Song of the Sun-Downer [song, 1902]

Song of the Sun-Downer.

O there’s dust on the road and there’s dust on me back
And the glare o’ the sun makes me reel in me track,
But I work when I may and I beg when I must,
To keep me poor body from turning to dust, —
Singing tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum di,
O a happy-go-lucky gay fellow am I !

I carry me swag through the bush all the day,
And me billy to boil me some tea by the way ;
When it comes to a pinch I can handle the sheers,
Can strip off a fleece or go riding for steers,
Singing tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum di,
O a happy-go-lucky gay fellow am I !

One day a new chum came a-limping along
Like a wallaby, just as I started me song.
He was lost in the bush, so I told him, “No fear,
You just follow me and we’ll get out o’ here.”
Singing tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum di,
O a happy-go-lucky gay fellow am I !

It was night when I got into town with the bloke,
And then I discovered the johnnie was broke.
“But,” says I, “never mind, I can set up the beer,”
And says he, “I can drink it then, never you fear.”
Singing tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum di,
O a happy-go-lucky gay fellow am I !

O what is the good of this chasing the sun,
Of tramping all summer and winter for fun ?
But work is so wearing a fellow must try
The luck of the road like a jolly magpie, —
Singing tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum, tweedle-dum di,
O a happy-go-lucky gay fellow am I !

Source:
Charles Keeler. A Wanderer’s Songs of the Sea, A.M. Robertson, San Francisco, 1902, pages 37-38