The Flood

Mick O'Halloran

It's gonna flood

I'm surrounded by leeches and mud

I didn't do the shopping in Lismore this week

and all I've got to eat is a spud

It's bloody wet

There's more to come I bloody bet

I wish I had a boat so I could row across this river

And see if I can bum a cigarette

I'm going mad

I'm stuck here with my ex-wife's mum and dad

They came to tell me what a mongrel I've been

And couldn't get out again.

CHORUS:

Because in this kind of weather tallyhos stick together

You couldn't roll a thing if you tried

The roofs full of leaks and there's mould on the sheets

And the black-snakes are moving inside

The SES 

They're pulling out.  Last seen heading West

I think I'll live the in-laws to the mould and the black snakes

And float out to sea on my chest

This song was a favourite around the Brisbane session scene in the 1990s, as sung by Cory O'Connell, nephew of the songwriter, Mick O'Halloran.  Later performed by the supremely disreputable Baldrick and the Cunning Plans.

Some notes:
Tally-ho is a well-known brand of cigarette paper
The SES is the State Emergency Service, a voluntary civil relief service in Australia
Lismore is a town in Northern New South Wales where flooding is common.

The illustration to this post is from the excellent and informative "History of our Floods" page from the Lismore Council.

This version accompanied by the distinctive twang of a six-string gourd guitar by Penelope Swales (see Totally Gourdgeous).