thought I then that he Who asked a drink from me that trip Would next trip ask my dad for me Tom's droving days long since are done The wet tear oft has dimmed my eye For days when I was woo’d and won Come back to me when stock go by Brad Tate put a tune to this little poem: Youtube clip Graham Jenkin also put a tune to it. It can be found at page 74 of his 'Great Australian Balladists'. Both Jenkin and Davies & Ilott omit the second stanza. The final stanza suggests unhappiness in the marriage. At one stage, Breaker Morant was briefly married to Daisy Bates. My mate Colin Smiley from Perth compiled a themed concert relating to the Morant/Bates relationship which was presented at a Top Half Folk Festival and repeated in Perth. There is some info on this interesting relationship here: Breaker and Bates --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 17 Oct 20 - 05:49 AM Daisy Bates as sung by Cobbers Bush Band; composed by ?? Oh Daisy, if they’d only heard the things you had to say How differently we might have read the history of your day But what was one white woman’s word against the whole white nation Alone you could not stem the tide of our civilisation. Our bureaucratic government could never understand The beauty of the culture of the people of this land Simplicity was far beyond the white man’s complex mind And to the beauty of your love he was completely blind. He couldn’t see that in his own uneducated way The aborigine might have some worthwhile things to say The time had come for him to get a decent education That he became a token white was our main obligation. So why waste time in listening to you who lived with them Your whole eccentric lifestyle was a reason to condemn A woman of the wilderness who shunned society To live beneath the desert sun with aborigines. But, even so, for fifty years you fought against the odds While ignorant white leaders played their game of being gods And if you eased the suffering of one among their race Your life has served to counteract a part of our disgrace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-o-4N0JIgc I had meant to post this a few weeks back! I thought there’d be more info about Kabbarli (Daisy Bates) online. The 60minute documentary promised on YT turned out to be a 3+ minute clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7_EkDSJ84A Maybe Stewie has some other songs too?? R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 17 Oct 20 - 09:26 PM R-J, lyrics and music for 'Daisy Bates' were composed by Chris Armstrong of the Cobbers. I don't have any other songs specifically about Daisy Bates. NED KELLY'S FAREWELL TO GRETA Farewell to home in Greta, to my sister Kate farewell It grieves my heart to leave you, but here I must not dwell They placed a price upon my head, my hands are stained with gore And I must roam the forest wild within the Australian shore But if they cross my chequered path, for all I hold on earth I'll give them cause to rue the day their mothers gave them birth I'll shoot them down like carrion crows that roam our country wide And leave their bodies bleaching upon some woodland side Oh, Edward, dearest brother, surely you would not go So rashly to encounter with such a mighty foe Now don’t you know that Sydney and Melbourne are combined And for your apprehension Ned, there are warrants duly signed To eastward lies great Bogong, towering to the sky From east to west and then you’ll find that Gippsland’s lying by You know the country well dear Ned, go take your comrades there And profit by your knowledge of the wombat and the bear And let no childish quarrels cause trouble in the gang Bear up with one another, Ned, and guard my brother Dan See, yonder ride four troopers. One kiss before we part Now haste and join your comrades, Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 17 Oct 20 - 09:43 PM MARY CALLED HIM MISTER (H.Lawson/J.Armstrong) They’d parted just a year ago - she’d thought he’d ne’er come back She stammered, blushed, held out her hand and called him 'Mister Mack' How could he know that all the while she longed to murmur, 'John'? He called her 'Miss le Brook' and asked how she was getting on They’d parted just a year before; they’d loved each other well But he’d been down to Sydney since and come back such a swell They longed to meet in fond embrace, they hungered for a kiss, But Mary called him 'Mister' and the idiot called her 'Miss' He paused, and leaned against the door - a stupid chap was he And when she asked if he’d come in and have a cup of tea He looked to left, he looked to right, and then he glanced behind And slowly doffed his cabbage-tree and said he didn’t mind She made a shy apology because the meat was tough Then asked if he was quite quite sure the tea was sweet enough He stirred his tea and sipped it twice, and answered 'plenty quite' And cut himself a slice of beef and said that it was 'right' She glanced at him at times and coughed an awkward little cough He stared at anything but her and said 'I must be off' That evening he went riding north - a sad and lonely ride She locked herself inside her room and sat her down and cried They’d parted but a year before; they’d loved each other well But she was such a country girl and he’d grown such a swell They longed to meet in fond embrace, they hungered for a kiss But Mary called him 'Mister' and the idiot called her 'Miss' Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 17 Oct 20 - 10:03 PM ACROSS THE WESTERN SUBURBS (Denis Kevans & Seamus Gill) Tune: traditional 'All for Me Grog' Oh, me name it is Fred I'm Sydney born and bred And the inner-city used to be me home, boys But it's caused me heart to grieve For I've had to take me leave Now across the western suburbs I must wander Chorus: Under concrete and glass Sydney's disappearing fast It's all gone for profit and for plunder Though we really want to stay They keep driving us away Now across the western suburbs we must wande Now where is me house, Me little terrace house It's all gone for profit and for plunder For the wreckers of the town Just came up and knocked it down; Now across the Western Suburbs we must wander Before I even knew it We were shifted to Mount Druitt And the planners never gave me any say, boys Now it really makes me weep I am just at home to sleep For it takes me hours to get to work each day, boys What's happened to the pub Our little local pub Where we used to have a drink when we were dry, boys Now we can't get in the door For there's carpets on the floor And you won't be served a beer without a tie, boys Now I'm living in a box In the west suburban blocks And the place is nearly driving me to tears, boys Poorly planned and badly built And it's mortgaged to the hilt But they say it will be mine in forty years, boys Now before the city's wrecked Those developers must be decked For it's plain to see they do not give a bugger Or we soon will see the day If those bandits have their way We will all be driven out past Wagga Wagga Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 17 Oct 20 - 10:27 PM WIND IN THE TUSSOCK (Phil Garland) Chorus: There's snow on the hills and frost in the gullies Where winters are keen and the air tastes like wine My heart feels the pull of the wind in the tussock Calling me back to the mountains again The scent of the speargrass is drawing my heart in As I long again for the High Country air The wind in the tussock is calling me homewards To the valleys and ridges that I love so dear There's a fragrance in the tussock fire as it's burning Wisps of smoke curling up to the sky The dew in the dawning of a clear spring morning As the sun warms the tops all white skiffed with snow There's pleasure in working the snow crested mountains In boiling a billy and watching stars fall To be lost in a world remote from the city With the mist far below like a great rolling sea When the old man nor-wester blows hot down the valley Reminds me of a girl that I knew long ago Her hair was as fair as the snowgrass in summer Breaking my heart when she drifted away There are dreams in the twilight of long autumn evenings When the embers of memory still flicker and fade The tussock reflecting the deep golden sunset Gently caressed by the evening breeze Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 17 Oct 20 - 10:43 PM LEATHERMAN (Anon) I'm a stockman and my work is droving cattle With my whip and dog, I set them at a rattle Droving down the dusty road I'm the roughest kind o' bloke you'll ever know Chorus: Jog along, jog along, jog along, leatherman In the wind and in the rain, driving cattle for the can At night I just sleep underneath a tree There's no feather mattress poster-bed for me Ridin' 'till I'm saddle worn I'm the roughest kind o' bloke 'twas ever born In the early morning when the sun is up I roll up me swag and whistle to me pup Go in Darkie, bite their tails Go back them up along the dusty trail Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 17 Oct 20 - 11:22 PM OLD PALMER SONG (Traditional) The wind is fair and free, my boys, the wind is fair and free The steamer's course is north, my boys, and the Palmer we will see The Palmer we will see, my boys, and Cooktown's muddy shore Where I've been told there's lots of gold, I'll stay down south no more Chorus So, blow ye winds, heigho A-digging I will go I'll stay no more down south, my boys So let the music play In spite of what I'm told I'm off in search of gold I'll make a push for that new rush A thousand miles away They say the blacks are troublesom and spear both horse and man The rivers are all wide and deep, no bridges them do span No bridges them do span, my boys, and so you'll have to swim But never fear the yarns you hear, and gold you're sure to win So let us make a move, my boys, for that new promised land And do the best we can, my boys, to lend a helping hand To lend a helping hand, my boys, where the soil is rich and new In spite of the blacks and unknown tracks, we'll show what we can do The song may be found at the 28 minute mark of the video of the Rafferty Band album. It's great to hear the voice of the late Chris Buch leading the song. The Palmer is about 160 km from Cooktown in north Queensland. Youtube --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: GUEST Date: 18 Oct 20 - 05:39 AM OLD PALMER SONG (Traditional) Above/below. From Wikipedia; Ten Thousand Miles Away is a sea shanty whose writing and composition are attributed to Joseph B. Geoghegan. In his Shanties from the Seven Seas Hugill says that this was originally a shore ballad sung by street singers in Ireland in the early nineteenth century. Later it became a popular music hall number. The Scottish Student's Song Book gives the author as "J. B. Geoghegan". This is Joseph Bryan Geoghegan (c. 1816 – 1889) who was manager of the Star and Museum Music Hall in Bolton, Lancashire. The song is numbered 1778 in the Roud Folk Song Index and it has been passed from singer to singer as a traditional shanty. The figure of "ten thousand miles" could well refer to the distance between England and Australia, and the separation of the lovers arises because the singer's lover has been transported. So blow the winds, Heigh-ho; A roving I will go, I'll stay no more on England's shore, So let the music play! I'll start by the morning train, To cross the raging main, For I'm on the move to my own true love, Ten thousand miles away. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 18 Oct 20 - 07:28 PM TUAPECKA GOLD (Phil Garland) 'Twas in the year of sixty-two as near as I can guess When I left my dear old hometown in trouble and distress My family didn't want me I was left out in the cold Until I started searching for the Tuapeka gold The day I left Dunedin I could not help but cry For not one single person came to bid myself goodbye So I set off on my journey and soon I did behold The hills that were covered with the Tuapeka gold When some six months later I came back to my home town Carrying the fortune that I'd taken from the ground Strange to say my old friends turned out to say hello But I knew all they were after was my Tuapeka gold. The other day while walking I met young Maggie Brown Who once took all my money while I was sleeping sound Says she, 'Come to my bedside, we'll be lovers as of old' But says I, You don't love me but my Tuapeka gold' So come all you bold young fellows and attend to my advice And don't trust man nor woman 'til you've looked them over twice I've travelled for experience and many a time been sold Ah-ha, but this time they won't get me nor my Tuapeka gold See also 'Bright Fine Gold' posted above on 30 September. Gabriel Read discovered a large deposit of alluvial gold along the Tuapecka River in Otago in May 1861. Within a week of his reporting the find to authorities in Dunedin, a city of tents appeared along the banks of the Tuapecka. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 18 Oct 20 - 08:17 PM THE MURRUMBIDGEE SHEARER Come all you jolly natives and I'll relate to you Some of my observations adventures too a few I've travelled about the country for miles full many a score And oft-times would have hungered but for the cheek I bore I've coasted on the Barwon low down the Darling too I've been on the Murrumbidgee and out on the Paroo I've been on all the diggings boys from famous Ballarat I've loafed upon the Lachlan and fossicked Lambing Flat I went up to a squatter and asked him for a feed But the knowledge of my hunger was swallowed by his greed He said I was a loafer and for work had no desire And so to do him justice I set his shed on fire Oh yes I've touched the shepherd's hut of sugar, tea, and flour And a tender bit of mutton I always could devour I went up to a station and there I got a job Plunged in the store and hooked it with a very tidy lob Oh, yes my jolly dandies I've done it on the cross Although I carry bluey now I've sweated many a horse I've helped to ease the escort of many's the ounce of gold The traps have often chased me more times than can be told Oh yes the traps have chased me and been frightened of their stripes They never could have caught me they feared my cure for gripes And well they knew I carried it which they had often seen A-glistening in my flipper chaps a patent pill machine I've been hunted like a panther into my mountain lair Anxiety and misery my grim companions there I've planted in the scrub my boys and fed on kangaroo And wound up my avocations by ten years on Cockatoo So you can understand my boys just from this little rhyme I'm a Murrumbidgee shearer and one of the good old time From Paterson's 'Old Bush Songs'. This video supposedly has the singing of Gary Shearston, but actually it is Bert Lloyd: Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 18 Oct 20 - 08:43 PM THE MARYBOROUGH MINER Come all you sons of liberty and listen to my song I'll tell you my observations and it won't take very long I've fossicked around this continent, five hundred miles or more And many's the time I might have starved but for the cheek I bore I've been on all the diggings, boys, from famous Ballarat I've long-tommed on the Lachlan, and I've fossicked Lambing Flat So you can understand, my boys, just from my little rhyme I'm a Maryborough miner and I'm one of the good old time I came to the Fitzroy River, all with my Bendigo rig I had a shovel, a pick and a pan, and for a licence I begged But the assay man called me a loafer, said for work I'd no desire And so to do him justice, boys, I set his office on fire Oh yes, my jolly jokers, I've done it on the cross Although I carry my bluey now, I've sweated many a horse I've helped to rob the escort of many an ounce of gold And the traps have trailed upon my tail more times than I've ever told Oh yes, the traps have trailed me and been frightened out of their stripes They never could have caught me for, they feared my cure for gripes And well they knew I carried it, for they had often seen it Glistening in my flipper, chaps, my patent pill machine I'm one of the men who cradled on the reef at Tarrangower Anxiety and misery my grim companions there I puddled the clay at Bendigo and I chanced my arm at Kew And I wound up my avocation with ten years on Cockatoo. A.L. Lloyd collected this mining version of 'The Murrumbidgee Shearer' from Bob Bell in Condobolin in 1934. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 19 Oct 20 - 02:39 AM Stew, I have to disagree with the label of A.L.Lloyd singing "The Murrumbidgee Shearer" that you linked to - it is definitely Gary Shearston in his folk-sheep-shearing-Lloyd style of singing, as on that whole LP of "The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing"!! I still have my LP and absolutely loved it years ago :) Cheers, R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 19 Oct 20 - 07:43 PM R-J, thanks for the correction. I don't have the album. I would have sworn it was Lloyd singing. It must be deliberate on Shearston's part. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 19 Oct 20 - 08:20 PM Another fine Kiwi singer/songwriter with a song about an incident on Norfolk Island in the 1840s. EMILY BAY (Andrew London) Johnny was a wild one, got sent down Seven years hard in Sydney Town Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ayElizabeth cried on the dock, says he, ‘You’re a good girl, Lizzie, don’t you wait for me’ Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ay Johnny was a thief, he was quicker than some Got caught with a bottle of the captain’s rum And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay Judge said, ‘I can turn a hard man around You can do your time out in Kingston Town’ Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ay Johnny said, ‘ Well you can cut a chain for me But I’ll curse your eyes till the day that I’m free Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ay Johnny took a hundred till the blood ran black And the chaplain said, ‘That’s a dead man’s back’ And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay Jackie said, ‘Now brother come along with me Gonna kill me a copper been a-worryin’ me’ Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ay Johnny said, ‘Well Jack I been a thinkin’ just the same’ And they got three more before the soldiers came Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ay The commandant said, ‘You’re gonna hang this morn And England’s sorry that you ever been born And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay Johnny was a wild one, got sent down He never did a year in Kingston Town Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ay Elizabeth cried on the day she read He was thrown in a hole, not a prayer was said Tura-lura-lura-luralie-ay And on the Murderers’ Mound, you can hear his plea: ‘You’re a good girl, Lizzie, don’t you wait for me’ And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay And the blood runs down to the sand on Emily Bay Youtube clip Bob McNeill does a lovely cover of the song with Gillian Boucher on fiddle: Click --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 19 Oct 20 - 09:18 PM I OWE YOU (Paul Metsers) Have you still got those pages? From friends of days gone by Their words, in paper cages ?Came winging through the sky? Or did you make some bargain? That one day you would rue ?Like the hasty note the gambler wrote The loser’s I.O.U. It seems the days are speeding The time it strips the bone? The snow it falls beside the wall And follows winter’s moan And through the crystal window The ever-changing hue? The years decline, the debt is mine How will I pay my due I.O.U. for mystery ?I.O.U. for colour ?I.O.U. for children? Born in love and labour And I.O.U. for letting go When parting needs must sever And I.O.U. for holding on I.O.U. forever They say no one’s an island That each on some depends But lonely hearts and silence Make such bitter friends For to have your own true lover Is to live in fortune’s glow But try as you may, you’ll never pay Your lover what you owe I.O.U. for mystery ?I.O.U. for colour? I.O.U. for children ?Born in love and labour And I.O.U. for letting go When parting needs must sever And I.O.U. for holding on I.O.U. forever Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Stewie Date: 19 Oct 20 - 09:37 PM I don't know where those ?s came from. Anyhow, the lyrics are there. A song about the possible inspiration for Miss Havisham: THE BALLAD OF ELIZA EMILY DONNITHORNE (J.Armstrong) She stands at the window watching the carriages Approaching the house in the spring of the year She smiles at the people hurrying everywhere Lovely Eliza’s wedding draws near In the fine mansion in King St in Newtown Beautiful ladies, some haughty, some gay With horses and carriages, the cream of old Sydney Town Lovely Eliza gets married today Over the fireplace, a portrait in oils Old Judge Donnithorne looks kindly down Sees his young daughter, the flower of Sydney Town Looking lovelier than ever in her wedding gown But something is wrong - the smiles are fading The hours are passing, the people must go Eliza still stands and she looks from her window Waiting in tears for the man she loves so The table is set still, the places are counted But gone are the people so laughing and gay The gifts are unopened and tired of waiting The beautiful wedding cake crumbles away The old house is closed now, the windows are shuttered Nobody leaves and nobody comes near Eliza grows old now but still in her wedding dress She faithfully waits for her love to appear Thirty years pass now - the waiting is over Six fine black horses await at the door The beautiful carriage is decked in black ribbons Lovely Eliza will wait here no more She’s seeking a new world to search for her lover If she will find him nobody can tell She’s a young girl again, happy and carefree Eliza Emily Donnithorne farewell Youtube clip Eliza Emily Donnithorne --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: GUEST Date: 20 Oct 20 - 10:30 PM Seems like I'm on my Pat. Never mind - onwards. Another cracker from the wonderful Kath Tait. POOR DIM SALLY (Kath Tait) Poor dim Sally from old Vim valley She was taken in by the Moonies Her friends said they would rather be dead Than sucked in by a bunch of loonies Her mother cried and her father nearly died To see their Sally being hypnotised And listening to strange philosophical lies And giving all her money to the guru While dancing to the tune of the Reverend Moon Sally was benevolent and breezy But it made her sad to see her mum and her dad Being hypnotised by the TV And giving all their money to the politicians Who wasted it all on their greedy ambitions And Sally was obsessed by her dubious position Enlisting more disciples for the guru Poor dim Sally from old Vim valley She went knocking on doors Explaining her views and proclaiming the news And naming the Moonies' laws When she came upon a mysterious charmer Who appeared at the door in his pink pajama And talked her into following the Dalai Lama And that's how she was rescued from the Moonies Sally took a ferry to a monastery Where upon she shaved her head. Her mother cried and her father said , 'Why Is our Sally so easily led?' The deprogrammers came to unravel her brain But their threats and bribes were all in vain, And her poor mother she did proclaim Why can't we all just be nice Presbyterians Now poor dim Sally from old Vim valley Was told to spend eleven days fasting But her need for food was so basic and crude And she really wasn't very good at lasting When they found her hiding behind a tree With a marmite sandwich and a cup of tea She said,’I wouldn't be a failure spiritually If I was the leader of my very own religion’ So she became the guru of her own fringe sect She got all of the money and all of the respect And she made her disciples swear an oath To eat their way to spiritual growth Have another sausage roll, have another cream bun She said sitting there on her big fat bum They said, ‘We’ll all be saved from being eternally glum In Sally's own original religion’ Kath’s note: Having been involved in a disreputable fringe sect when I was much younger, I decided to read a few sociological studies on the phenomenon. I discovered that they are all much the same, they all involve some sort of guru/con-artist and they all end up committing some kind of abuse involving sex or money. I have learnt the hard way that you have to be your own guru. Vim is a bathroom cleaning powder. The phrase Vim valley is a common New Zealand term describing a squeaky clean suburb where people behave a bit like they do in household appliance advertisements. Mike Harding covered the song. I always fondly remember Mike's visit to Darwin on his Australian tour back in the day. At his gun turret concert, he said that visiting Darwin was like living in someone's sweaty sock. A fair comment - the humidity here at the moment is horrendous. Youtube clip --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: GUEST Date: 20 Oct 20 - 10:40 PM My apologies, the video linked in my previous post is not the Mike Harding to whom I was referring. I was referring to the pommy Mike Harding. I'm losing it. I think I'll go downstairs into the air-conditioning with my dog and watch a pommy police drama dvd. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: rich-joy Date: 20 Oct 20 - 11:25 PM I can recommend, Stewie, a good Pommy show I just watched last night on YT (don't recall it being on Oz TV), based on a 1920s true story, called "Dandelion Dead" in 2 Eps over less than 4 hours, but starring the always EXcellent Michael Kitchen & Sarah Miles!!! People are still, to this day, debating whether the main man was guilty or not ...... I will return to song posts on this thread, but I seem to have found a few more urgent things to do! But I wonder whether Joe could be persuaded to amend the thread title to include reference to New Zealand??? And if the excellent Sandra in Sydney could be persuaded to update the Song Listing??!! Cheers, R-J |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 21 Oct 20 - 04:41 AM Poor Dim Sally is no. 342, & I'll send you the list. Australia's greatest song AS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED in The Bacchus Marsh Express Sat 15th December, 1891 - note the last line was bowdlerised, so please sing the proper word in the famous version!! THE BARE BELLED EWE by C.C. of Eynesbury, Nov. 20, (tune - Ring the bell, Watchman) Oh, down at the catching pen an old shearer stands, Grasping his shears in his long bony hands ; Fixed is his gaze on a bare belled ewe, Saying " If I can only get her, won't I make the ringer go." Click goes his shears; click, click, click. Wide are the blows, and his hand is moving quick, The ringer looks round, for he lost it by a blow, And he curses that old shearer with the bare belled ewe. At the end of the board, in a cane bottomed chair, The boss remains seated with his eyes everywhere ; He marks well each fleece as it comes to the screen, And he watches where it comes from if not taken off clean. The "colonial experience" is there of course. With his silver buckled leggings, he's just off his horse ; With the air of a connoiseur he walks up the floor ; And he whistles that sweet melody, "I am a perfect cure." "So master new chum, you may now begin, Muster number seven paddock, bring the sheep all in ; Leave none behind you, whatever you do, And then we'll say you'r fit to be a Jackeroo." The tar boy is there, awaiting all demands, With his black tarry stick, in his black tarry hands. He sees an old ewe, with a cut upon the back, He hears what he supposes is--" Tar here, Jack." "Tar on the back, Jack; Tar, boy, tar." Tar from the middle to both ends of the board. Jack jumps around, for he has no time to sleep, And tars the shearer's backs as well as the sheep. So now the shearing's over, each man has got his cheque, The hut is as dull as the dullest old wreck ; Where was many a noise and bustle only a few hours before, Now you can hear it plainly if a pin fall on the floor. The shearers now are scattered many miles and far ; Some in other sheds perhaps, singing out for "tar." Down at the bar, there the old shearer stands, Grasping his glass in his long bony hands. Saying "Come on, landlord, come on, come ! I'm shouting for all hands, what's yours--mine's a rum ;" He chucks down his cheque, which is collared in a crack, And the landlord with a pen writes no mercy on the back ! His eyes they were fixed on a green painted keg, Saying " I will lower your contents, before I move a peg." His eyes are on the keg, and are now lowering fast ; He works hard, he dies hard, and goes to heaven at last. C. C. Eynesbury, Nov. 20, 1891. As performed on ABC Landline by Jason & Chloe Roweth in 2014 after Mark Gregory discovered the original on TROVE. Jason reported that after the filming the shearers suggested Mr Folksinger join them shearing, thinking he was just a city folksinger, but he has worked in a shearing shed & done a little (tiny) bit of shearing. |
Subject: RE: Rise Up Mudcat Songbook - Australia From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 21 Oct 20 - 04:50 AM SECOND CLASS WAIT HERE by Henry Lawson, 1899 (tune Tony Miles, 1981 as sung by Margaret Walters on "For the Future and the Past") On suburban railway stations - you may see them as you pass There are signboards on the platforms saying, 'Wait here second class'; And to me the whirr and thunder and the cluck of running gear Seem to be for ever saying, saying 'Second class wait here' Chorus - Wait here second class, second class wait here Seem to be for ever saying, saying 'Second class wait here And the second class were waiting in the days of serf and prince, And the second class are waiting - they've been waiting ever since. There are gardens in the background, and the line is bare and drear, Yet they wait beneath a signboard, sneering 'Second class wait here' I have waited oft in winter, in the mornings dark and damp, When the asphalt platform glistened underneath the lonely lamp. Ghastly on the brick-faced cutting 'Sellum's Soap' and 'Blower's Beer; Ghastly on enamelled signboards with their 'Second class wait here' And the others seemed like burglars, slouched and muffled to the throats, Standing round apart and silent in their shoddy overcoats, And the wind among the wires, and the poplars bleak and bare, Seemed to be for ever snarling, snarling 'Second class wait there' Out beyond the further suburb, 'neath a chimney stack alone, Lay the works of Grinder Brothers, with a platform of their own; And I waited there and suffered, waited there for many a year, Slaved beneath a phantom signboard, telling our class to wait here. Ah! a man must feel revengeful for a boyhood such as mine. God! I hate the very houses near the workshop by the line; And the smell of railway stations, and the roar of running gear, And the scornful-seeming signboards, saying 'Second class wait here' There's a train with Death for driver, which is ever going past, And there are no class compartments, and we all must go at last To the long white jasper platform with an Eden in the rear; And there won't be any signboards, saying 'Second class wait here' |
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