Trad.
Razor-Back Mountain is near Kyogle in the Border Ranges between New South Wales and Queensland.
Notes from Ron Edwards "Great Australian Folk Songs"
"The Razor-Back Mountain" was sent to me by Nancy Keesing on 8 June 1971. She had discovered it in Hill's Life in New South Wales (28 December 1832). It goes to the tune of "The Tight Little Island".
A great piece of singing, John - and an intriguing song.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not convinced that the Razor-Back Mt near Kyogle is the right setting.
"...some say that Menangle for crossing a much better place is..." in the 2nd verse points to the Razorback Range near Camden, southwest of Sydney. Sydneysiders of the 60s would recall the trial of crossing The Razorback, in the days before the Hume Highway was re-surveyed.
What, no lyrics? It's a pretty fast song, too! I think I got the gist of it, though - eventually!
ReplyDeleteWe have a razorback here in Victoria, too - one of my favourite places. It leads from the Alpine Highway at Diamantina (yes, we've got one of those, too!) to Mount Feathertop, Victoria's second highest mountain. No roads, though, and never were. Never have a carriage and horses sped over its stones and earth. There used to be horses, which were used to pull sleds over the snow to take skiers in and out of Hotham - and brutally treated they were, too (the horses, not the skiers!). Never a wheeled vehicle, though.