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Clancy of the Overflow (Banjo Paterson)

20 Feb 99 - 08:54 PM (#59414)
Subject: Clancy of the Overflow
From: bill\sables

Hi . do any of our Aussie mudcatters know the words to Clancy of the Overflow I believe it was a poem.

20 Feb 99 - 11:05 PM (#59419)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au

It is a poem by "Banjo" Paterson, and one that I really like. It is a relatively long one and it might be online somewhere. If nobody points you to the poem/lyrics. I will post them.

Murray

20 Feb 99 - 11:48 PM (#59421)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Dale Rose

Well, it is not just Australians who like that one. It is all over the web, couldn't tell you how many. I checked out at least 6 or 8 in about 30 seconds. Here's one of them.

Let me put in a plug for my favorite search engine, ProFusion, here. Just go to ProFusion, set it for phrase, with summary, choose manually, then check all except PlanetSearch and Excite. (They always return too many useless sites) If what you are looking for is out there, Profusion will find it.

21 Feb 99 - 02:41 AM (#59431)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Don Meixner

Clancy of the Overflow has one of the most lyric verses I've ever read in poem

And the bush has friends to meet him, and their pleasant voices great him, In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars, And he views the vision splendid, On the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wonderous glory in the everlasting stars,

(or words to that effect)

I have a recording of some of some "Bowtie Tenor" singing the poem. Its dreadful, Paterson wrote it to be read and spoken aloud.

I have found it on the net fairly quickly, If you like The Banjos poems, try "Lost" or "The Horse Auction"

Don

21 Feb 99 - 07:50 AM (#59439)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: bill\sables

Many thanks folks I found it, Cheers Bill

21 Feb 99 - 01:53 PM (#59471)
Subject: ADD: Snake Yarne (W.T. Goodge)
From: Joe Offer

I found a nice selection of Australian poetry here - Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, and others. Good stuff.
Here's a nice sample:

A Snake Yarn

W. T. Goodge

"You talk of snakes," said Jack the Rat, "
But, blow me, one hot summer,
I seen a thing that knocked me flat
Fourteen foot long, or more than that,
It was a regular hummer!
Lay right along a sort of bog,
Just like a log!

"The ugly thing was lyin' there
And not a sign o' movin',
Give any man a nasty scare;
Seen nothin' like it anywhere
Since I first started drovin'.
And yet it didn't scare my dog.
Looked like a log!

I had to cross that bog, yer see,
And blue I was humpin';
But wonderin' what that thing could be
A-layin' there in front o' me
I didn't feel like jumpin'.
Yet, though I shivered like a frog,
It seemed a log!

I takes a leap and lands right on
The back of that there whopper!" He stopped.
We waited. Then Big Mac Remarked, "
Well, then, what happened, Jack?"
"Not much," said Jack, and drained his grog.
It was a log!"

22 Feb 99 - 11:15 AM (#59572)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Connor

"The bushwakers" and "The Swagmen" both do excellent versions of Clancy. Tha sae called "bush debate" poems by Lawson and Patterson mak a bonza read and tha whole background behind them is quite fascinating...

21 Aug 00 - 08:49 PM (#282038)
Subject: Clancy of the Overflow
From: GUEST,Marcus Campus Bellorum

Hi all, Did the (newer but not the original) "Bushwackers" Version of "Clancy" come with their original tune or was the tune sourced from somewhere else.

Maybe I should go look on the "Bushwackers" Web site?

Are there any "Bushwackers" (current or former) lurking in the "Mud".

If not why not!

21 Aug 00 - 09:00 PM (#282043)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: richardw

Clancy was one of the men in Man from Snowy River, the film, which is based on a couple of Paterson's poesm. No one can make words flow like him...

Richard

21 Aug 00 - 09:03 PM (#282045)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Callie

But has anyone heard Simon Campbell recite "Clancy of the Party Cone"? Very funny!!

21 Aug 00 - 09:12 PM (#282049)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: GUEST,Mark

What about that bloody Bushwackers tune??

21 Aug 00 - 10:26 PM (#282076)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: GUEST,Barry Finn

To anyone that's interested, since the original post from Bill he has since married Clancy Of The Overflow to a beautiful tune & put it on his CD along with a full load of other gems, Clancy will never be better. Great job Bill, Barry

21 Aug 00 - 11:58 PM (#282129)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day all,

Mark: Clancy has been put to music by almost everyone who has read it and also sings! I have a couple of different tunes in my songs folder and have mercifully forgotten the rest. I think the best one came from the group Wallis & Matilda (which, in the last incarnation I have observed, is actually two blokes ... but it IS a bloody good name!). I can email you a MIDI of one or two tunes, if you wish.

BTW: The so-called "Bush vs City" debate between Lawson and Paterson has been well documented over the years and it was definitely without any acromony on their part (however it was taken by the readers of The Bulletin). What it did was to sell a good number of extra poems for both poets!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

22 Aug 00 - 07:55 PM (#282810)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: GUEST,Mark

Thanks Bob.

The midi for Wallis and Matilda's "Clancy" would be much appreciated.

22 Aug 00 - 07:58 PM (#282814)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: GUEST,Mark again

Bob and others.

I could not find "Clancy of the Overflow" in the digitrad lyrics. Any search trickery I need to know??

I will go look in the Mudcat Midis now and check there.

22 Aug 00 - 08:06 PM (#282828)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: GUEST,Mark

Hi Bob,

Were Wallis and Matilda Australian?

Any celtic links in any of the tunes used for "Clancy"?

22 Aug 00 - 11:32 PM (#282971)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Bob Bolton

G'day Mark,

I would be able to do you a MIDI of the version we (Selectors>/i> did during the '80s ... I think that is basically the Wallis & Matilda version, but transcribed by me from memory.

Wallis & Matilda are an Australian performing group (although I won't vouch for distant origins). They were on the bill of fare at The Australian Folk Festival at Kiama, June 1999 ... the best way to trace them or check details would be via Dave De Santi, the main organiser.

I could not find Clancy by a simple search of names - or by a lyric search on "overflow", so I guess it is not there. I will post the words (they are almost a decade out of copyright) and a MIDIText, but the POEM will be on any number of poetry sites.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

22 Aug 00 - 11:43 PM (#282984)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Marcus Campus Bellorum

Great stuff Bob. Thanks again.

And. . .no guest prefix for me for the moment.

28 Feb 01 - 01:12 PM (#408080)
Subject: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Francy

I've searched through the Digitrad and checked with some past threads and no luck. Does anybody have the lyrics to this A.B. Paterson poem/song? Would appreciate it....Frank of Toledo

28 Feb 01 - 01:21 PM (#408092)
Subject: Lyr Add: CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW ("Banjo" Paterson)
From: Joe Offer

Clancy of the Overflow
(A.B. "Banjo" Paterson)

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 wond'rous 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".

28 Feb 01 - 01:24 PM (#408096)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Liam's Brother

Hi Frank!

I have "Banjo" Paterson's collected works - not here but in the country. Give it a week then send me a (not terribly) Personal Message if no one else comes up with it. I will retrieve the book and forward the words to you when available.

Good luck in the meantime.

All the best,
Dan Milner

28 Feb 01 - 01:33 PM (#408107)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Joe Offer

Dan must have been typing his message while I was posting mine. I found it on a Google search for "where the Western drovers go." Searching by the title would have worked, but it might have brought up a lot of pages with just a mention of the title and no text.
Click here for a page of books, including Paterson's The Man from Snowy River.
-Joe Offer-

28 Feb 01 - 02:16 PM (#408138)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Liam's Brother

Joe, you ARE fast!!!

Frank, happy you found your song right away.

All the best,
Dan Milner

28 Feb 01 - 02:50 PM (#408165)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clancy of the Overflow
From: katlaughing

OH, boy! Joe learned some more fancy html and there will be no end to the pretty posts!**BG** Really nice presentation, Joe!

kat:-)

28 Feb 01 - 03:47 PM (#408209)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Francy

I'm learning is a slow trudging way, how to get around this computer. Thanks so much Joe. Now I can spend the next week or two learning the words. I got the melody from Hank Cramer and many thanks for everything. And also thanks to Liam's Brother. Remember anytime you're out in Oregon we''d love to set a concert up. Last year we hosted Gordon Bok.....Dick Gaughan....Pint & Dale.... this year we had Jez Lowe and next week Sean Tyrrell. Let me know when you're out this way. My e-mail is flnjjones@harborside.com. I'll get back.....Frank of Toledo.....

01 Mar 01 - 10:14 PM (#409220)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Art Thieme

BILL SABLES does a grand version of "Clancy Of The Overflow" on his CD with SAM PIRT called Halfway To Wrexham. Has a perfect tune also.

Art Thieme

04 Sep 12 - 03:36 AM (#3399819)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the party cone
From: GUEST

alyson cuff The author of CLANCY OF THE PARTY CONE was 'Tim Mitchell' aka Tim Moon aka Moon Man aka Banjo Pack us one. He last performed it at a party in legerwood Tas at Big Bazils house, in 2007. He was a brilliant wordsmith and sadly, he passed away on 21 may 2011, at age 45.He recorded other songs as well set a guiness record for being the longest dj on radio airtime in one sitting. I think he went for 4 days straight. It was to raise money for city park radio station launceston.

04 Sep 12 - 01:18 PM (#3400031)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: John MacKenzie

Wallis and Matilda

13 Jul 18 - 01:04 PM (#3937183)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Party Cone----Poem
From: GUEST,Simon Campbell

13 Jul 18 - 09:05 PM (#3937249)
Subject: RE: Clancy of the Overflow
From: Sandra in Sydney

gidday, Simon!