On The Road To Gundagai Poem by Anonymous Oceania

On The Road To Gundagai

Rating: 2.8


Oh, we started down from Roto when the sheds had all cut out.
We'd whips and whips of Rhino as we meant to push about,
So we humped our blues serenely and made for Sydney town,
With a three-spot cheque between us, as wanted knocking down.

Chorus
But we camped at Lazy Harry's, on the road to Gundagai.
The road to Gundagai! Not five miles from Gundagai!
Yes, we camped at Lazy Harry's, on the road to Gundagai.

Well, we struck the Murrumbidgee near the Yanko in a week,
And passed through old Narrandera and crossed the Burnet Creek.
And we never stopped at Wagga, for we'd Sydney in our eye.
But we camped at Lazy Harry's, on the road to Gundagai.

Oh, I've seen a lot of girls, my boys, and drunk a lot of beer,
And I've met with some of both, chaps, as has left me mighty queer;
But for beer to knock you sideways, and for girls to make you sigh,
You must camp at Lazy Harry's, on the road to Gundagai.

Well, we chucked our blooming swags off, and we walked into the bar,
And we called for rum-an'-raspb'ry and a shilling each cigar.
But the girl that served the pizen, she winked at Bill and I —
And we camped at Lazy Harry's, not five miles from Gundagai.

In a week the spree was over and the cheque was all knocked down,
So we shouldered our "Matildas," and we turned our backs on town,
And the girls they stood a nobbler as we sadly said "Good bye,"
And we tramped from Lazy Harry's, not five miles from Gundagai.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Fabrizio Frosini 01 January 2016

Another Australian Folk Song: First published by Banjo Paterson as Lousy Harry's in an article in the Adelaide newspaper The Chronicle 10 March 1900 in this collection. Later printed in Paterson's Old Bush Songs in 1905. Roto is a station in south central NSW. Gundagai lies on what is now the main road from Sydney to Melbourne, the Hume Highway. Perhaps more songs mention Gundagai than any other town in Australia. Three-spot-check: a check in the hundreds of pounds

7 0 Reply
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Close
Error Success