Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: SNOWY RIVER ROLL (Bill Lovelock)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 23 Nov 00 - 03:32 AM

G'day,

This must have been improved ... I forgot NOT to use brackets ... and it WORKED! Thanks loyal gnomes.

I thought, when our guest Ernest asked, that I had posted this already - but I was mistaken - I actually posted it in an Australian forum - AusWorldFolk!

Here are the words Ernest wanted (this was a promotional song for the massive Government hydro-electric / irrigation project commencing in 1949. It becomes all the more topical once again because of the campaign to give some of the water back to the Snowy River - and the fierce resistance from the Murray River irrigators benefitting from them.

Snowy River Roll
Bill Lovelock

Give me a man who's a man among men,
Who'll stow his white collar and put down his pen.
Who'll blow down a mountain and build you a dam,
Bigger and better than old Uncle Sam!

Roll! Roll! Roll on your way!
Snowy River, roll on your way!
Roll on your way until Judgement Day!
Snowy River, roll.

Sometimes it's raining and sometimes it's hail,
Sometimes it blows up a blizzardly gale.
Sometimes there's fire; sometimes there's flood,
And sometimes you're up to your eyeballs in mud!

Give me bulldozers and tractors 'n' hoses,
'N' diesels to ease all my troubles away.
With the help of the Lord and of good Henry Ford
The Snowy will roll on her way.

Don't bring your sweetheart unless she's your wife,
For here you must follow the bachelor life!
Where woman is woman, and man is a fool!
Y' get much more work from a bow-legged mule.


This is the MIDItext of the tune - use Alan of Oz's program to get a workable MIDI .. or an ABC file.

MIDI file: snowyrol.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 3/4 24 8
Tempo: 150 (400000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0000 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 77 080 0288 0 77 064 0072 1 77 080 0113 0 77 064 0007 1 77 080 0192 0 77 064 0048 1 69 080 0450 0 69 064 0030 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 77 080 0192 0 77 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0096 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 77 080 0288 0 77 064 0072 1 77 080 0113 0 77 064 0007 1 77 080 0192 0 77 064 0048 1 69 080 0672 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 77 080 0192 0 77 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 72 080 0384 0 72 064 0096 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 76 080 0576 0 76 064 0144 1 72 080 0576 0 72 064 0144 1 74 080 0288 0 74 064 0072 1 74 080 0113 0 74 064 0007 1 74 080 0192 0 74 064 0048 1 69 080 0384 0 69 064 0336 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0096 1 71 080 0225 0 71 064 0015 1 74 080 0384 0 74 064 0096 1 77 080 0192 0 77 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0336 1 76 080 0288 0 76 064 0072 1 76 080 0113 0 76 064 0007 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 72 080 0288 0 72 064 0072 1 74 080 0113 0 74 064 0007 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 77 080 0384 0 77 064 0096 1 77 080 0192 0 77 064 0048 1 69 080 0384 0 69 064 0336 1 67 080 0384 0 67 064 0096 1 71 080 0225 0 71 064 0015 1 74 080 0384 0 74 064 0096 1 77 080 0192 0 77 064 0048 1 76 080 0192 0 76 064 0048 1 72 080 1056 0 72 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:3/4
Q:1/4=150
K:C
e2e2e2|c2d2e2|f3ff2|A4A2|G2B2c2|d2e2f2|e2c2A2|
G4G2|e2e2e2|c2d2e2|f3ff2|A6|G2B2c2|d2e2f2|
e2c2c2|c4d2|e6|c6|d3dd2|A6|G4B2|d4f2|e2c2A2|
G6|e3ee2|c3de2|f4f2|A6|G4B2|d4f2|e2c4|-c19/4||

The chords (in C) would go:

||C / /F / ||
||C /G7 /C /G7 ||
||C / /F / ||
||C /G7 /C / ||
CHORUS:
||C / /G7 /F ||
||C /G7 /C /G7 ||
||C / /F / ||
||C /G7 /C / ||

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: GUEST,John in Brisbane
Date: 23 Nov 00 - 08:09 AM

Well done Bob, I seem to remember it in print somewhere. Was it Singabout or Tradition or the Joy Durst collection? Regards, John

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: GUEST,GUEST, Ernest
Date: 24 Nov 00 - 01:19 AM

Wow, that was quick ! Thanks a lot, Bob. I hope I can be of some help to you friendly people some time.

Ernest

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 28 Nov 00 - 09:59 PM

G'day John,

It was none of those ... too early for most of them - except Joy Durst herself (an old Sydney Bush Music Club member), but when her husband's job took him - and her - south to Melbourne, where she died young, the Victorians raised the book as a monument - but left out or didn't credit most things from north of the Murray. The song had its first vogue before any of our Australian "Folk Revival" - heavily promoting the Snowy Scheme from 1949. We would not have printed it in Singabout (1956 -1965) because it was a "commercial" song ... then! Bill Lovelock originally offered it to the Ford Company as a jingle - then the SMA took it up themselves.

I got the first two stanzas initially from the ABC School song books ... then got the full set from the Girl Guides' Song Book! I reckon you would have seen the Schools Song Book version - no one escaped that in the '50s ... then they republished it in the '60s.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Dec 00 - 07:55 PM

G'day again,

Just a wry afternote to this posting: the one thing that the Snowy River did not do after the building of the Snowy Mountains Scheme was roll! Almost all its waters went west to the Murray River and the irrigation areas.

Now, after decades of fighting, the Snowy Corporation and the Government have agreed to allow 28% of the original Snowy River flow back into the river, to keep it alive. Now I can sing Snowy River Roll ... and (somewhat wryly) mean it!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: Sourdough
Date: 30 Dec 00 - 03:11 PM

Looking at the lyrincs of Snowy River Roll, it reminded me strongly of the collection af about thirty songs that Woody Guthrie wrote about fifteen years before for the US Bureau of Reclamation to publicise the big Columbia River Water Projects. The FDR administration wanted popular support and someone figured that Guthrie would be able to provide it.

His populist attitude was perfect for the project so the goal of power for factories and water for farms resonated with Guthrie. Out of it came lyrics like Talking Columbia and Roll On Columbia.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 30 Dec 00 - 10:18 PM

G'day Sourdough,

My song file has a copy of Roll on Columbia next to Snowy River Roll On. Lovelock didn't exactly 'copy' or 'parody' Woody's song ... but he sure as heck listened very closely. He wouldn't be the only writer that modelled works on Guthrie songs.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: GUEST,Fred Macpherson
Date: 27 Jan 08 - 07:55 PM

Date: 28th January 2008
Many years ago this song with the above words appeared in the ABC song book for senior primary school students in NSW. My Tear 5 class enjoyed it very much, especially the girls who sang the last verse with gleeful grins on their faces. Glad to find the words again.

Thanks,
Fred

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: GUEST,Denis Gately
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 01:17 AM

....and I was delighted to be poointed in the direction of this website, by my cousin Sally Howarth(nee Blyton), who grew up in Berridale while I grew up in Cooma in the 50s. Our respective parents worked on the Snowy, and I can distinctly remember this song being played on commercial radio(2XL) in the mid 50s.

Being an "old folkie" myself ("the Shack " at Narrabeeen and the Catacombs at Adelaide, among other venues), I have been trying to track it down for some time, and when i visited Sally in Perth recently she got on the trail and ran it to ground through this site.

So, I will now be delighted to add it to my repertoire !!

Cheers
Denis

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: GUEST,Linda Rendell
Date: 04 Mar 10 - 09:08 PM

Visiting Dalgety recently, 'On the Banks of the Snowy River', I was saddened to hear that that extra flow of water meant to 'Roll' on it's way down below the Jindy Dam has not yet happened.

The river really needs more than just 5% flow and a flush out now and again... and promises need to be kept!

I guess that 'Judgement Day' was when the wall went up. :(

Linda Rendell

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: Snowy River Roll (Australian)
From: GUEST,Memories
Date: 31 Jul 10 - 07:42 PM

I learned to sing that song at school from the ABC 'Singing and Listening' - book + radio program. Googled the lyrics, and here I am! Thanks for putting this online.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 10:21 PM

G'day GUESTs 'Linda Rendell' and 'Memories',

I think that I learned this song before the ABC 'Singing & Listening' books / program ... with my School Choir, 5th class at Enfield (Sydney suburb) OC Class primary school (1955/56).

I don't think we included it in our brackets for the Sydney Eisteddfod ... but it was a rattling good sing! (The OC Classes were co-ed ... but I don't remember any reactions from the primary school girls, to the last verse.)

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 07:25 AM

I called into the Snowy Mountain Headquarter in Cooma a couple of years ago and inquired if they had either a recording of the song or a copy, but they didn't have knowledge of it.

Bruce D

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 26 Aug 10 - 12:00 AM

G'day Bruce,

I think the remnants of the SMA don't have a strong historical perspective ... or, certainly not one that goes beyond the main historical cliches. Back when they were organising the (50th ?) anniversary celebrations they were almost exclusively talking about the immigrant component of the work force (certainly a big step in Australia's becoming a much more cosmopolitan place ...).

When I responded to requests for past workers to register ... I didn't even get a reply ... I think my surname was on the wrong side of the national ledger!

By the way, my favourite recordings of Snowy Mountains Project songs were those by Ulick Boyle's Settlers group. I bought my copies from the dry canteen at Khancoban, when I was working on Murray 2 Dam.

I remember Ulick popping up of the stage, at the Canberra Community Theatre, during the 1972 national Folk Festival ... and I had one beer with him at a much later Canberra-based National ... mid-1990s!

I think JennieG had a full set of the ABC singing books - so she would have a copy of the laid-out music pages. I can't really place any LP, let alone later CD ... with a group singing Snowy River Roll.

(I don't think anyone would be game to record it today ... for fear of being hounded down by the "Save The Snowy River" contingent!)

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 06 Sep 10 - 07:08 AM

Thanks so much for posting the lyrics! I loved this song in 1968, in primary school - but we weren't taught the final verse. It must have been censored!

Kerry

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 06:42 AM

Wow, this is great to see! I did my nursing training in Wagga in the mid to late sixties and we garnered more than a few patients from the Snowy Scheme - No OH&S to speak of in those days! Great guys, all nationalities, cheeky as anything!
But I learned the song as a kid, probably partly from the radio but I also remember it from an old movie about the Snowy Scheme, it was played with the opening credits if I recall correctly.
Ulick O'Boyle from The Settlers group died just recently. I had seen them two or three times in concert in Wagga and loved them. I have both their LP's (from back then, still in excellent condition) but went searching to try and get CD's and finally found his daughter is selling the Settlers original songs compiled onto one CD. Of course I bought it, and a second CD Ulick made without the original Settlers. It's called Kiandra and Beyond, really good, too.
I visited my sister recently and playing the Settler brought 'Snowy River Roll' to mind. We eventually remembered all the but second last verse so thank you Bob Bolton!

Jean Eade. Cowra NSW.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 07:10 AM

Just found this thread, I don't have a full set of ABC school song books (wish I did!) - and unfortunately, this song is not in the ones I do have. Mine are from the mid-late 80s when my sons were in infants and primary schools.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: GUEST,Karen
Date: 26 Mar 13 - 06:30 AM

My husband and I recently spent a fortnight in east Gippsland and stayed in Orbost on the banks of the Snowy River for a few nights. While sitting watching the river roll on by I suddenly remembered learning this song in Primary school (around 1973?) and managed to recall about half the lyrics. Trying to recall the full song has been driving me and my husband (who has to listen to me constantly humming the tune) to distraction. Finally found this site. THANK YOU.

I wonder how our teacher managed to explain that last verse!

Thanks again

Karen G
Queanbeyan NSW

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: GUEST,David ORPIN
Date: 14 Jun 13 - 02:28 AM

THANKS,I am in queensland and went on holidays at age 5 in 1962 and I still remember how it was played all day over the pa in the caravan park till dark every day all day I just love the song been singing to my self ever since when I am on the tractor mowing a scout camp I also remember the flies and having to keep waving across the fry pan to stop the eggs turning black with flies cheers good to see the song still alive cheers david

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 17 Jun 13 - 09:10 PM

G'day (GUEST) Karen,

Between February 1966 and October 1967 I worked on a number of Tasmanian hydro-scheme dams / Canberra - ACT water-supply's Corin Dam and the Snowy Mts Murray 2 Dam. All these projects, by the mid-late 1960s had well constructed and managed camp areas ... although I do remember that Corin Dam's camp was visited ... on Pay Day nights by either travelling gambling schools or caravans sporting a number of young ladies of dubious intent.

As soon as either came came to the notice of the ACT authorities they were promptly seen off the dam site ... and escorted to the ACT / NSW border!

It all did tend to bring ... o my mind, at least, the last verse of Snowy River, Roll!

Regards,

BobB

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Snowy River Roll (Bill Lovelock)
From: GUEST,Kerrin Digney
Date: 31 Jul 22 - 04:17 AM

60 years ago I was with a group of kids on an YAL tour though the Snowy Mountain Scheme. As we drove along in the bus we were taught this song and because of this experience I have sung it though out the years to my children, grandchildren and now my great grandies. They have all loved the tune and the lyrics. It is now great that I have all the words as my version wasn't quite the same. Thank you!