Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish

Subject: Camp Song @ Austrailians & Codfish
From:
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 12:26 AM

Looking for the title and lyrics to an action song learned long ago at 4H camp - it went for several rounds, and I can only remember two. The action part is to sit straddling the benches and with each chorus you would rock as far forward and backward as you possible could.
It's something like this:

Australian boys don't have any sails
Look away, look away
They make their sails out of codfish tails
Look away, look away.

(Chorus)
Look away my Billie boy boy
Look away my Billie boy boy
Look away my Billie boy boy
We're off for Australia
Rootie toot tootie, Rootie toot tootie
Iddy Iddy Iddy Iddy, Umpah Umpah Umpah!

Australian girls don't have any combs
Look away, look away
They make their combs out of codfish bones
Look away, look away...

Any help with the other rounds would be very much appreciated!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Austrailians & Codfish
From: Sorcha
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 12:42 AM

o m'gawd.......you Ozzies better wake up, get on line and answer this one......(BTW, in the States, 4-H is a youth organization that is agriculturally and community oriented)I believe the 4 "h's" are Head, Heart, Hand and Help. They do farm (station),homemaker and animal stuff.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Austrailians & Codfish
From: Gypsy
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 01:07 AM

I know it as a shanty, but have an irritating OTHER tune in me head. when i think of title, will post lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Austrailians & Codfish
From: Gypsy
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 01:09 AM

Is it Girls around Cape Horn? Have lyrics for that one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Austrailians & Codfish
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 01:33 AM

Well, it uses verses similar to Cape Cod Girls. I'll bet it's a different version of the same song.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CODFISH SHANTY
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 04:23 AM

G'day JudyJudy (?),

I know a song related to this as The Codfish Shanty but the chorus is quite different. It seems to be just a variant set of stanzas for the better-known Bound for South Australia and (at least in the version I know) uses the much the same tune, refrain and chorus (typical verse swapping in shanties?) Perhaps someone reworked it - to flesh it out as a single song for use in your 4-H camps?:

The Codfish Shanty

Melbourne boys they have no combs,
Heave away, haul away,
They slide downhill on codfish head,
And we're bound for Australia.
Chorus:
Heave away you bully buys,
Heave away, haul away.
Heave away, why don't you make a noise?
We're bound for Australia.

Lisa Lee she promised me,
Heave away, haul away,
When I return she'd marry me,
And we're bound for Australia.
Chorus:
Etcetera

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Austrailians & Codfish
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 11:58 AM

Well, Bob, someone's combined at least two verses in your version:

Melbourne boys they have no combs,

They slide downhill on codfish head,
And we're bound for Australia.

I would sing this:

Melbourne boys ain't got no sleds,
Heave away, haul away,
They slide downhill on codfish heads,
And we're bound for South Australia.

Melbourne girls ain't got no combs,
Heave away, haul away,
They comb their hair with codfish bones,
And we're bound for South Australia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Austrailians & Codfish
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 11:42 PM

G'day Charley Noble,

As I said, the verses seem to be pretty mobile within the shanty class. The version I quoted above was just a quick type-up of one cited in Ron Edwards's Australian Folksong Index - published 1966 in the Victorian Folk Music Club's Tradition magazine, vol. 3, no. 3. It was the first one to hand and I have heard a lot of variants.

The one that comes first to my mind is pretty much what you quoted. It always seemed a bit of a strange lyric to me - not many sleds around here - at least in a fairly hot, dry, flat country.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: GUEST,Pam
Date: 11 Feb 12 - 06:19 PM

Australian women they have no pins, look away, look away
They mend their clothes with codfish fins. . .

Australian men they have no sails
They sail their boats with codfish tails

Australian girls they have no combs
They comb their hair with codfish bones

Australian boys they have no sleds
They slide down hills on codfish heads

Those are the verses I remember Michigan circa 1963

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jul 12 - 07:30 PM

Verse 1
Australian girls they have no combs, look away, look away,
They comb their hair with codfish bones,look away, look away,

Chorus
Look away, my Bonnie bonnie boys, look away, look away,
Look away, my Bonnie Bonnie boys, we're off for australia!
Vroom vroom vroom vroom
Vroom vroom vroom vroom
Iddy Iddy Iddy Iddy
Oompah oompah oompapa

Verse 2
Australian boys they have no sleds look away, look away,
They sled down hills in codfish heads,look away, look away

Chorus

Verse 3
Australian babies they have no cribs, look away, look away,
They lay their babies in codfish ribs,look away, look away

Chorus

Verse 4
Australian girls they have no pins, look away, look away,
They pin their hair with codfish fins,look away, look away

Chorus

Verse 5
Austrailian boys they have no sails look away, look away,
They sail their boats with codfish tails, ,look away, look away

Chorus

This is what we use in Wisconsin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Jul 12 - 11:03 PM

G'day GUEST Pam/ GUEST,

I think I still have the same opinion as 11 + years ago: Somebody has gathered in a version ( ... or two ...) of the shanty, which is ... like any shanty ... only peripheral to the country currently named ... and decided to see how many rhyming couplets they can create from the pattern ... and a very loose idea of what might actually happen, in Australia, over ( ...down ... ) on the other side of the world!

That's no real criticism, per se, as it's pretty much what I have always though of the Cod Fish Shanty.

Shanties don't have to make sense ... just rhythms ... and WORK effort!

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 11:40 PM

We sang this at Juniper Knoll Girl Scout Camp in the mid-west growing up.

Austrailia is a mighty fine place
look away. look away.
they comb their hair with cod-fish combs
look away, look away.
Look away, my bonnie, bonnie girl, look away, look away,
Look away, my bonnie, bonnie girl, we're off for Austrailia

boom boom boom boom,
boom boom boom boom,
ticky ticky ticky ticky
boom, ticky boom, ticky boom.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: GUEST,cosmos42
Date: 24 Aug 15 - 07:03 PM

I learned a different version in Southern California Girl Scout camps in the late 80's and early 90's (I don't remember exactly which one I learned it at).

Australia
---------

Australia is a very fine place
Look away, look away.
To come from there is no disgrace
Look away, look away.

(chorus)Look away my bonnie, bonnie boys
Look away, look away.
Look away my bonnie, bonnie boys.
We're off to Australia.
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Ittie, ittie, ittie, ittie
Oompah, oompah, oompahpah.

Australian girls are very fine girls
Look away, look away.
They comb their hair with codfish tails
Look away, look away.

(chorus)

Australian boys are very fine boys.
Look away, look away.
They slide down hills on codfish tails.
Look away, look away.

(chorus)

Australian dogs are very fine dogs.
Look away, look away.
They eat up all the codfish tails.
Look away, look away.

(chorus)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Aug 15 - 11:23 PM

last night at The Dock Shanty Session in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern we were singing 'Redfern Girls.' This session is run by an enthusiastic group of under 30s, with a sprinkling of great haired & grey-bearded long-time shanty singers & the song was adapted by one of the members.

sandra

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD - Codfish Shanty-Australian version
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Aug 15 - 07:28 AM

from one of the grey-haired shanty singers @ The Dock

The Codfish Shanty which appears in The Joy Durst Memorial Song Book, published in 1970 by the Victorian Folk Music Club. (but note - the chorus has WHY don't you make a noise - which makes more sense to me.):

Melbourne girls, they have no combs,
Heave away, heave away
They comb their hair with cod-fish bones
And we're bound for Australia.

Chorus:
Heave away, my bully bully boys,
Heave away, heave away
Heave away, why don't you make a noise
And we're bound for Australia

Melbourne boys ain't got no sleds,
Heave away, haul away,
They slide downhill on codfish heads,
And we're bound for South Australia.

Liza Lee, she promised me
Heave away, Heave away
When I return she'll marry me
And we're bound for Australia

========

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: GUEST,Steve in Melbourne
Date: 21 Aug 16 - 01:46 AM

A version of this song can be found on page 90 of The Harvard Song Book, compiled and published by The Harvard Glee Club in 1922. Copy and paste the following link into your browser:

pop-sheet-music.com/Files/a172f45a86766f8f4e9a3aac9d01c28c.pdf

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: Andrez
Date: 21 Aug 16 - 06:05 AM

What an interesting historical find that song book is Steve.

Cheers,

Andrez (also from not so sunny Melbourne)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song @ Australians & Codfish
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Dec 23 - 07:49 PM

My granddaughter has a boyfriend from Australia. After finding this out, it brought to mind this song that I learned 50 some odd years ago at girl scout camp. Couldn't remember about the "sleds" and "codfish heads". Now, after a few brews we can sing him a song, and see what he thinks of us Yanks.