Black Swans. A Gumdigger's lament
Music Player
Summary
Sung by Chris Priestley with accordian by Craig Denham. The lyrics, written by an anonymous songwriter, were collected from E L Eyre by Neil Colquhoun. Neil added a tune to the lyrics, then published it in 1965 in Song of a Young Country.
Lyrics
The restless shadows by me flit,
And day will soon be o’er
As in the dying light I sit,
Outside my wha-re door.
Away across the east I see,
The black swans homeward come,
Through sunset skies that gleam on me,
A digger scraping gum.
Chorus:
Yo-ho-wup! Yo-ho-wup! Yo-ho!
Mid hills of grey and brown I live
Here in the scrub,
Full fifty miles from any town
And ten from any pub.
Through winter’s rain and summer’s drought
This life maybe suits some,
I grind a scanty living out—
A digger scraping gum.
Chorus:
Yo-ho-wup! Yo-ho-wup! Yo-ho!
And if you want the way you’ve gone
Hid from friends you’ve lost,
As slow the years of life steal on
And turn the hair to frost.
Then see across the eastern sky,
The black swans homeward come,
’Neath sunset skies that gleam on my
Hard scraping of the gum.
Chorus:
Yo-ho-wup! Yo-ho-wup! Yo-ho!
