Digital Tradition Mirror

Woolloomooloo Lair

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Woolloomooloo Lair

On the day that I was born, it was a cold & a frosty morn,
In the famous suburb known as Woolloomooloo.
It was down in Riley Street my folks first heard me bleat
'Cause at the time I'd nothing else to do.
Oh me mother died of fright when she saw me in the light
And my father thought he'd send me to the zoo,
But I owe a lot to him, 'cause he taught me how to swim,
When he heaved me off the pier at Woolloomooloo

cho: Oh my name it is McCarty & I'm a rorty party
     I'm rough & tough as an old man kangaroo
     Some people say I'm crazy, I don't work because I'm lazy
     And I tag along in the boozing throng, the Push from Woolloomooloo.

And when I was just a lad I went straight'way to the bad
A larrikin so hard, you'd strike me blue
But the government was kind and they didn't seem to mind
And in Darlinghurst I spent a night or two.
Now the judge gave me a stare and he said, "You're a lair"
They heaved me into Darlinghurst gaol - you understand
They gave me clothes, they cut my hair, I didn't seem to care
And every night you'd find me in the van.

And I spent some years in gaol till I began to quail
I resolved to live upon a different lay
And enlisted in the ranks of the Salvation Army 'cranks'
You can bet I made the bloody business pay!
Well hallelujah! I'm a lout I knows me way about
I kids the mugs that I'm converted too
All the lassies there I mash and I'm never short of cash
'Cause I beats me drum all over Woolloomooloo.

Note: In the early days in Sydney a "push" was a street gang. The term
has not been in use much this century. The word derives from the German
Putsch which roughly means riot, unruly crowd etc.
     The Bushwackers recorded this song twice. If you have the first
version from "A Shearer's Dream" have a listen to the percussion -
lagerphone & spoons. One of the things I play in a bush band is a
lagerphone & seeing me name's Foster it's the only genuine Fosters's
Lagerphone in existence.
Sorry, the joke probably falls flat outside Oz. AF
AF
Apr98

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!