Songs While The Billy Boils

From the rear cover notes Side One: Botany Bay - Many popular songs were written about out transportation of convicts in the 19th Century. "Botany Bay" is derived from an earlier song. "Farewell to you Judges and Juries", and was first sung in Melbourne in the 1880's on the Music Hall stage, hence the use ol fiddle and honkytonk piano on this track. Flash Jack From Gundagai - The shearer has a nomadic life, following the sheds across the country, and every man likes to think he can "shear a respectable tally". The Springtime It Brings On The Shearing - This must be the most nostalgic of all the Australian bush songs - il exists in a number of forms but I prefer this version. The last verse is grafted on from another song. "The Men of the Wallaby Track". The Drover's Dream - Many drovers found it necessary to provide themselves with some interior means of warmth on cold nights on the western plains. It would appear that this drover found the contents of his bottle rather unsettling. The Dying Stockman - Derived from an old English sailor's song. "Wrap Me up in My Tarpaulin Jacket", this song has enjoyed popularity for a hundred years in the bush along with dozens of other parodies of dubious nature. The Queensland Drover - The aristocrats of the bush, the Overlanders broke hearts as well as cheques as they moved through the bush lowes. Deservedly or otherwise, they earned a reputation for "borrowing" shirts from unsuspecting housewives. Click Go The Shears - This song has become as well known as "Waltzing Matilda", and is full of the feeling of the shearing sheds. Side Two: The Lime Juice Tub - The ex-convict bushmen had a contempt for "new chum" settlers and "experience men", and would freely offer to send them back home. The British Navy custom of serving lime juice to sailors and passengers resulted in British ships being dubbed "Lime Juice Tubs" and the British "Limeys". The Old Bullock Dray - Dating back to the early 1800's, this song became extremely popular, topical verses being added continually. Jack Robertson was a Premier of N.S.W. who introduced legislation to free the land for closer settlement. The Wild Colonial Boy - The Irish-Australian rebel and bushranger, jack Donahoe, is apparently the original "Wild Colonial boy. Over the years it would seem that the legend outgrew the man, and now we have at least six contenders for the title. This version is by far the most popular. The Eumarella Shore - This song indicates the feeling between the "squattocracy" and Jack Robertson's "free selectors". The small "selectors" found themselves pushed up into the hills and often persecuted by the big squatters and police. Acts of retaliation were not incommon, and cattle duffing and horse stealing were the order of the day. Van Diemen's Land - Many street ballads like this were performed in the cities of the British Isles in the 1800's. The singer would attract an audience, sing the son broadsides", and many originals exist today. This ballad was extremely popular in the colony as well as "back home". Dennis O'Reilly - This is one of the early songs of immigration and reflects the spirit of the Irish settler come to conquer the new land. Waltzing Matilda - Australian bush poem, written by to the Scottish melody "Craigie Lee" this has become Australia's national song and its popularity indicates the attitude of the Australian to authority and individual freedom.