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Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow

24 Oct 01 - 03:33 PM (#578906)
Subject: clancy of the overflow
From: GUEST,seanmcractagan@hotmail.com

Is anyone out there in possession of the lyrics/cds for "clancy of the overflow" and "the man from snowy river" ????

24 Oct 01 - 03:49 PM (#578919)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: John MacKenzie

I looked in my Australian book of penguin folk songs, and was surprised not to find Clancy of the overflow included therein. I have however a very scratchy EP ( remember them? ) of Australian ballads read by a guy called Ron Hadrick, and if none of theses clever and helpfull guys out there come up with the answer, which I'm sure they will, I'll transcribe the words for you from that.

Jock

24 Oct 01 - 03:50 PM (#578920)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: John MacKenzie

Sorry the words to The man from Snowy river I mean, doh!!

Jock

24 Oct 01 - 03:55 PM (#578922)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: GUEST,Don Meixner

Sean,

Just go to Google and type in "The Man From Snowy River".

It will take you to the A.B. Paterson poetry site. Some great stuff there including lyrics to nearly all his poems. Also, we've beat the horse a few times before so look in the old posts as well. Set the Wayback Machine for 365 days and type Banjo Paterson or something similar into the search window and I'm sure you'll find what you want. I hope you have a better tune for this than I ever heard. The one I have is full of Victorian belly singing and is just awful.

Good luck with the search.

Don

24 Oct 01 - 04:07 PM (#578937)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: mooman

I have the lyrics and tune for "Clancy of the Overflow" (a great song) but your 'Catter to contact on this is definitely Bob Bolton who is a mine of information on "Banjo Paterson" and all songs Australian, and who has helped me tremendously many times.

Best regards

mooman

24 Oct 01 - 05:57 PM (#579002)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Llanfair

You'll find "Clancy of the Overflow" wonderfully done by Bill/Sables on the CD "Bridging the Gap".
Cheers, Bron.

24 Oct 01 - 11:40 PM (#579156)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: GUEST

Check Slim Dusty

25 Oct 01 - 04:22 AM (#579240)
Subject: Lyr Add: CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW (Banjo Paterson)
From: Wolfgang

Copied and pasted from An anthology of Australian verse. It is very close to how I recollect Bill's rendition on 'Bridging the gap'.

Wolfgang

CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW
by Andrew Barton Paterson ('Banjo')

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just "on spec", addressed as follows, "Clancy, of The Overflow".

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)
'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
"Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."

. . . . .

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

. . . . .

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city,
Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the 'buses making hurry down the street,
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal --
But I doubt he'd suit the office, Clancy, of "The Overflow".

25 Oct 01 - 09:48 PM (#580009)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day GUEST:seanmcractaga ...

As you might have guessed from the variety of answers, there are a number of different song setting of both these poems by A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson. Do you have a specific version/singer/recording in mind ... or is it just a general request for any songs based on them?

I have a few different Clancy of the Overflow versions in my database ... it is a real favorite of many singers in different styles. Not so many for Man from Snowy River, but it has probably been set a few times by different singers.

REgards,

Bob Bolton

26 Oct 01 - 02:28 AM (#580118)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHAME OF GOING BACK (Henry Lawson)
From: John in Brisbane

This may be a trifle off track, but the following is one of my favourite Henry Lawson poems/songs and in my opinion deserves to be more widely known. The only discography that I know is Priscilla Herdman(?) "Waterlilies".

Perhaps Bob Bolton has this tune. If not then I'll see if I can sequence it.

Regards, John

THE SHAME OF GOING BACK - by Henry Lawson

When you've come to make your fortune, and you haven't made your salt,
And the reason of your failure isn't anybody's fault--
When you haven't got a billet, and the times are very slack,
There is nothing that can spur you like the shame of going back;

Chorus:
Crawling home with empty pockets,
Going back hard-up;
Oh! it's then you learn the meaning of "humiliation's cup".

When the place and you are strangers and you struggle all alone,
And you have a mighty longing for the town where you are known;
When your clothes are very shabby, and the future's very black,
There is nothing that can hurt you like the shame of going back.

When we've fought the battle bravely and are beaten to the wall,
'Tis the sneer of man, not conscience, that makes cowards of us all;
And while you are returning, oh! your brain is on the rack,
And your heart is in the shadow of the shame of going back.

When a beaten man's discovered with a bullet in his brain,
They post-mortem him, and try him, and they say he was insane;
But it very often happens that he'd lately got the sack,
And his onward move was owing to the shame of going back.

Ah! my friend, you call it nonsense, and your upper lip is curled--
You have had no real trouble in your passage through the world;
But when fortune rounds upon you and the rain is on the track,
You will learn the bitter meaning of the shame of going back;

Going home with empty pockets,
Going home hard-up;
Oh! it's then you'll taste the poison in humiliation's cup.

26 Oct 01 - 04:32 AM (#580153)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day John in Brisbane:

Priscilla Herdman's tune for The Shame of Going Back is in Chris Kempster's The Songs of Henry Lawson, Viking O'Neill, Ringwood, Victoria, 1989 (p81), along with another tune by Barry McKinnon. I can put it into MIDItxt and post it ... later - Patricia is calling me to dinner!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

26 Oct 01 - 04:50 AM (#580158)
Subject: Lyr Add: DO THEY THINK THAT I DO NOT KNOW?
From: alison

long time no see.... nice to see you again John.. how's the python?
seeing as we're doing favourite Henry Lawson poems... here's one of mine.....

DO THEY THINK THAT I DO NOT KNOW?
by Henry Lawson

They say that I never have written of love
As a writer of songs should do;
They say that I never could touch the strings
With a touch that is firm and true;
They say I know nothing of women and men
In the fields where Love's roses grow
And they say I must write in a halting pen-
Do you think that I do not know?

When the love-burst came like an English spring
In the days when our hair was brown,
And the hem of her skirt was a sacred thing
And her hair was an angel's crown.
The shock when another man touched her arm
Where the dancers sat round in a row;
The hope and despair, and the false alarm-
Do you think that I do not know?

By the arbour lights on the western farms
You remember the question put
While you held her in your quivering arms
And you trembled from head to foot.
The electric shock from her finger tips,
And the murmuring answer low,
The soft, shy yielding of warm red lips-
Do you think that I do not know?

She was buried at Brighton, where Gordon sleeps,
When I was a world away;
And the sad old garden its secret keeps,
For nobody knows today.
She left a message for me to read
Where the wild wide oceans flow;
Do you know how the heart of a man can bleed-
Do you think that I do not know?

I stood by the grave where the dead girl lies,
When the sunlit scenes were fair,
And the white clouds high in the autumn skies,
And I answered the message there.
But the haunting words of the dead to me
Shall go wherever I go.
She lives in the Marriage that Might Have Been -
Do you think that I do not know?

They sneer or scoff, and they pray or groan,
And the false friend plays his part.
Do you think that the blackguard who drinks alone
Knows aught of a pure girl's heart?
Knows aught of the first pure love of a boy
With his warm young blood aglow
Knows aught of the thrill of the world-old joy -
Do you think that I do not know?

They say that I never have written of love,
They say that my heart is such
That finer feelings are far above;
But a writer may know too much.
There are darkest depths in the brightest nights
When the clustering stars hang low;
There are things it would break his strong heart to write -
Do you think that I do not know?

slainte

alison

26 Oct 01 - 06:52 AM (#580187)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day again John in Bisbane,

I will post the tune, along with these words, in a separate thread.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

26 Oct 01 - 07:14 AM (#580195)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: John in Brisbane

Thanks Alison - it's truly a masterpiece isn't it?

The python(s) are quite active. Anne found one crawling from a mango tree into the boys' bathroom a couple of weeks ago - about seven feet long. I fixed the wire screen the next day. Spring has sprung, so there's lots of possums, fLying foxes and bandicoots for them to eat, plus we have plenty of local birds for them to snack on between meals.

If you have a current email address for Alan please let me know. The one listed in Mudcat is obviously defunct.

Regards, John

26 Oct 01 - 09:08 AM (#580252)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Tedham Porterhouse

Priscilla Herdman's album referred to is "The Water Lily," not "Waterlilies." Seven of the eleven songs are settings of Henry Lawson poems.

26 Oct 01 - 09:47 AM (#580292)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: GUEST,chrisj

I have a recording by the great Peter Dawson, a very accomplished baritone in his day, singing 'Clancy of the Overflow' and another, bouncier version by a group called 'The Matildas'from about 10/15 years ago. They are quite different tunes with the same Paterson poem as lyric. I think because of the strength of the poem it can take a variety of musical treatments.

26 Oct 01 - 09:53 AM (#580297)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day John in Brisbane,

I posted the tune, your set words (straight Lawson text?)and, (italicised) Priscilla Herdman's additional choruses, in a new thread: Lyr Add: The Shame of Going Back &c.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

01 Nov 01 - 07:58 AM (#583754)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day Chrisj,

I seem to have been neglecting this thread (OK ... Mudcat went into hiding, down in the bottom mud, for 2 days - but that doesn't cover my absence sufficiently.)

You mention a version of Clancy of the Overflow by "The Matildas" ... Would that actually be "Wallis & Matilda" ... a group that had a really successful version of Clancy of the Overflow in the charts (!) about then? I should have my transcription of that tune tucked away in my 1980s band charts ... indeed that was the onre I fancied would be seanmacractan was after ... but I was waiting for confirmation. I guess I should just extract the proverbial digit and commit the tune to MusicTime and thence to MIDI and on to MIDItxt and into the Mudcat realm ... shouldn't I?

BT: I just scanned in my photographs of "Wallis & Matilda, performing at The Australian Folk Festival at Kiama ... about June 1999. They reformed (well, maybe just re-formed ...) for the occasion. (I just realised that the CD of the Illawarra region folk festivals, 1998 to 2001, has 1650 his res scans of my photographs ... about 55 hours scanning work, alone ... I must be mad!)

Regards(les)s,

Bob Bolton

Regards,

Bob Bolton

02 Nov 01 - 01:57 AM (#584426)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: GUEST,chrisj

Bob Bolton, you are probably right about my record of 'Clancy' being by "Wallis & Matilda". It was on an LP (!) which was otherwise not of great interest to me and I have looked for it unsuccessfully in my current stuff. It was a male lead singer with almost a 'folk-rock' style and it had a good beat. Oddly enough I don't remember it being a hit, but I may not have been listening to the right stations in those days.

03 Nov 01 - 01:24 AM (#585209)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day Chrisj,

OK ... I said "in the the charts" - but not too far in! It got enough airplay on the ABC for me to learn it by osmosis ... and I got down the dots for Selectors Bush Band sometime in the late '80s/early '90s. I hvaen't dug out the music book, but I should go look ...

Regards,

Bob Bolton

04 Nov 01 - 11:39 PM (#586008)
Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: CLANCY, OF THE OVERFLOW (Paterson)
From: Bob Bolton

G'day seanmcractagan,

Here are the 'Banjo' Paterson words and (my interpretation) of the "Wallis & Matilda" tune for Clancy of the Overflow. (I finally found where I had tucked it away.) I see that I transcribed it in the key of "C", but I find that a fairly high key for this song (I think it suited the singer in the band, at the time), so I have posted it in "A", as being in a better general range.
BTW: I also seem to have another (more melodic?) tune for Clancy, written by Graham Jenkins … this may be the version you have heard. In fact there are probably several more settings for this poem … certainly a few from the C/W area and one or two from the "Classical" end of town. Let me know if you are actually looking for another version.

CLANCY, OF THE OVERFLOW
Words: 'Banjo' Paterson
Tune: "Wallis & Matilda"

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan years ago;
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just on spec, addressed as follows, "Clancy, of The Overflow".

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar);
'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
"Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city,
Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street;
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal-
But I doubt he'd suit the office, Clancy, of The Overflow.


And here is the tune, in Alan of Oz's MIDItxt format

MIDI file: clancy.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 2/4 24 8
Tempo: 089 (666667 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0240 1 64 080 0144 0 64 064 0036 1 64 080 0048 0 64 064 0012 1 69 080 0144 0 69 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 64 080 0048 0 64 064 0012 1 64 080 0048 0 64 064 0012 1 66 080 0144 0 66 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0084 1 64 080 0072 0 64 064 0018 1 64 080 0072 0 64 064 0018 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 66 080 0096 0 66 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 69 080 0192 0 69 064 0048 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0144 0 69 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 71 080 0192 0 71 064 0048 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 74 080 0048 0 74 064 0012 1 74 080 0144 0 74 064 0036 1 74 080 0048 0 74 064 0012 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0096 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0144 0 69 064 0066 1 69 080 0072 0 69 064 0018 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0084 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 71 080 0060 1 69 080 0012 0 71 064 0084 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 73 080 0096 0 73 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0288 0 69 064
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:2/4
Q:1/4=89
K:C
E7E|A3B^c2B2|A2E4EE|^F3AA2^F2|^F2E3E3/2E3/2|
^F2A2A2^F2|E2A4AA|A3AB2^c2|B4B2^c2|d3dd3d|
^c2B4AB|^c2^c2^c2^c2|B2A7/2A3/2A|B3BB2^c2|
d2B3^c2B|A2A2^c2B2|A5||




Regards,

Bob Bolton

09 Jul 06 - 02:08 AM (#1779306)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: clancy of the overflow
From: GUEST,amergin

John Schumann of the group Redgum...did a nice cover of clancy...

11 Jul 06 - 08:03 PM (#1781411)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Clancy of the Overflow (Paterson)
From: Muttley

Hi Sean

Following are the first verses of each of the two songs you requested with chords as they are played by John Wallace. He had a Commercial radio hit about 20 years ago or so with Clancy and I'm guessing this is the one you might be thinking of - He released it under the stage name of "Wallace & Matilda" - an obvious play on Banjo's Waltzing Matilda.

Any way - to the songs

Clancy of the Overflow

Intro D7 - / / / / / / / / : C - / / / /   : G - / /   (the forward slashes denote beat)

[D7] I had [G] written him a letter which I had [C] for want of bet-[G]-ter knowledge

[C] Sent to where I met [G] him down 'The Lachlan' years a-[D]-go

He was [C] shearing when I knew him, so I [G] sent the letter to him

[G] Just on [D] 'spec', addressed as follows: Clancy [C] of the Over-[G]-flow


All verses use the same chording and it's up to you to either play softer, louder, faster etc as you see fit (or as takes your fancy / suits your style)


Man From Snowy River

There was [C] movement at the [D] station for the [G] word had passed a-[C]-round

That the [G] colt from 'Old Reg-[D]-ret' had got a-[G]-way

And had [C] joined the wild bush [D] horses - he was [G] worth a thousand [C] pounds

So [G] all the cracks had [D] gathered to the [G] fray

All the [D] tried and noted [D7] riders from the [C] stations near and [G] far

Had [D] mustered at the [D7] homestead over-[G]-night

For the [C] bushmen love hard [D] riding where the [G] wild bush horses [C] are

And the [G] stock-horse snuffs the [D] battle with de-[G]-light


With 'chord breaks' and instrumentalising this song can take up to 15 minutes to get through - I tend to ignore those (given I'm a pretty ordinary muso anyway) and simply sing right through. Punters listening to a busker would prefer singing / playing as opposed to instrumentalising anyway, generally.
Again, speed up / slow down and play softer or harder depending on the "mood" in that part of the song. ie: I tend to strum soft but quite fast in the verses wher "The Man" is doing his downhill ride and his chasing of the mob and then abruptly slow it RIGHT down for the bit that goes "'Til they halted - cowed and beaten - then he turned their heads for home / And alone and unassisted brought them back. / But his hardy mountain pony, he could scarecley raise a trot / etc etc.


Anyway those are the songs you actually asked about - I know when I ask, I'd prefer to get the lyrics / chords in this format as opposed to being pointed in another direction. Being told a song is in the "Key of ####" doesn't help as being an ABI - I ca't remember chord progressions anymore.

Yours

Muttley