The Poetry of Brian Langley
Note
- "Clancy" refers to a character from some famous Australian Poems inc.
"Clancy of the Overflow" written by A.B. (Banjo) Paterson in the 1880s
-
"Overflow" refers to the outflow from a natural lake or billabong
(anabranch).
"Bunyip" is a mythical Australian creature that emerges at night to
terrorise people with its wailing noise.
Playing Aussie Songs
On
these lazy afternoons
I’d like to play some Aussie tunes.
And sing a dinkum, true blue song,
Perhaps you’d like to sing along.
The
tunes I’d play, I’m sure you’d know.
The words, we’d make up as we go.
And as I ran up through the chords,
We’d sing of shearers on the boards.
And
chaps like Clancy, long ago,
Out somewhere on the Overflow.
We’d sing of rivers, drought and flood,
Of pastureland all turned to mud.
And
then we’d sing of boom and bust,
Of failed crops, of sand and dust.
I’d strum a minor chord or two
And off we’d go with words anew.
About our mates, about our lives,
About our girlfriends and our wives.
About the friends we’ve left behind
And others that we’ve yet to find.
We’d sing about red kangaroos
And flocks of noisy cockatoos
And snakes and other beasts that bite
And bunyips out there in the night.
We’d pause to think. I’d strum along,
The melody would come out strong
And that would help us in our quest
To find the words that fitted best.
We’d sing of times, both old and new
About our nation as it grew.
We’d sing of truckies on the roads,
Their trailers full of heavy loads.
Of
sporting folk, we’d sing out loud,
Across the world, they’ve made us proud.
We’d sing along, all afternoon
To my guitar and Aussie tune.
But
though I’d love for this to be,
There’s just one catch that I can see.
Though I can rhyme and maybe sing,
I cannot play that guitar thing.
© Brian Langley July 25th 2004
