The Army's Appeal to Mothers (Glen Tomasetti)

Glen Tomasetti was one of my favourite Australian folksingers during the sixties. This song was released as a single during the Vietnam war on the other side of a song called The Ballad of William White, which she wrote about a teacher who was jailed as a conscientious objector to the war. I remember my uncle, generally regarded by the family as too left-wing, gave it to me as a Christmas present, much to my parents' displeasure.

Although specifically written as an anti-Vietnam War song, as with most such songs, the message is equally applicable to more recent events.

Here is my video of the song, and here are the lyrics.

Aussie Jingle Bells (Colin Buchanan)

After all those years of waiting around to see snow at Christmas, by 1992, Australian singer-songwriter, Colin Buchanan, realised it wasn't going to happen so he adapted the traditional carol to suit Australian conditions.

In case you need it, here is a glossary:

Barbecue: the only time you'll catch an Aussie bloke cooking - the Barbie takes great skill and large amounts of grog. Nothing like the BBQ in Hong Kong which consists of holding little balls of minced fish or beef or who knows what over a fire on wooden sticks.

Boot: the luggage compartment at the back of a car. Known as a trunk in the USA. Actually utes don't have a boot, but it was needed for the rhyme!

Bush: basically any area that isn't a town. Better than America's Bush any day.

Doze: sleep. It's what people do after a hot Christmas dinner in the middle of summer.

Esky: a portable cooler, especially for holding cans of beer and ice.

Kelpie: an Australian sheep dog, like a border collie, but with a rougher coat.

Thongs: sandals. Nothing to do with the ones people wear around their waist.

Kangaroo: native Australian marsupial. You see them jumping around the city streets and they can cause a lot of damage to your ute.

Shoot through: leave quickly (so someone else gets stuck with the washing up.)

Swaggie: short for Swagman, a transient temporary worker, especially during the depression, equivalent to a bum, hobo or tramp in less civilised parts of the world. He carried his few worldly possessions around in a swag, usually an old blanket with a couple of carrying straps. Australia's most famous song is about a swaggie.

Ute: short for Utility Vehicle. Smaller than a pickup truck, which is the US version, it has the cabin of a car and the rear of a small truck. Invented by Lewis Brandt at the Ford Motor Company in Geelong, Victoria.1934. Basically, we needed a vehicle that could shift a few sheep or hay bales during the week but scrub up well enough to take the family to church on Sunday.

Here it is performed by Colin Buchanan & Greg Champion, and here is my video.

Here are the lyrics.

Australian Through and Through (Tony Miles)

This song was published in the songbook, "Contemporary Australian Folksongs - The Song Goes On", edited by Lynne Tracey (Wise Publications, copyright 1986).

Tony Miles wrote the following comment on his song: "When I arrived from England 15 years ago, Australians on the whole seemed to have an inferiority complex. But now Australia leads the world in micro-surgery, competes with the best in sports and through it all there is a new national pride and sense of identity. Or is there? Are we too eager to be accepted into the mainstream of international culture, at the expense of what is truly Australian?"

The song has been recorded by Eric Bogle on his album, Singing the spirit home.

The lyrics are here.

Carra Barra Wirra Canna (Morva Cogan)

Lake Cadibarrawirracanna is a salt lake in central South Australia in the northeastern part of the Woomera Prohibited Area, east of the famous opal mining town, Coober Pedy. It holds the record for the longest place name in Australia. The name is in an aboriginal language and means "stars dancing on water".

Morva Cogan, an Australian writer of short stories and poetry, developed a special interest in aboriginal culture when she grew up with aboriginal children in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Her best known work is probably this song, sometimes called Picanninnies' Lullaby, which was popularised by the singing of Rolf Harris.

Here is my rendition, and here are the lyrics.

Dark-Eyed Daughter (Phyl Vinnecomb)

I used to have this anti-racism song on a 7" recording with three other songs. I believe the song was written in 1965. I know little about this Australian singer/songwriter except that she is now Phyl Lobl and approaching her 70th birthday. (Thanks to Warren Fahey for this information.)

Here is my video of the song, and here are the lyrics.

The Digger's Song

Also known as Dinki Di, this song, one of many to the tune Villikins and his Dinah, was probably first sung by Australian soldiers during the first first World War, so it is hardly a "modern" song.

Bill Scott wrote the following notes in his compilation, The Second Penguin Australian Songbook (Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood, Victoria, 1980): I first heard this song during the Second World War, sung with great feeling by a soldier of the Sixth Division, who sang it as above, except that instead of using the first and second lines of the second verse, he sang:

The Digger then shot him a murderous look,
He said, 'I'm just back from that place called Tobruk.'

The song was not only sung during the first and second World Wars but it was updated to fit the settings of both the Korean and Vietnamese wars.

Here is my video of the song.

Give Me a Home Among the Gum Trees (Bob Brown & Wally Johnson)

Bob Brown, also known as Captain Rock, wrote this song with Wally Johnson in 1975, and first recorded it on his album Buried Treasure. Though many people take it seriously these days it was written as a satirical song and originally performed as part of a comedy act they were doing at the Flying Trapeze Cafe in Fitzroy, Melbourne. At that time the Australian government was proposing a song writing contest to have a new national anthem following the decision to scrap God Save the Queen, and this song was their response. In 1982, the bush band, Bullamakanka, found a copy of the album in a sale bin in a music shop, recorded a cover and found they had a hit on their hands. It was later recorded by John Williamson, making the song even more popular, and it eventually became one of the most recorded Australian songs of all time.

Bullamakanka's version was used as the theme song for Don Burke’s television gardening series, Burke’s Backyard for 17 years. They added the references to mulling up on the porch and rabbits running round which remained in John Williamson's recording. These changes tended to water down the original tongue-in-cheek nature of the song.

It may be obvious that I've never sung this song before. I recorded it with my son, Dylan, and we only had a chance to do one take. My apologies for the jerky camerawork.

Gurindji Blues (Ted Egan)

Information from Wikipedia:

The Gurindji people's traditional lands are approximately 3,250 km² of the Northern Territory. Gurindji first encountered Europeans in the 1850s, when explorer Augustus Gregory crossed into their country. Several other explorers traversed the area over the following decades until the 1880s, when large pastoral operations were established.

Wave Hill cattle station, which included the Kalkaringi and Daguragu area, was first stocked in 1883. Gurindji found their waterholes fenced off or destroyed by cattle Kangaroos, a staple meat, were also routinely shot because they competed with cattle for water and grazing land. But when the Gurindji tried to eat the cattle instead they were massacred, even as late as 1928. They had little choice but to move onto the cattle stations, and accept rations for working as stockmen and domestic servants. It was crucial for them to stay on their own land, as it was central to their religious beliefs.

In 1914, Wave Hill Station was bought by Vesteys, a British pastoral company owned by Baron Vestey. On stations across the north, the landless Aboriginal people became the backbone of the cattle industry, working for little or no money, minimal food and appalling housing. A Northern Territory government inquiry held in the 1930s said of Vesteys: "It was obvious that they had been ... quite ruthless in denying their Aboriginal labour proper access to basic human rights." While it was illegal up until 1968 to pay Aboriginal workers more than a specified amount in goods and money, a 1945 inquiry found Vesteys was not even paying Aboriginal workers the 5 shillings a day minimum wage set up for Aborigines under a 1918 Ordinance. Gurindji lived in corrugated iron humpies without floors, lighting, running water, sanitation, furniture or cooking facilities.

On 23 August 1966, led by spokesman Vincent Lingiari, the workers and families walked off Wave Hill and began a seven-year strike. Novelist Frank Hardy was one of the many non-Indigenous Australians who supported the Gurindji struggle. This action, though not the first taken by Aboriginals, was the first to gain a lot of support from the general public for Aboriginal land rights.

In late 1966 the government offered a compromise pay rise of one hundred and twenty-five per cent, but the strikers still demanded wages equal to those of white stockmen and return of their land. The Government also tried to prevent Gurindji obtaining food supplies and threatened evictions. Offers of houses, which the Government had built for them at Wave Hill Welfare settlement, were resisted. The Gurindji persisted with their protest and stayed at Daguragu, which they claimed as their own land.

In 1972 the Australian Labor Party (ALP) came to power, with Aboriginal land rights high on its agenda, and, in 1975, negotiated with Vesteys to give the Gurindji back a portion of their land, a landmark in the Aboriginal land rights movement in Australia.Prime Minister Gough Whitlam said, "Vincent Lingiari, I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people and I put into your hands part of the earth itself as a sign that this land will be the possession of you and your children forever."

Ted Egan (Edward Joseph Egan), born 6 July, 1932 is a prolific writer and performer of contemporary folk songs., who served as Administrator of the Northern Territory from 2003 to 2007. In his early career with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs he was mainly in the bush, and engaged in jobs like stockwork and crocodile hunting while employed as a patrol officer and, later, as a teacher at bush schools. He was awarded the Order of Australia in the 1991 Honours List for services to the Aboriginal people, and for 'an ongoing contribution to the literary heritage of Australia through song and verse'.

I had the honour of hearing him perform live at the Ringwood Folk Club, a memorable evening when he entertained us with great stories as well as songs, and showed a profound understanding of Aboriginal culture. Gurindji Blues is one of his best known songs. It was recorded in 1971 by Egan and Galarrwuy Yunupingu.

Here is my rendition of Gurindji Blues an here are the lyrics:

I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)

Eric Bogle stopped singing this song because there were too many people who didn't see the irony and either attacked it as racist or, worse, supported the protagonist in his racist views. Apparently there was even a member of parliament of Italian descent who attacked Bogel for his supposedly racist views! (His attitude is actually pretty obvious when you pay attention to the lyrics.)

I know the feeling. When I put my song, Six of the Best, on YouTube I got attacked (and supported!) by people who thought I was in favour of corporal punishment in schools, rather than satirising people with such attitudes.

So I'll probably get comments from people who think I'm a racist for singing this song!

Here is my rendition and here are the lyrics.

This video has now been removed from public view, due to abuse and threats from people who do not understand the purpose of the song. Anyone who has a particular interest in seeing it, please contact me, stating your reason and I will make it available to you privately.

Glossary:
Advance Australia, Backwards - Reference to the Australian National Anthem "Advance Australia Fair".
Dinki-di - "Dinkum" - real, genuine.
Bluey - A man with red hair.
Chiko rolls - Brand name of a large spring roll
Coolibah - Eucalyptus tree - like most gum trees, not actually noted for good shade (see Waltzing Matilda)
Dim Sim - small pseudo-Chinese dumpling (from Dimsum)
Fat jumbuck - a sheep (see Waltzing Matilda)
Toohey's - Sydney beer maker
V.F.L. - Victorian Football League, where Aussie Rules comes from. VFL has now become AFL (Australian Football League)

I Love to Have a Beer With Duncan (Pat Alexander)

This song, which really captures the character of Australian mateship, was written by Pat Alexander, who was a life assurance salesman in the 1970s. One day, when he was knocking on factory doors in Sydney's Southern suburbs, he was invited in by the owner of a heat-treatment factory, who introduced himself as Duncan Urquhart, and suggested they go and talk in the pub around the corner, the Town & Country Hotel, at St. Peters. They talked about everything except insurance. Pat went back to see Duncan three times before realising he was not interested in buying any life insurance, but was just enjoying the conversation. Pat's response was to write the first verse and chorus of this song, which he then threw in a cupboard, where it stayed for five years.

When Bob Hawke was campaigning to become Prime Minister, Pat sent an audio tape of a song he wrote about Bob Hawke to a television station, which aired it as a novelty item in June 1980. He arranged with EMI to record The Bob Hawke Song, and put Duncan on the B side. He sent the disc to every radio station in Sydney, and 2KY's Malcolm T Elliot played it on air, and also played Duncan. Malcolm then sent out messages to find the original Duncan from five years earlier. Not long after, Slim Dusty's wife, Joy McKean, heard the song and asked Slim to listen to it. Though he wasn't impressed at first, with a bit of pushing from his wife he recorded it and EMI released it as a single. On the morning of Monday the 10th of November 1980, Radio 2UE's John Laws played the song eleven times. By early 1981 it was a top hit.

Here is a great video of Slim Dusty singing the song at the actual pub "The Town and Country" in 1980, with Duncan on one side of him and Pat on the other, and here is Pat singing the song.

And here is my rendition. The lyrics are here.

It's On (Don Henderson)

A song about conflict by one of Australia's most respected songwriters, Don Henderson, written in 1963. It was often sung at anti-Vietnam War rallies.

Gary Shearston sang it in the 1960s and recorded it together with a Kath Walker song, Must We Native Old Australians, in our Own Land Rank as Aliens. It was also recorded by Trevor Lucas in 1966 on his album, Overlander.

Don Henderson died in 1991.

Here is my rendition and here are the lyrics.

I Was Only Nineteen (John Schumann)

Also known as Only Nineteen or A Walk in the Light Green this song is about the experience of soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War, from their training in Australia,through the horrors of jungle combat to the final return home to face disillusionment, psychological wounds and the effects of Agent Orange.
Released as a single in 1983, and also included on the live album Caught in the Act, this was the biggest hit for the Australian folk group, Redgum. A number one hit, it remained in the Australian top forty for four months, and is considered one of the thirty best Australian songs of all time. Band member, John Schumann, based the song on the experience of Vietnam veterans he had talked to, particularly his brother-in-law, Mick Storen. Royalties for the song go to the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia.
The following glossary is based on information from Wikipedia:

• ANZAC: Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.
• Canungra: Jungle warfare training centre in Queensland's Gold Coast hinterland.
• Channel 7: An Australian commercial television network.
• Chinook: A military helicopter.
• Contact!: The call made by soldiers upon encounter with enemy to the immediate front (Contact Front) or rear (Contact Rear) of the line of march.
• Dusted off: Evacuated by helicopter ambulance.
• Greens: Jungle Green, the field uniform worn by the Australian Army between the early 1960s and 1989.
• Light green: parts on a map showing supposedly safer areas to patrol as the foliage was less dense - but, in fact, more likely to be mined.
• Nui Dat: Village in Ba Ria province in South Vietnam, which was the main base ofAustralian Task Force 1 from 1965 to 1972.
• Puckapunyal: Army recruit training centre in Victoria.
• Shoalwater: Military exercise area in Queensland.
• Sixth Battalion: Australian army battalion 6RAR, whose D Company had been involved in the Battle of Long Tan three years earlier.
• Slouch hat: Australian soldiers' parade head-dress.
• SLR:Self Loading (semi-automatic) Rifle issued to Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War.
• Townsville: City in Queensland.
• VB: Victoria Bitter, Australia's best beer.
• Vung Tau: Coastal city in South Vietnam which Australia's main logistic base and a rest area for troops based at Nui Dat.

Here is my performance of the song, and here are the lyrics.

Little Boy Lost (Johnny Ashcroft)

This song was one of the top hits of 1960, and Australia's first gold 45 record. It tells the story of a four-year-old boy, Steven Walls, who disappeared from his father's ute on a property near Guyra in New South Wales.

Apparently, Steven's dad, Jacko,decided to go and find some sheep that had wandered into a nearby gully, and instructed Steven to stay in the ute with his dog until he got back. But, being four years old, Steven couldn't wait that long and went off to look for his father, who, in the meantime, came back to find his son missing.

Thus began the biggest land and air search in Australia's history, involving seven aircraft and over 5000 men and women.

The story goes that Steven kept running from the search party because he had always been taught not to talk to strangers. The Aboriginal tracker involved reported that the boy was actually doubling back to avoid the search parties, overwhelmed by the huge number of people looking for him.

It took three days and four nights before Steven was found, over twelve kilometres from where he had gone missing, saying "Where's my daddy?" over and over. When asked why he was saying this, he is supposed to have answered that his father was lost and he had been looking for him.

Here is my rendition and here are the lyrics.

The Pub With No Beer (Dan Sheahan and Gordon Parsons)

This Australian song became Slim Dusty's first golden hit single in 1957, setting a record for the best selling recording by an Australian.

It was written in 1943, during the second world war, by Dan Sheahan, an Irish cane cutter. The story is that he went to his favourite pub, the Day Dawn Hotel in Ingham, (northern Queensland) but was told by the publican, Gladys Harvey, that there was no beer left, due to a drinking binge by some black American soldiers the previous night. Consoling himself with a glass of wine, he sat down to write a poem called A Pub without Beer, which was later renamed A Pub with No Beer by Gordon Parsons, who made several changes to the words and set it to music.

Dan died in 1977 at the age of 95. Apparently Slim Dusty used to visit him when he passed through Ingham.

Apart from Slim Dusty, the song has been recorded by Johnny Cash, Foster & Allen, Gordon Parsons, The Irish Rovers, Johnny Greenwood, John Williamson, Richard Clayderman, Johnny Ashcroft, The Pogues, The Clancy Brothers, Rolf Harris, The Dubliners, Midnight Oil and many others.

Bobbejaan Schoepen sang Dutch and German translations, which were number one hits in Belgium and Austria.

Here it is sung by my friend, John Walsh, fellow member of the Hong Kong Folk Society and the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir (and fellow teacher). He has a vast repertoire of folk and popular songs and is always ready to pick up a guitar or sit down at a piano and lead a singalong appropriate to whatever audience is around.

And here are the lyrics.

Song of the Land (Original)

I wrote this song at a time when there was a lot of discussion in Australia about Aboriginal land rights. Although written with the Australian situation in mind, the theme of displaced native inhabitants is a universal one.

Here is my video of the song and here is a live performance at a session of the Hong Kong Folk Society at The Canny Man.

This song is on my first CD, Axis of Evil and Other True Stories.

Here are the lyrics.