Old Sydney Town

Phyl Lobl



The tank stream ran silent through shaded green banks,

When first I saw Sydney I offered no thanks.
And the pleasant bush scenery gave me no cheer,

For the eyes of a convict are blinded by fear.



CHORUS:
Oh Old Sydney Town I once was a rover,

But now I can see that you've fair won me over,
From the Hero of Waterloo up at the Rocks

To Blackwattle Bay with its dirty old docks,

I'll sing of your pleasures that satisfy me
Of your harbour, your pubs and your Circular Quay

The stone and the sweat that they used for the Quay,

Was culled from the earth and poor bastards like me.
How I hated that stone from the Argyle Cut,

And I wished it were my bones they'd hung at Pinchgut.

They gave me a pardon and set me quite free,

But the white cliffs of Dover no more will see me,

For I'm working a ferry run, I'm doing fine

From Blues Point to Dawes Point I'm straight down the line.

Now Phillip he formed you for he chose the place,
Macquarie came after and quite changed your face,

But for prisoners of Old Mother England who slaved

To build up your city, no names are engraved.


Thanks to Phyl Lobl for this one from her 1980 album, Blackmeadow Thistle.   The lyrics are from her website, with the following note:

Warren Fahey needed a song about Old Sydney for a project with which he was involved. I did some research and came up with this song.


The version sung here is as I heard it in the 1980s Brisbane sessions.

Woodturner's Love Song

Phyl Lobl



If I had a piece of Maple, red or white or pink,
I'd turn you a set of chair legs so you could sit and think.
And when you sit and think love I hope you'll think of me,
For I'd like to be there in your thoughts if not in your company.

If I had a piece of Coachwood white and fine and pure
I'd turn you a handle smooth and round, a handle for your door.
And when I come to see you, you could make that handle spin,
And open up the door my dear, to let your true love in.

If I had a piece of Silky Oak of even textured grain
I’d turn you a lamp stand for your light, tapered tall and plain.
And when you turn your light on, I hope it'll be for me,
For you're the light of my life, the only one for me.

If I had a piece of Cedar, the grain well shot with red,
I'd turn you a set of corner posts for a fine double bed.
A bed for you to lie on with the one that you love best,
But I hope you'd lie with me love and farewell all the rest.

Yes I'm a turner, that's my trade, as you can plainly see,
But the thing I'd really like to turn is to turn your heart to me.
Alas in that I have no skill, I've never learnt the art,
And Cedar, Maple and Silky Oak don't make a lover's heart.


A cracker from Phyl Lobl from her 1980 album, Broadmeadow Thistle.

Lots of concertinas on this one!

There's a great discussion of this one on Mudcat too.

Will You Fight, Will You Dare?

Phyl Lobl



The dreamtime folk are stirring now
They have laid their claim
To a part of the land their fathers roamed
That carries their tribal name

Where Vesty's cattle brands are scored
And stockmans whips are cracked
The dreamtime folk are holding out,
There'll be no going back

Will you fight, will you dare, will you give, will you care
Will you help to mend the wrong?
Will you stand up now for the dreamtime folk
By joining their freedom song

Where the muddy Murray's waters pour
Where tomatoes rule the weed
And the dreamtime folk that planted them
Have seen where the road could lead

They could leave behind the pickers' hats
They could leave the fringe of the town
They could take their place in this lucky land
If you let them, then they can.

Will you fight, will you dare, will you give, will you care
Will you help to mend the wrong?
Will you stand up now for the dreamtime folk
By joining their freedom song

Do they have to reach some famous height
Before you let them grow?
Will you shelter first the tall gumtree
Or spring-flowers from the snow

Well the plant is young, but the plant will grow
And its fruit will sweeten the tongue
Of the dreamtime folk whose bitter bread
Has choked their freedom song

Will you fight, will you dare, will you give, will you care
Will you help to mend the wrong?
Will you stand up now for the dreamtime folk
By joining their freedom song


The Wave Hill walk-off was a significant event in the assertion of the rights of Australia's aboriginal people. This song from Phyl Lobl's Bronzewing album

No More Boomerang

Words: Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Tune: Phyl Lobl



No more boomerang no more spear,
Now all civilised colour bar and beer,
No more corroboree gay dance and din,
Now we got movies and pay to go in.

No more sharing what the hunter brings,
Now we work for money and pay it back for things,
Now we track bosses to catch a few bob,
Now we go walkabout on bus to the job.

One time naked who never knew shame,
Now we put clothes on to hide whatsaname.
No more gunyah now bungalow,
Paid by hire purchase in twenty years or so.

Lay down the stone axe take up the steel,
Work like a nigger for a white man's meal,
No more firestick that made whites scoff,
Now all electric and no better off.

Bunyip he finish got now instead,
White-fella bunyip call him red.
Abstract pictures now, what they comin' at
Cripes in our caves we did better than that.

Black hunted wallaby, white hunt dollar.
White-fella witch-doctor wear dog collar.
No more message lubras and lads,
Got television now, mostly ads,

Lay down the woomera, lay down the waddy,
No we got atom bomb. End everybody.



Author and political activist Oodgeroo Noonuccall (1920–1993) is most commonly lauded as the first Aboriginal poet to publish a collection of verse. Her writing, informed by the oral traditions of her ancestors and guided by her desire to capture that unique, Aboriginal inflection using the English language, strove to share the nuances of the author's beloved culture with a wide audience.

This poem was set to music by Phyl Lobl.