Singalong of classic Australian ballads
CLICK GO THE SHEARS
Out on the board the old shearer stands,
Grasping his shears in his thin, bony hands,
Fixed is his gaze on a bare-bellied “Joe”,
Glory if he gets her, won’t he make the ringer go.
Click go the shears, boys, click, click, click,
Wide is his blow and his hands move quick,
The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow,
And curses the old snagger with the bare-bellied “Joe”.
In the middle of the floor, in his cane-bottomed chair
Is the boss of the board, with his eyes everywhere;
Notes well each fleece as it comes to the screen
Paying strict attention if it’s taken off clean.
Chorus
The tar boy is there, awaiting in demand,
With his blackened tar-pot, and his tarry hand;
Sees one old sheep with a cut upon its back,
Hears what he’s waiting for, “Tar here, Jack!”
Chorus
Shearing is all over and we’ve all got our cheques,
Roll up your swag for we’re off on the tracks;
The first pub we come to, it’s there we’ll have a spree,
And everyone that comes along it’s “Come and drink with me!”
Chorus
WALTZING MATILDA
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
He sang as he watched and waited ’til his billy boiled
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
He sang as he watched and waited ’ til his billy boiled,
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
He sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
He sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up rode the troopers, one, two, three,
“Who’s that jolly jumbuck that you’ve got in your tucker bag?”
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
“Who’s that jolly jumbuck that you’ve got in your tucker bag” “
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,
“You’ll never catch me alive,” said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me.”
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
“You’ll come a waltzing Matilda, with me”
BOTANY BAY
Farewell to old England forever
Farewell to my rum culls as well
Farewell to the well-known Old Bailey
Where I used for to cut such a swell.
Singing Tooral liooral liaddity
Singing Tooral liooral liay
Singing Tooral liooral liaddity
And we’re bound for Botany Bay.
There’s the captain as is our commander
There’s the bosun and all the ship’s crew
There’s the first and the second class passengers
Knows what we poor convicts go through.
Chorus
Taint leaving old England we cares about
Taint cos we mis-spells what we knows
But because all we light fingered gentry
Hops around with a log on our toes.
Chorus
These seven long years I’ve been serving now
And seven long more have to stay
All for bashing a bloke down our alley
And taking his ticker away.
Chorus
Oh had I the wings of a turtle dove
I’d soar on my pinions so high
Slap bang to the arms of my Polly love
And in her sweet presence I’d die
Chorus
Now all my young Dookies and Dutchesses
Take warning from what I’ve to say
Mind all is your own as you toucheses
Or you’ll find us in Botany Bay
Chorus
DYING STOCKMAN
A strapping young stockman lay dying
His saddle supporting his head
His two mates around him were crying
As he rose on his pillow and said,
Wrap me up with my stockwhip and blanket
And bury me deep down below
Where the dingoes and crows can’t molest me
In the shade where the coolabahs grow.
Oh had I the flight of the bronze wing
Far over the plains would I fly
Straight to the land of my childhood
And there I would lay down and die.
Chorus
Then cut down a couple of saplings
Place one at my head and my toe
Carve on them cross stockwhip and saddle
To show there’s a stockman below
Chorus
Hark there’s the wail of a dingo
Watchful and weird–I must go
For it tolls the death-knell of the stockman
From the gloom of the scrub down below
Chorus
There’s tea in the battered old billy
Place the pannikins out in a row
And we’ll drink to the next merry meeting
In the place where all good fellows go.
Chorus
And oft in the shades of the twilight
When the soft winds are whispering low
And the darkening shadows are falling
Sometimes think of the stockman below.
Chorus
THE WILD COLONIAL BOY
There was a wild colonial boy, Jack Doolan was his name.
Of poor but honest parents, he was born in Castlemaine.
He was his father’s only son, and his mother’s pride and joy.
And dearly did his parents love the wild colonial boy.
At scarcely sixteen years of age, he left his father’s home,
And through Australia’s sunny clime a bushranger did roam.
He robbed the wealthy squatters, their assets to destroy;
A terror to Australia, was the wild Colonial boy.
Back in eighteen sixty-one, began his wild career,
With a head that knew no danger, and a heart that held no fear.
He held the Mudgee mail coach up, and shot Judge McEvoy.
A curse to every copper was the wild colonial boy.
One day as he was riding, the countryside along,
While listening to the kookaburras happy laughing song,
Up jumped a band of troopers, Kelly, Davis and Fitzroy,
They all set out to capture him, the wild colonial boy.
“Surrender now, Jack Doolan, you can see it’s three to one
Surrender in the Kings high name, you are a plundering son.”
Jack drew two pistols from his belt, and proudly waved them high,
“I’ll fight but never surrender!” Cried the wild colonial boy.
He fired at trooper Kelly, and he brought him to the ground,
And in return from Davis he received a mortal wound.
He lay all shattered through the jaw, still firing at Fitzroy,
And that’s the way they captured him – the wild Colonial boy.
HOME AMONG THE GUMTREES
I’ve been around the world
A couple of times or maybe more
I’ve seen the sights, I’ve had delights
On every foreign shore
But when my mates all ask me the place that I adore,
I tell them right away.
Give me a home among the gumtrees
With lots of plum trees
A sheep or two, a kangaroo
A clothesline out the back
Verandah out the front
And an old rocking chair
You can see me in the kitchen
Cooking up a roast
Or Vegemite on toast
Just you and me, a cup of tea
And later on, we’ll settle down
And mull up on the porch
And watch the possums play
Chorus
There’s a Safeways up the corner
And a Woolies down the street
And a brand new place they’ve opened up
Where they regulate the heat
But I’d trade them all tomorrow
For a little bush retreat
Where the kookaburras call
Chorus
Some people like their houses
With fences all around
Others live in mansions
And some beneath the ground
But me I like the bush you know
With rabbits running round
And a pumpkin vine out the back
Chorus
TIE ME KANGAROO DOWN, SPORT
Watch me wallabies feed, mate
Watch me wallabies feed,
They’re a dangerous breed, mate
So watch me wallabies feed, Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Keep me cockatoo cool, Curl,
Keep me cockatoo cool
Ah, don’t go acting the fool, Curl
Just keep me cockatoo cool, Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down…
‘n’ take me koala back, Jack
Take me koala back
He lives somewhere out on the track, Mac
So take me koala back, Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down…
And mind me platypus duck, Bill
Mind me platypus duck
Ah, don’t let ‘im go running amok, Bill
Just mind me platypus duck, Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down…
Play your didgeridoo, Blue
Play your didgeridoo
Ah, like, keep playin’ ‘til I shoot thru, Blue
Play your didgeridoo, Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down…
Tan me hide when I’m dead, Fred
Tan me hide when I’m dead
So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde
And that’s it hangin’ on the shed!!
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down…
KOOKABURRA SITS IN THE OLD GUM TREE
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra
Gay your life must be.
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gumdrops he can see
Stop, Kookaburra, stop, Kookaburra
Leave some there for me.
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra, stop, Kookaburra
That’s no monkey, that’s me.