[Editor: This song was published in Old Bush Songs: Composed and Sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days (8th edition, 1932), edited by Banjo Paterson.]
Across the Western Plains I Must Wander
It’s ah! for my grog, my jolly, jolly grog,
It’s ah! for my beer and tobacco;
I spent all my tin in the shanty drinking gin,
Now across the western plains I must wander.
I’m stiff and stony broke, and I’ve parted with my moke
And the sky is looking black as thunder,
And the boss of the shanty too, for I haven’t a sou —
That’s the way you’re treated when you’re out and under.
Chorus: It’s ah! for, etc.
I’m crook in the head, for I haven’t been to bed
Since I first touched this shanty with my plunder;
I see centipedes and snakes, and I’m full of aches and shakes,
So I’d better make a push out over yonder.
Chorus: It’s ah! for, etc.
I take the Old Man Plain, criss-cross it all again,
Until my eyes the track no longer see;
My beer and brandy brain seeks balmy sleep in vain,
I feel as if I had the Darling Pea.
Chorus: It’s ah! for, etc.
Repentance brings reproof, so I sadly “pad the hoof;”
All day I see the mirage of the trees,
But it all will have an end when I reach the river bend,
And listen to the sighing of the breeze.
Chorus: It’s ah! for, etc.
Then hang the jolly prog, the hocussed shanty grog,
The beer that’s loaded with tobacco;
Grafting humour I am in, and I’ll stick the peg right in
And settle once more down to Yakka.
Chorus: It’s ah! for, etc.
Source:
A. B. Paterson (editor), Old Bush Songs: Composed and Sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days (8th edition), Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1932, pp. 55-56
Editor’s notes:
balmy = soothing; fragrant (as from an aromatic balm); mild or pleasantly warm weather
crook = ill, sick, unwell; injured
grog = alcoholic beverages
moke = a horse, especially an inferior horse (originally, it was a term for a donkey)
shanty = a pub, especially an unlicensed pub; may also refer to a small roughly-built cabin or hut
sou = a nickname for a French coin worth 5 centimes, equal to a twentieth of a Franc; the term was often used in slang phraseology to refer to something of low worth or to indicate a lack of money (e.g. “not worth a sou” or “I haven’t got a sou”)
stony broke = the state of having no money; penniless, impoverished, very broke (also rendered as “stone-broke” or “stoney broke”)
tin = (slang) money
yakka = work (also spelt “yacka”, “yacker”, “yakker”)
yonder = at a distance; far away
[Editor: The word “Chorus” (which is used several times in this song) has been put into italics (Chorus) so as to distinguish it from the text of the song.]
Leave a Reply