Between the Lines - Issue Two

Molly Baun
This is a traditional ballad I've enjoyed since first hearing it on the late John Meredith's field recordings of Sally Sloane (1894-1982) of Lithgow, NSW. In some versions I've heard the ghost of Molly comes back and kindly alleviates the guilt felt by the shooter. This Australian version washes away all supernatural verses and allows no such reprieve!

Come all you young fellows that follow the gun,
Beware of going a-shooting by the late setting sun.
It might happen to anyone, as it happened to me,
To shoot your own true love in under a tree.

She was going to her uncle, when the shower it came on;
She went under a bush, the rain for to shun.
With her apron all around her, I took her for a swan,
And I levelled my gun and I shot Molly Baun.

I ran to her uncle in haste and great fear,
Saying, "Uncle, dear uncle, I've shot Molly dear.
With her apron all around her, I took her for a swan,
But oh, alas, it was my own Molly Baun.”

I shot my own true love, alas, I'm undone,
While she was in the shade by the setting of the sun.
If I thought she was there, I'd caress her tenderly,
And soon I'd get married to my own Molly dear.

My curse on you, Toby, that lent me your gun,
To go out a-shooting by the late setting sun.
I rubbed her fair temples, and found she was dead,
A fountain of tears for my Molly I shed.

Up came my aged father, and his locks they were grey,
"Stay in your own country and don't run away.
Stay in your own country ‘til the trial it comes on,
And I'll see you're set free by the laws of the land."

All the maids of this country they will all be glad
When they hear the sad news that my Molly is dead.
Take them all in their hundreds, set them all in a row,
Molly Baun she'll shine like a mountain of snow.

I Landed Here In Melbourne
Peter A.D. Fogarty of Geelong, Victoria has been a generous contributor to this column, sending in several examples of what he calls "Family Songs".
Another song claimed by others to have been written by my grandfather. It seems to me to be a parody of a song called "I Lent Two Dollars To O'Grady" (C.1893) which has a similar form. - Peter A.D.Fogarty. By the 1960's my father had substituted the word .'Trojan" for various reasons!

Has anyone come across this song before?

I landed here in Melbourne twelve months ago today,
I've been cleaning out the gutters up to date,
The ganger got disgusted, he said I was too slow,
So he said: "Old boy, you'd better do a skate...

Another bill I struck up with the grocer in the town;
And I got 'em on the system known as "Tick",
However will I pay them, I haven't got a brown,
So I think I'll "do a guy" and "sling my stick".

CHORUS: I left me trademark with the grocer,
The butcher's got me name down on his book,
To satisfy the boss, I am too slow sir,
So the best thing I can do is sling me hook, hook, hook.

The publican, they say, would like to see me,
I'm just about a dollar in his debt,
I'll pay him bye and bye, when the pigs begin to fly,
He'll be sorry when he hears I've "done a git".

With a man I took a contract to clear a piece of land;
Two pounds was all he gave me for the job,
I worked there I like nigger* until my face was tanned,
And when I finished up I owed him forty bob.

I said he was a swindler and he said I was a liar
And I struck him with the shovel on the head,
I gathered up the fragments and threw them in the fire
And as I walked away, these were the words I said:

REPEAT CHORUS:

More Parodies

Last issue's "Parodies" section has sparked this response - I'll hand you over to Rowan Webb. Thanks for the contribution, Rowan - over to you...

Your "Parodies" on p50 of T&N #2 (Summer 2003) provoke some comments; you have no "Letters" section as such but you may care to publish the offering below.

As printed, "Show me the way to go home" indicates a provenance connected to Sydney. When I first heard this song (circa 1949, as I recall) I was very much connected to Melbourne and there were two parody verses sung after the original; all verses were sung in the first person. The 'first parodying verse' is in the style of many 30s songs but may be older and the 'second' shows its Melbourne provenance by calling swimming costume "togs" rather than "swimmers" as well as by reference to the Sporting Globe; this may also indicate Melbourne's superior dress sense, as the Sporting Globe was printed on green newsprint.

Following the full flush of the folk revival it became common for the first verse to be sung as a chorus after the other verses.

Show me the way to go home,
I'm tired and I want to go to bed.
I had a little drink about an hour ago
and it's gone right to my head.
Wherever I may roam,
on land or sea or foam,
you will always hear me singing this song;
Show me the way to go home.
Oh! Indicate the route to my abode,
I'm fatigued and desire to retire.
I imbibed some refreshment sixty minutes ago
and it's gone right to my cerebellum.
Wherever I may roam,
on land or sea or agitated water,
you will always hear me humming this melody;
indicate the route to my abode.

Show me the way to go home,
I'm a blonde on St Kilda Beach.
I lost my togs about an hour ago
and they've floated out of reach.
All I have on now
is sand and sea and foam
so hand me a page of the Sporting Globe
and show me the way to go home.

In Melbourne "Daisy" was similarly parodied with the following differences. The original verse was always followed by Michael's response, which was then followed by the verse referring to the Black Maria; I never heard reference to "between the sheets". The version below is as I recall first hearing it, again circa 1949.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.
I'm half crazy, all for the love of you.
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage,
but you'll look sweet upon the seat
of a bicycle built for two.

Daisy, Daisy, the coppers are after you.
If they catch you, you know what they will do.
They'll tie you up with wire,
behind a Black Maria.
So ring your bell and pedal like hell,
on your bicycle built for two.

Michael, Michael, here is my answer dear.
I can't cycle, it makes me feel so queer.
If you can't afford a carriage,
you can take your bloody marriage,
for I'll be damned if I'll be trammed,
on a bicycle built for two.