Home is where...

[Seafront Plodder]

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.


...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Ah, Eric Bogle!

I've met Eric several times (not that he would know me) - really nice guy; very, very talented. But he's no runner.

[El Gordo]

Have I missed something? Where did this conversation come from?

Anyway, I'm a big Eric Bogle fan.

I missed him last year when he was over from Australia, but have seen him play a couple of times before.

You've reminded me of something that happened in the Copenhagen marathon that I'd completely forgotten about. In the last couple of miles, when I was feeling totally spaced out, I kept singing to myself the refrain of one of my favourite Eric Bogle songs: "It's nearly over now, and now I'm easy". I told myself I'd look up the words to "Now I'm Easy" when I got home, but forgot about it.

I did finally do it, so here they are. It's a song that makes me cry.

For nearly sixty years I've been a cockie
Of droughts and fires and floods I've lived through plenty
This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood
But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy

I married a fine girl when I was twenty
She died in giving birth when she was thirty
No flying doctor then just a gentle old black gen
But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy

She left me with two sons and a daughter
And a bone dry farm whose soil cried out for water
Though me care was rough and ready, they grew up fine and steady
But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy

Me daughter married young and went her own way
Me sons lie buried by the Burma railway
So on this land I've made me home, I've carried on alone
But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy

Oh, city folks these days despise the cockie
Saying with subsidies and dole we've had it easy
But there's no drought or starving stock on the sewered suburban block
But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy

For nearly sixty years I've been a cockie
Of droughts and fires and floods I've lived through plenty
This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood
But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy
But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

When my wife was in hospital giving birth to our first child, I had compiled a bunch of tapes of some of our favourite music. Unfortunately, as the contractions were nearing their most painful, on came Eric Bogle's "And Now I'm Easy" ... with the magic lines

I married a fine girl when I was twenty
She died in giving birth when she was thirty

which endeared me to neither my wife (who tells everyone and reminds me frequently) or the midwife who very nearly chucked me out of the hospital.

Eric Bogle lives here in Adelaide, by the way.

[Seafront Plodder]

I was actually searching for the lyrics to Tom Trauberts Blues and came across this Eric Bogle classic.

Living in Adelaide I kinds thought MCLM might have known the lyrics I posted, didn't know the Boss is also a fan!

He was born in Scotland by the way.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

No wonder Andy is such a fan; the following could have been written by either of them I suggest. It's actually lifted from Bogle's web site ==> http://www.windbourne.com/ebogle/

Oh, bright shining youth, where did you go? Mostly drowned in the bottom of a beer glass, if my memory serves me correctly. Or wasted on a succession of shallow, pretty heartbreakers. Was it worth it? You have to be kidding ... of course it was. Youth is a currency to be spent well, not wisely. Time enough for the wisdom bit when you are up to your neck in kids and mortgages.

Sentiments several of us here would probably wholeheartedly agree with, even if perhaps we never quite got around to the wisdom among kids and mortgages bit.

I had the pleasure of recording Eric Bogle many moons ago in some seedy folk club somewhere in my previous life as a recording engineer. Due to some bust up about broadcast rights, the material was never used. I remember it was part of a series that included the likes of Dougie Maclean, Andy Irvine, Vin Garbutt
and a bunch of Aussie folkies. Much of that material survived but I lost track of the Bogle tapes. Pity.

Well this turned out to be quite an interesting thread after all, eh?

It seems now a requirement to end a post in this thread with "by the way", by the way.