The Green Ban Fusiliers

Words:  Denis Kevans
Tune:  Traditional (McAlpine's Fusiliers)




CHORUS:
Up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.
They stole the street with their marching feet, placards high above their ears.
In Sydney town they would not lie down, they gave Martin's scabs some cheer,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

Half-smart thieves with their Gucci sleeves and car parks on the brain
Told the usual lie: 'The trees've got to die' - the fig trees in Sydney's domain,
And some said, 'Joe, we orta let 'em go. It's only bloody timber to be cleared,
Ah, but listen to the trees as they whisper to the breeze and the Green Ban Fusiliers.

Bulldozer blades made a lightning raid, coming in with a great big rush,
Moving in for the kill up at Hunter's hill, at beautiful Kelly's Bush,
But the local women lay down in the bulldozer's way, to the bucking and the shuddering of the gears,
When their hands were raised the ones they praised were the Green Ban Fusiliers.


CHORUS:
Up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.
They stole the street with their marching feet, placards high above their ears.
In Sydney town they would not lie down, they gave Martin's scabs some cheer,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

They made a stand for our sunny land at the Rocks and Woolloomooloo.
On the chimney tops they waltzed with the cops to save a bit of Sydney for you,
And the finance fleas who made refugees of families who had been pioneers
Finished on their arse, and they did their brass with the Green Ban Fusiliers.

Through the years and through my tears I can see 'em marching again,
From the dizzy heights and the concrete sites in sunshine and in rain,
That patch of green's gettin' a lovely old sheen, no matter how many flow the years,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

CHORUS:
Up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.
They stole the street with their marching feet, placards high above their ears.
In Sydney town they would not lie down, they gave Martin's scabs some cheer,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

This parody of Dominic Behan's McAlpine's Fusiliers was written by Denis Kevans in 1972 and used as part of the presentation, An Unlikely Alliance at the 2011/2012 Woodford Folk Festival.  

Another of Denis' songs on the topic of the Green Bans industrial movement.

This recording from the last performance at the festival features:

Ann Bermingham:  vocals, shaker

Dale Jacobsen:  vocals

Sandy McCutcheon:  vocals

Nicole Murray:  vocals, fiddle

Helen Rowe:  vocals, fiddle

Peggy Seeger:  vocals, banjo

John Thompson:  vocals, guitar

The illustration to this post is a photograph of Jack Mundey, one of the principal actors in the Green Bans movement, in conversation with police.

The Diggins-Oh

Words: Anonymous
Tune: Nicole Murray



I've come back all skin and bone
From the diggins-oh.
And I wish I'd never gone
To the diggins-oh.
Believe me, 'tis no fun,
I once weighed fifteen stone
But they brought me down to one
At the diggins-oh.

I built a hut with mud
At the diggins-oh.
That got washed away by flood
At the diggins-oh.
I used to dig and cry,
It wouldn't do to die,
Undertakers charge too high
At the diggins-oh.

I paid for vittles with a frown
At the diggins-oh.
Three potatoes half a crown
At the diggins-oh.
Five shillings a four-pound brick
Butter at a shilling a lick,
They never give no tick
At the diggins-oh.

They tied me to a tree
At the diggins-oh.
With my nuggets they made free
At the diggins-oh.
I escaped from harm and hurt
Though they stole my very shirt
I had to paint myself with dirt
At the diggins-oh.

I felt quite a ruined man
At the diggins-oh.
Thought, I'll get home if I can
From the diggins-oh.
I was always catching cold,
And I've been both bought and sold,
Like many more, for gold
At the diggins-oh.


From cloudstreet's 2004 album, The Fiddleship.

All I Want

Don Henderson





All I want is a little bit to eat and a place to lay me down
I just want to feel my feet set firmly on the ground
The captain's mad
The judge is sad
Politician is a clown
All I want is a little bit to eat and a place to lay me down

The captain in the charting room, moving coloured pins
He clears the board, the colours go to their respective tins
Then out again, to tell the men,
The neatest army wins
All I want is a little bit to eat and a place to lay me down

The judge with his presumption, his gavel and his wig
Enacts the farce of justice, stars as mr big
A different cast, the sentence passed, then onto another gig
All I want is a little bit to eat and a place to lay me down

The elected politician, asleep in parliament
Expresses thus the views of those he's come to represent
Record his snores, they're common cause
They even pay the rent
All I want is a little bit to eat and a place to lay me down

I was with a girl the other night, she looked into my eyes
And said, "do you believe in love?"
That was a surprise.
I said, "When I'm fed, I believe in bed. I'll tell to you no lies"
All I want is a little bit to eat and a place to lay me down


A classically simple piece from Don Henderson. The illustration is a painting of Campbell the Swaggie by Nicole Murray.