“Lime-Juice Tub” is an Australian folk song, which is part of Australia’s folk music tradition. The song has been passed on by word of mouth, and has been collected by folk music enthusiasts. As is common with folk songs which have been passed around by word of mouth, there are several variations of the same song in existence. The name of the song has also been spelt as “Lime Juice Tub” or “Limejuice Tub”. Click here to see some videos of this song being played.
Lime-Juice Tub
When shearing comes, lay down your drums,
Step on the board, you brand-new chums.
With a ra-dum, ra-dum, rub-a-dub-dub,
We’ll send them home in a lime-juice tub.
Now you have crossed the briny deep,
You fancy that you can shear a sheep.
With a ra-dum, ra-dum, rub-a-dub-dub,
We’ll send them home in a lime-juice tub.
Chorus
Here we are in New South Wales,
Shearing sheep as big as whales,
With leather necks and daggy tails,
And fleece as tough as rusty nails.
There’s cockys’ sons, and new chums,
They fancy that they are great guns;
They think that they can shear the wool,
But the beggars can only tear and pull.
They tar the sheep until they’re nearly black,
It’s roll up, roll up, and get the sack;
Then, looking for shearing work outback,
It’s off they go, on the wallaby track.
Chorus
Here we are in New South Wales,
Shearing sheep as big as whales,
With leather necks and daggy tails,
And fleece as tough as rusty nails.
And when they tire upon the road,
From off their backs they’ll throw their load.
With a ra-dum, ra-dum, rub-a-dub-dub,
We’ll send them home in a lime-juice tub.
At the fading sun they’ll take a look,
And seek some rations from the cook.
With a ra-dum, ra-dum, rub-a-dub-dub,
We’ll send them home in a lime-juice tub.
Chorus
Here we are in New South Wales,
Shearing sheep as big as whales,
With leather necks and daggy tails,
And fleece as tough as rusty nails.
They camp in huts without any doors,
And sleep upon the dirty floors;
A pannikin of flour, and a sheet of bark,
To cook some damper in the dark.
It’s home, it’s home, they’d like to be,
Not humping their drum in this country;
It’s sixteen thousand miles they’ve come,
To march along with a blanket drum.
Chorus
Here we are in New South Wales,
Shearing sheep as big as whales,
With leather necks and daggy tails,
And fleece as tough as rusty nails.
Editor’s notes:
There are several variations of the same song in existence, for example:
1) “The Lime-Juice Tub”, Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music
2) “Lime Juice Tub”, Australian Folk Songs
3) “Lime Juice Tub”, Favorite Poems and Poets Around the World
cocky = (also spelt “cockie”) a farmer (the term was used to refer to poor bush farmers, from having land so poor that they were jokingly said to only be able to farm cockies, i.e. cockatoos, a type of bird; however, it was later used to refer to farmers in general)
daggy = (in the context of sheep) having dags: wool clotted or matted with sheep manure around the area of a sheep’s hindquarters
damper = a flat round cake which is made from flour and water (without yeast or any raising agent), which is baked in the coals and ashes of a campfire; the dough for damper cakes
drum = a swagman’s bundle, being a number of personal belongings rolled up in a blanket, and hung from the shoulder; also known as a “bluey”, “Matilda”, or “swag”
gun = a gun shearer (a first-rate shearer, able to shear over 200 sheep per day)
lime-juice tub = (slang) a British sailing ship; the term arises from the daily ration of lime juice and vinegar which was given to British sailors, so as to prevent them from getting scurvy (also spelt: lime juice tub, limejuice tub)
See: 1) “The Lime-juice Ration”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 21 July 1900, p. 56
2) “The Mercantile Marine”, The Mercury (Hobart Town, Tas.), 21 March 1867, p. 3 [“The wonderful prophylactic power of lime-juice places it in the front rank of anti-scorbutics”]
3) “Van Diemen’s Land”, The Shipping Gazette, and Sydney General Trade List (Sydney, NSW), 11 October 1851, p. 292 [“Captain Wilson … fined £20 for not having had sufficient lime-juice on board to furnish his crew with.”]
new chum = a newly-arrived immigrant, especially a British immigrant (also spelt with a hyphen: new-chum)
pannikin = a small metal pan, or a small metal cup
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