The original 2011 collection Old and Not So Old Bush Songs began as a means of tidying my own repertoire, gained from exploring and performing for over
forty years. More and more good songs were discovered and added, and poems that needed a tune were worked in. The result is over 300 songs.
Where possible I have credited the sources of the songs and melodies, but please don’t hesitate to edify me about omissions or errors.
Arrangements of the better known songs are based on what I learnt at the Bush Music Club, and from an extensive personal library of Australian folk records and folklore and folk music publications.
I encourage you to adapt these arrangements to suit your own needs. The songs have generally been pitched for a deeper vocal range. If a particular song is needed in another key it can be easily transposed using a software program that recognises and uses ABC music coding, such as abcExplorer and abcEdit. They can be downloaded from the following list either as PDF files or as versatile ABC files.
Heartfelt thanks are due to the many friends who have sustained my enthusiasm for this volume with their support for the previous edition, the main source book for our monthly Bush Traditions session at the Goulburn Club. Acknowledgement to the many individual contributors is made on the relevant pages.
Phyl Lobl, as she tried to educate the Arts Council of Australia about folk songs, offered this amusing characteristic: “everyone else sings the wrong version.” These then are my wrong versions; a unique collection of Australian songs ranging from colonial times to the present. Some great classics, and many that I trust will become better known.
October 2019
This collection is not offered for sale for profit. In the spirit of folk music it has been prepared for sharing, as have my previous publications. You are welcome to copy the work in part or in full for your own use, preferably with acknowledgement.
Select any file and it will be displayed onscreen with the options.
to download it as a midi file,
to download it as an abc file or
to download or print it as a PDF file
A - L
L - Z
My Little Wet Home in a Trench
Sixteen Thousand Miles From Home
Song Of The City Stockman, The
Springtime It Brings On The Shearing, The
Station Songs and Droving Ditties
Travelling Down the Castlereagh
Waltzing Matilda (Cowan Version)
Waltzing Matilda (McPherson Version)
Waltzing Matilda (Queensland Version)
Western Creeks Are Calling, The
When It's Springtime in the Mallee
Where The Lazy Murray River Rolls Along