The Beautiful Land of Australia
Piosenka australijska z XIX wieku. Zapisana dla potomności w książce Andrew „Banjo” Patersona „The Old Bush Songs”, wydanej w Sydney w 1906 roku. Inny tytuł tej piosenki to „Pommy's Lament” i chyba pod tym tytułem poznał Kaczmarski tekst tego utworu, bo oznacza on właśnie lament emigranta (pommy – stereotypowy Brytyjczyk i brytyjski imigrant).
W wydawnictwie nutowym „Authentic Australian Bush Ballads” utwór datowany jest na wczesne lata XIX wieku.
A oto oryginalny angielski tekst piosenki:
All you on emigration bent,
With home and England discontent,
Come listen to my sad lament
About the bush of Australia.
CHORUS:
Illawarra, Mittagong,
Parramatta, Wollongong,
If you wish to become an orang-outang
Well, go to the bush of Australia.
Once I possessed a thousand pounds,
Says I to meself how grand it sounds,
For a man to be farming his own grounds
In the promising land of Australia.
When coming out the ship got lost,
In a very sad plight we reached the coast,
And very nearly made a roast
For the savages of Australia.
Escaped from thence I lighted on
A fierce bushranger with his gun,
Who borrowed my garments, every one,
For himself in the bush of Australia.
Sydney town we reached at last,
Says I to meself, all danger's passed,
Now I'll make me fortune fast
In the promising land of Australia.
So off I went with cash in hand,
Upon the map I bought my land,
But found it naught but barren sand
When I got to the bush of Australia.
Of sheep I got a famous lot;
Some died of hunger, some of rot,
But the divil a lot of rain we got
In this promising land of Australia.
My convicts, they were always drunk,
And kept me in a mighty funk,
Says I to meself as to bed I sunk,
I wish I were out of Australia.
Of ills I've had enough, you'll own,
But something else my woes to crown,
One night my bark hut tumbled down
And settled me in Australia.
Of cash and homestead thus bereft,
The ruddy spot I gladly left,
Making it over by deed of gift
To the savages of Australia.
Now stones upon the road I break,
And earn my seven bob a week.
'Tis better surely than the freak
Of settling down in Australia.
- „The Old Bush Song edited by A.B. Paterson”
Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 89 Castlereagh Street 1906
Websdale, Shoosmith ande Co., Printers, Sydney
- „Authentic Australian Bush Ballads - Sheet music”
by Hal Evans (piano arrangements) (Author), John Meredith (Editor), Alan Scott (Editor)
Southern Music Publishing Co. (A'asia) Pty. Ltd. (1960)
Dodane
11.11.2019
przez PrzemekL