Lyr Req: Ballad of Henry Lawson (Slim Dusty)

Subject: 'Ballad of Henry Lawson'-Slim Dusty
From: lamarca
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 09:54 PM

I heard a neat song sung by Slim Dusty on the radio last Saturday, called "The Ballad of Henry Lawson". It was a tribute/biography to the great Australian bush poet. My husband and I sing a lot of Lawson's poems set to music, and really liked this song. Can anyone out there post the lyrics and tune, let me know who wrote it, and what Slim Dusty album it's on? Has anyone else recorded it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Ballad of Henry Lawson'-Slim Dusty
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 10:31 PM

G'day Lamarca,

If this is a 'new' song (by Slim or somebody else) it won't be in Chris Kempster's Songs of Henry Lawson, which I have at home (and the Bush Music Club still has the last 1 or 2 new copies in existence ... last time I checked the stock cupboard). Chris put a lot of effort into this one - and only managed to print about half of the songs he wanted to before the book got too big. (Trouble is, all these people keep setting Lawson poems and writing new tunes ... there is even a setting of The Good Old Concertina by myself!)

A good site for current Australian Folk/Country records is Greg's Music World at: http://www.musicworld.com.au//catalogue/country.htm. This lists current records and often has details and ordering procedures. I think it is organised in artist's name order.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Ballad of Henry Lawson'-Slim Dusty
From: lamarca
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 10:49 PM

Yes, Bob - it's not a Lawson poem, but a song about Lawson. I'll take a look at Greg's for Slim Dusty albums, but trans-Pacific shipping usually discourages me.

Is there some way I could get a copy of Chris Kempsters' book here in the USA? I've ordered used books from Australia through ABEBooks.com and put them on my credit card so the exchange rates work out.(My book lust overcomes my fear of shipping rates.) Send me a private message via Mudcat if you get a chance...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Ballad of Henry Lawson'-Slim Dusty
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 10:49 PM

I don't believe that I've ever heard this one. The trouble is that Slim is so prolific, having released something over 100 albums (or is it 200?). If you aren't successful let us know. There's a record outlet in town that specialises in this genre. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Ballad of Henry Lawson'-Slim Dusty
From: Harold W
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 11:36 PM

I would recomend the following adress:

http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/1803/foral.htm

Click on Real Audio on far right under Australia Bundaburg.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BALLAD OF HENRY LAWSON (Slim Dusty)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Nov 11 - 06:42 PM

Slim Dusty did record a song called THE BALLAD OF HENRY LAWSON. It's on 2 albums: Slim Dusty's "Songs from Down Under," (EMI, 2001) and the 2-CD various-artists collection, "Australia: Our Land, Our Music" (EMI, 2003).


THE BALLAD OF HENRY LAWSON
As recorded by Slim Dusty on "Songs from Down Under" (YouTube)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Henry Lawson (Slim Dusty)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Feb 19 - 04:48 AM

I'm looking for the chords for The Ballad of Henry Lawson