Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner

Subject: Lyr Add: MARYBOROUGH MINER
From: MMario
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 02:32 PM

from John_in_brisbane

I'm sure when he gets a few minutes he will come in to comment on this.


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 this 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 been upon my tail more tiroes than I 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 chanced my arm at Kew,
And I wound up my avocation with ten years on Cockatoo.

So you can understand, my boys, just from this little rhyme,
I'm a Maryborough miner, and I'm one of the good old time.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Maryborough Miner
From: MMario
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 02:42 PM

midi to alan, NWC to Dickg.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Maryborough Miner
From: GUEST,Kernow Jon
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 03:28 PM

Thanks Jon & Mario
Can't wait to hear the tune that goes with it.
KJ

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Maryborough Miner
From: richardw
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 07:06 PM

Sounds like a great song.

What's the tune?

Richard Wright

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Maryborough Miner
From: MMario
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 10:14 PM

I don't know the title, if it has one, but it sounded bery familiar to me. alan should have it up on his website in a few days. Or if you want to PM me with an e-mail address I can send you either a midi file or a Noteworthy file of the music.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Maryborough Miner
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Nov 00 - 06:56 AM

Gday MMario,

The Maryborough Miner shares a tune, as well as a lot of its structure with The Murrimbidgee Shearer, which was in 'Banjo' Paterson's 1905 edition of Old Bush Songs, his book of collected material.

AL Lloyd apparently wrote to Brad Tate, a NSW collector, that he collected this version from Bob Bell, of Condobolin, NSW, in 1934. This was in his youth, in a period when he stated in another letter, to John Meredith in the 1960s, that he was not yet doing formal collecting - merely hearing songs while he worked out here in some sort of Commonwealth assistance scheme.

I take this to mean that he remembered the song when he saw the material that passed to the EFDSS in the '50s ... and reconstructed his memories of this song from his past ... in much the same way that he was recreating an English repertoire from assorted UK sources at much the same time.

Anyway, The Murrumbidgee Sheareris the other Australian song that has the same tune ... but there is probably a British ancestor to it ... and I would be interested to see if anyone identifies it.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Maryborough Miner
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 18 Nov 00 - 10:47 PM

G'day,
Thanks to John in Brisbane the tune for "The Maryborough Miner" can be found here at the Mudcat MIDI site.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: GUEST,Needy student
Date: 11 Sep 06 - 10:05 PM

Can any of u guy's post the actuall mp3 file on the net?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Sep 06 - 10:10 PM

I've been singing this song for over 40 years... learned from the Australian Bush Ballads (or is it Songs?) album by A. L. Lloyd. I thought it was Clemen's Flat... have to go back and listen.

A great, great song.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: GUEST,MMcLatchey
Date: 16 Jan 14 - 12:19 AM

Can anyone tell me what the expressions, 'cure for gripes' and 'done it on the cross' mean?

Many thanks!
M. McLatchey

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 01 Apr 14 - 12:21 AM

G'day (GUEST) M. McLatchey,

In the context of this song's words, I would presume he is saying he will use force ( fire arms + his "patent pill machine" ... a "cap & ball revolver" ...!) as a cure for the effects of the 'Traps') ('Troopers' ... mounted police's ...) gripes about him.

"Done it on the cross" = Got away with illegal ways and means ... at least last time ...

Regard(les)s,

BobB

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Apr 14 - 03:19 PM

I'm sure I have read somewhere that these words were indeed put together by Lloyd and that they embody an anachronism. I can't immediately find the reference and I'm not sure of the details, but I think it was that the penal settlement on Cockatoo Hill closed some time before the particular gold diggings mentioned were in operation. The suggestion was that this was a Lloyd conscious rebuild of another song (possibly The Murrimbidgee Shearer, I don't remember).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 01 Apr 14 - 06:46 PM

G'day Guest,

The "Cockatoo" of the song ( ... and vernacular of the 19th century, in & around Australia ...) was Cockatoo Island: in the Parramatta River just off Balmain & Birchgrove. That is, nowadays, the River, i.e. west of the Harbour Bridge and all the way to Parramatta, while Sydney Harbour is the area east of the present Bridge - and all the seven kilometres east to the Heads of Sydney Harbour.

Cockatoo Island was used as a (~ natural ...) prison in the days of the first British invasion. It's only some 400 metres off the modern suburbs Balmain or Birchgrove ... but very few few of the Pommies of that day and invasion could swim - so it was an effective prison in its day - before construction of more regular ( and larger ) prisons and gaols.

All this works pretty well as a rather muddled song ... bridging from the initial Convict era (~ 1788 to about early 1850s (first public admission of gold strikes) ... and the beginning of our Goldrush era.

I guess it does sound very much an A L Lloyd song - a (re)construction from oral sources ... possibly noted in his exercise book 'between the World Wars' ... and re-visited in England and in the era of the postwar British FolkSong revival - and the ambience of Cecil Sharp House!

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: GUEST,M.McLatchey
Date: 18 May 14 - 03:49 PM

Thanks for your help!
Miriam

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Maryborough Miner
From: Shimbo Darktree
Date: 18 May 14 - 06:27 PM

Response to Jerry from 8 years ago (doesn't pay to rush in, you know): The "Lambing Flat" in the song refers to the town now known as Young, in New South Wales, or so I am informed by those knowledgeable in these matters.

Regards,
Shimbo

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MURRUMBIDGEE SHEARER (from Paterson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 May 14 - 08:51 PM

For comparison, this is from The Old Bush Songs: Composed and Sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days edited by Andrew Barton ("Banjo") Paterson (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1905), page 93:


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, 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.