The Stable Lad

    G                                             Am  

When Cobb & Co ran coaches  from the Buller to the Grey

 D                                                    G

I went for a livery-stable lad  at a halt up Westport way,

                        Am                    G                Am

And I gave my heart to a  red-haired girl, and left it where she lay

      C                G                D             G
 By the winding Westland highway from the Buller to the Grey.

There's neatsfoot on my fingers,

and  lamp-black on my face,

And  I've saddle-soaped the harness

and  hung each piece in place,

But  my heart's not in the stable,

it's  in Charleston far away,

Where  Cobb & Co goes rolling by

from  the Buller to the Grey.

‍

There's a red-haired girl in    Charleston,

and she's dancing in the    bar,

But I know she's not like    other girls

who dance where miners are,

And I can't forget her eyes,    

everything they seemed to    say

The day I rode with Cobb    & Co

from the Buller to the Grey.

There's a schooner down from    Murchison,

I can hear it in the gorge,

So I'll have to pump the    bellows now

and redden up the forge,

And I'll strike that iron so    hard

she'll hear it far away

In the roaring European

where the road runs by from    Grey.

 
 Some day I'll be a teamster

with the ribbons in my fist,

And I'll drive that Cobb    & Co Express

through rain and snow and    mist,

Drive a four-in-hand to    Charleston,

and no matter what they say,

I'll take my girl up on the    box

and marry her in Grey.

There's a graveyard down in    Charleston

where the moss trails from    the trees,

And the Westland wind comes    moaning in

from off the Tasman Sea.

It was there they laid my    red-haired girl,

in a pit of yellow clay

As Cobb & Co went    rolling by

from the Buller to the Grey.

(Repeat 1st verse, with    melancholy)

‍