Lyr Req: Ryebuck Shearer (trad Australia)

Subject: billygoat pissing
From: The Sandman
Date: 13 Sep 06 - 12:50 PM

can anyone tell me the australian song that has aline in it.
a billygoat pissing in an old tin can.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: billy goat pissing
From: Leadfingers
Date: 13 Sep 06 - 01:46 PM

Its in 'The Ryebuck Shearer' Dick ! Got to go out now , but I may well find the lyrics I have and post it tomorrow !

The actual line is - A voice like a billy goat pissing in a tin !

Subject: Lyr Add: THE RYEBUCK SHEARER
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Sep 06 - 02:38 PM

Here's one version.

Ryebuck Shearer

I come from the south and my name it's Field,
And when my shears are properly steeled
A hundred and odd I have very often peeled,
And of course I'm a ryebuck shearer

Chorus
If I don't shear a tally before I go
My shears and stone in the river I'll throw.
And I'll never open Sawbees or take another blow,
And prove I'm a ryebuck shearer.

There's a bloke on the board and I heard him say
That I couldn't shear a hundred sheep a day,
But some fine day I'll show him the way,
And prove I'm a ryebuck shearer.

Oh I'll make a splash, but I won't say when,
I'll hop off me tail and I'll into the pen,
While the ringer's shearing five, I'll shear ten,
And prove I'm a ryebuck shearer.

There's a bloke on the board and he's got a yellow skin,
A very long nose and he shaves on the chin,
And a voice like a billy goat pissin' on tin,
And of course he's a ryebuck shearer.

Source: Meredith & Anderson, Folksongs of Australia, Volume 1
Singer: Ernie Sibley

Meredith says "ryebuck" means "expert." Meredith also collected a very similar version, sung by Jack Luscombe - Luscombe has it "a voice like a billygoat shittin' on tin."

The Penguin Book of Australian Folk Songs (Manifold) has similar lyrics, but has it "a voice like a billy-goat dancing on a tin" - no comment.

Folkstream.com has similar lyrics, a MIDI, and one additional verse:

There's a bloke up north or so I've heard
With a face like a dried up buffalo turd
And if you think that's bad well you ought to see his bird
She looks like a ryebuck shearer

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: GUEST,Rowan
Date: 13 Sep 06 - 06:12 PM

The song is known around some sessions as "The dreaded RBS" mostly, I suspect, because of the frequency and enthusiasm with which it gets sung. The additional verse concluding Joe Offer's post often has the last line as
And of course she's a ryebuck shearer.

Great lagerphone material.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: Snuffy
Date: 13 Sep 06 - 07:17 PM

Is it a similar tune to "Enlist for a Sailor"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 Sep 06 - 07:25 PM

There were an Australian couple at Linlithgow Festival last weekend: Ivan sang it several times. My friend and I already knew it from having heard the scottish group "Haggerdash" do it. (It's on their latest CD)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 14 Sep 06 - 04:32 AM

Thanks to Joe Offer for alerting me to the thread - I would have missed it from the thread title.

Not often sung in the UK but I have always liked the tune, and was hopong to find the words back in 2000, and now I have them!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: GUEST,Phil
Date: 14 Sep 06 - 08:54 PM

Over the last 20 years or so this song has been sung fast and aggressively. I remember hearing it sung slowly and quietly - the singer(shearer) boasting of skill and and telling his story in a layed back manner. It's easy to get caught up in the song and keep pushing the tempo, but it can retain it's power and drive without becoming frenetic.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE RYEBUCK SHEARER
From: vectis
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 06:21 AM

I've been singing this occasionally for almost thirty years. One day I'll get it right.

RYEBUCK SHEARER

CHORUS:

...And if I don't shear a tally before I go,
My shears and my stone in the river I'll throw;
And 'I'll never open sore' means to take another blow,
To prove I'm a ryebuck shearer...

Well I come from the North and my name is Phil,
And when my shears are properly steeled,
There's a hundred or more I have very often peeled,
And of course I'm a ryebuck shearer.

There's a bloke on the board and I heard him say,
I couldn't shear a hundred sheep in a day.
Well! One fine day, I'll show him the way,
And I'll prove I'm a ryebuck shearer.

One fine day and I won't say when,
I'll up off my arse and I'll into the pen;
While the ringers shearing five, I'll be shearing ten,
And I'll prove I'm a ryebuck shearer.

There's a bloke from the South or so I've heard,
Got a face like a dried up buffalo turd.
If you think that's bad, well you ought to see his bird,
And of course she's a ryebuck shearer.

There's a bloke from the West he's got a yellow skin,
He's got a funny pigtail and he shaves on the chin;
And a voice like a billygoat pissing in a tin,
And of course he's a ryebuck shearer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 08:07 PM

G'day vectis,

The third line of the chorus - as quoted by Joe Offer in the third posting - is 'correct' and well understood by a 'blade-shearer' of the day ... up to late 19th century / early 20th when machine "clipper" shears took over from hand-operated blade shears - just two steel bladed at the ends of handgrips joined by a 'bow-shaped' steel spring.

Sawbees were type of blade shear - a phonetic spelling of "Sorby" ... Robert Sorby & Sons, a Sheffield cutler in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They clearly made a lot of products for Australia, since The Sheffield Bowie and Pocket-knife makers 1825-1925, Richard Washer, 1974 shows 6 blade-stamped marks for Sorbys ... and three of them: "YARRA-YARRA", "KANGAROO" and a 'rebus' of a kangaroo are all clearly aimed at Australian customers.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: vectis
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 03:44 PM

Thanks Bob That makes more sense to me now. I'll correct my version to Sawbees.

Subject: Lyr Add: RYEBUCK (from Graham H. Dodsworth)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 08:27 AM

I guess we Americans are out of touch with Australian folklore. I had never heard this song. But a bit of research shows that it's been included in compilations like "All-Time Aussie Favourite Sing-Along Songs" and "Pub Songs from Down Under, Vol. 2", so obviously it's popular. I've listened to a few sound samples, and I find that it's usually done in a rousing kick-ass style, but I ran across one performer who does it differently, as a slow ballad, as described by Phil above. Graham H. Dodsworth's album "In Good King Arthur's Day" is described here. Unfortunately, he uses annoyingly complex and slow-to-download graphics throughout his web site—and he advertises his services as a web designer! But his performance, in this case is beautiful, and he has generously made the entire song available for download. Click here to play. He calls the song simply RYEBUCK.

RYEBUCK

1. I come from the south. My name is Field,
And when my shears are properly steeled,
There's a hundred or more I have very often peeled,
And of course, I'm a ryebuck shearer.

2. There's a bloke on the board being heard to say
I couldn't shear a hundred a day.
When I find the time, I'll show the way.
I became a ryebuck shearer.

3. I'll shear a tally before I go
Or shears and stones in the river I'll throw,
And I'll never open Sawbees to take another blow,
Till I prove I'm a ryebuck shearer, shearer.

4. And one fine day, I won't say when,
I'll climb up and into the pen.
While the ringer's shearing eight, I'll shear ten,
And I'll prove I'm a ryebuck shearer.

REPEAT VERSE 3.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: cobber
Date: 22 Sep 06 - 02:44 AM

This was the first song Conners ever recorded in 1971 on a single with Black Velvet Band. We opened the concert for Maity Swallow with it a couple of months ago and we still sing it with power and speed though I understand thye idea of singing it more gently. "All For Me Grog" is another song that can be sung as a ballad (and probably originally was)but everyone tends to sing it as a drinking song. I always found it amusing that if he doesn't shear his tally, he's going to throw away his shears and never open them again until he's proven himself to be a Ryebuck (gun or expert) Shearer. How the devil can he prove it without his shears?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Sep 06 - 03:12 AM

G'day Conner ... I mean cobber ... (Yeah - my fingers need reading glasses too!),

The words come from John Meredith's collection, as cited by Joe Offer in the 3rd post of this thread.

Chorus
If I don't shear a tally before I go
My shears and stone in the river I'll throw.
And I'll never open Sawbees or take another blow,
And prove I'm a ryebuck shearer.

Ernie Sibley was vey careful with lyrics (being mainly a reciter ... of some real tongue-twisters!). With the correct (well - 'collected') words it seems the shearer is saying that: ... if he doesn't make a decent tally at this shed ... he deserves to give up the game. A bit drastic ... but not as illogical as the change you made in the lyrics would make it.

John Manifold's bowdlerised version, in The Penguin Australian Song Book may be a bit prissy about just how bad the bloke with yellow skin's voice is ... but he also gets the chorus right.

Regards,

Bob
Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: GUEST,Rowan
Date: 22 Sep 06 - 10:08 PM

The version posted by Jim Dixon prompted an observation. When Doddsy arrived on the Melbourne folk scene (in the mid 70s as a 17 year old) he was already an excellent guitarist and a quite accomplished singer; he's only got better in both areas since then. His renditions were, however, always at least a little idiosyncratic.

People who sang shanties, choruses or 'routinely harmonised' songs found it useful to 'lead' such songs when Graham was around because, if he led them, his phrasing was likely to leave him as the only singer singing them. It's quite likely that he was unaware of this at that time.

I haven't heard the version Jim describes but, as one who has sung RBS many times, both energetically (with lagerphone) and more slowly (like Tom Waites' version of Waltzing Matilda but without the same skill) my reading of the text Jim posts won't scan to the tune as most sing it. Go Doddsy!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: billy goat pissing - Ryebuck Shearer
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Sep 06 - 09:32 PM

Sorby sheep shears

Another example of Sorby sheep shears

Other old tools made by Sorby

The Robert Sorby Company of today

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ryebuck Shearer (trad Australia)
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 12:46 AM

yess taty..we know it well its a great tune .....tom the grinder

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ryebuck Shearer (trad Australia)
From: freda underhill
Date: 03 Nov 06 - 08:20 AM

Phil, I agree that some bush songs have a completely different quality when sung slower. They can go from rowdy drinking songs to being plaintive and evocative - which i think was often the way some of them were originally.

Danny Spooner does a very slow, moving version of "Across the western plains I shall wander" - I much prefer it to the rah-rah version.

freda