Lyr Add: Across the Western Suburbs(AU)

Subject: Across the Western Suburbs(AU)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 11:06 AM

In the early 1970's the inner city neighborhood of Wooloomooloo in Sidney, Australia, was threatened by massive urban renewal. The resistance by the residents; the cooperation gained from the building and trades union; the roles of the politicians, real estate speculators, and city planners; the battles with goon squads and with the police; is all effectively presented in the documentary film Wooloomooloo. Sydney poet Denis Kevans and Builders Laborers organizer Seamus Gill were in the thick of the fight and livened things up with such great songs as this one, patterned after the old sailors' drinking song "All for Me Grog."

ACROSS THE WESTERN SUBURBS

(Words by Denis Kevans and Seamus Gill © 1973; As sung by Tony Lavin of The Ramblers; Source: Mike O'Rourke, The Living Daylights, February 5-11, 1974, pp. 23; Tune: traditional All for Me Grog)

Oh, me name it is Fred,
In Sydney born and bred,
And the inner-city used to be my 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 roam, boys.

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 wander.

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. (CHO)

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. (CHO)

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. (CHO)

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. (CHO)

Now before the city's wrecked,
Those developers must be decked,
For it's plain to see they do not give a bugger;
And we soon will see the day
If those bandits have their way,
We will all be driven out past Wagga Wagga.

We did our own version of this song for Portland, ME, back in the 1980's when we were in the midst of a working waterfront referendum; it was called "Concrete and Glass" and is drifting around in another thread. I'm planning to try and track down the composers in Australia this December who Bob Bolton assures me are still walking this earth.

Landlady's Daughter, not to be confused with Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Across the Western Suburbs(AU)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 11:44 PM

G'day Landlady's Daughter,

Nice to see Denis's and Seamus's words. I was listening to a recording of another Sydney singer of that period, Bill Berry (now living up in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney) - now he has put some of his repertoire onto tape and a friend has popped them onto CD. Bill does quite a good version of Across the Western Suburbs.

Incidentally, the song is, of course, ultimately from Across the Western Ocean, but the intermediate step was Across the Western Plains, a song of the cattle drovers. Quite a lot of sea songs turned into droving songs in Australia ... it's a surprisingly simple transition.

I'm surprised to not see Across the Western Plains in the DT. I must check to see if I have posted it (I notice that the version available for downloading is still 1999 ...). If Across the Western Plains hasn't been posted, I will post it.

BTW: As I said, Denis is living up the mountains, but Seamus is down in Canberra these days. I may see him down at Jamberoo (Illawarra Folk Festival - Spring edition), weekend after next, and I will suss out just how far away he will be when you grace our shares.

Oh: Woolloomoolloo - but don't worry ... most Australians get it wrong, if they ever try to spell it ... I seem to remember there once being a memory-jogging song to remind people of the correct sequence of double and single letters.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

---

Note: The "across the Western Plains" version is here (click) in the Digital Tradition, but Bob's version below is much more substantial, and has been submitted as an addition or replacement.
-Joe Offer, June, 2003-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Across the Western Suburbs(AU)
From: alison
Date: 05 Sep 01 - 01:51 AM

I think Denis goes to the sessions up at the Ivanhoe, and Blackheath folk club... so you should have no trouble meeting him when you're up there...

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Across the Western Suburbs(AU)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 Sep 01 - 09:13 AM

Thanks, Bob and Alison for the kind words and information. I'm looking forward as well to meeting you both in Sydney.

Here are the words to our Portland, ME, adaptation of the above song:

CONCRETE AND GLASS
(Charlie Ipcar - 1985 Adapted from Denis Kevans' & Seamus Gill's Australian "Across the Western Suburbs" © 1973; tune: "All for Me Grog")

Oh, me name it is Fred,
In Portland born and bred,
And the Old Port used to be my home, boys
But 'tis caused me heart to grieve,
For I've had to take me leave,
Now across them western suburbs
I must roam, boys!

Chorus:

In concrete and glass,
Portland's disappearing fast;
'Tis all gone for profit and for plunder;
Though we really want to stay,
They keep forcing us away,
Now across them western suburbs
we must wander!

Now, where is me house,
Me old three-decker house?
'Tis all gone for profit and for plunder;
For the wreckers of the town
Just come up and knocked it down;
Now across them western suburbs
we must wander!

And where is me pub,
Me Irish Village Pub?
'Tis all gone for profit and for plunder;
Now when you walk in the door,
You'll find condo's on each floor,
And you'll have to fly to Dublin
for your beer, boys!

And where is me port,
Me old working port?
'Tis all gone for profit and for plunder;
Now when you walk down the dock,
All ye'll hear is disco rock;
And ye'll have to dry ye nets
in a laundromat, boys!

And where is me bank,
Me old Maine Savings Bank?
'Tis all gone for profit and for plunder;
Now who can ye trust
When all the banks go bust;
So across them western suburbs
we must wander!

Now, before the city's wrecked
Them developers must be decked;
For 'tis plain to see they do not give a bugger,
And if them bandits have their way
We soon shall see the day
That we'll all be driving in from Madawaska!

Note, Madawaska is a small town in northern Maine about 6 hours from Portland.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Across the Western Plains(AU)^^
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 05 Sep 01 - 07:54 PM

G'day again,

Landlady's Daughter: Thanks for the Portland Maine version!
I'm fairly certain that I have submitted a version of Across the Western Plains, but I can't see it in the Digital Tradition. Perhaps it has been harvested but not yet loaded into the DT. Anyway, I went back to the source of most versions sung these days … and here is a slightly different version (with some comments and emendations by me in italics). This should be interesting, in that it is pretty well the immediate ancestor of the words that Denis and Seamus wrote - for their new circumstances of the '70s.

A version of this song was in AB 'Banjo' Paterson's book of collected material Old Bush Songs, 1905/1924. When this was revised, in 1957, by Douglas Stewart and Nancy Keesing, they expanded the song with some verses published separately in The Bulletin. I don't think I have ever heard anyone sing the third verse (starting with " I have an old shirt, …") and it is obviously one that leaked over from the Across the Western Ocean ancestor. The sailor of the Western Ocean is very concerned about his clothing and gear - he has to wear it all over the world and it's a long way to the clothing store … our drover on the Western plains is far more concerned with the state of his hangover!

This version had only a 2-line chorus, so I had added the usual 3rd and 4th lines (italicised. It's interesting to see just how sparse these words, from early 19th century, are - compared with modern versions, where singers seem to slip in a quite a number of extra words … perhaps we are no longer in tune with silences.

The Jolly, Jolly Grog and Tobacco
Anon.

Oh, I'm a jolly lad, though my fortune it's sad,
And if ever I get luck I should wonder,
For I've spent all my brass in the bottom of the glass,
Now across the Western Plains I must wander.

Chorus For it's all through the grog, the jolly, jolly grog,
Oh, it's all through the grog and tobacco.
I've spent all my tin, in a shanty drinking gin,
And across the Western Plains I must wander.

I'm stiff and stony broke, and I've parted with my moke,
And the sky is looking black as thunder,
And the boss of the shanty too, for I haven't got a sou.
That's the way you're treated when you're under.

I have an old shirt, it's the only one I've got,
And the collar is burnt to a cinder,
If I don't get any more I will never have a store,
So I'll save this old shirt to make tinder.

I'm crook in the head, for I haven't been to bed
Since I first touched this shanty with my plunder,
I see centipedes and snakes, and I'm full of aches and shakes
So I'd better make a push out over yonder.

I take the Old Man Plain, criss-cross it all again,
Until my eyes the track no longer see;
My beer and brandy brain seeks balmy sleep in vain,
I feel-as if I had the Darling Pea.

Repentance brings reproof, so I sadly "Pad the hoof"
All day I see the mirage of the trees,
But it all will have an end when I reach the river bend,
And listen to the singing of the breeze,

Then hang the jolly prog, the hocussed shanty grog,
The beer that's loaded with tobacco;
Grafting humour I am in-and I'll stick the peg right in,
And settle down once more to yakka. ^^

"Reconstructed from the version in Paterson's Old Bush Songs and some fragments in the Bulletin of 4th May 1916-"'Bi1ly B.': Here's another Wild Colonial Song, or as much as the venerable bushranger could recollect of it."
"Yakka" - work. "

Above is the note given in Old Bush Songs, 1957 … and they only felt the need to explain "Yakka". I should probably add a few more, for a wider audience:

Shanty = cheap grog shop
Old Man Plain = The wide plains (the great Western Plains) - use of Aboriginal/Pidgin sense of "old man" meaning "big" … "the biggest".
Darling Pea = Sickness (usually of stock, not the stockman) caused by eating native pea of swainsonia spp.
Prog = Old northern English dialect word for food, (particularly if scrounged)

regards,

Bob Bolton
^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Across the Western Suburbs(AU)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Sep 01 - 08:31 AM

Nice one, Bob, just full of good rich stuff and a few charming relics from "Across the Western Ocean."

We do need the services of one of them awesome Joe Clones to correct your typo (verse 4) in this line:"I'm crook in the bead" which probably should read "I'm crook in the head".

LD

Subject: Help ... JoeClone?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 06 Sep 01 - 08:52 AM

G'day LD,

Oooops! ... That was an undetected 'scano'. I scanned in the version from Nancy & Douglas's Old Bush Songs, 1957 instead of the normal, singing, version already in my song folder (and my head ...?) ... and I thought I had proofread it right through.

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton

---

Fixed it. --JoeClone

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Across the Western Suburbs(AU)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Sep 01 - 05:11 PM

Awesome, indeed! Thanks, Joe!