I was on a tall ship sailing south down from Portland Maine The ship had guns it was ’61 on the 17th of May Accompanying the Stone Fleet to the mouth of Confederate Charleston Bay We set a course to reinforce Samuel du Pont’s blockade Civil War winds were blowing, I was just 17 Didn’t want to die without knowing if you know what I mean Sailing down the east coast to resupply we turned into Chesapeake Bay At Hampton News, me and the crew went ashore to play We stepped into a whorehouse, to carouse, there to spend our pay I was scared till I got pared with the young one Ellie May I was eager but nervous, she was sweet for a whore Like me pressed in to service by the hardship of war Followed her down a hallway through a dark creaking door, There we found sweet religion on a mattress on the floor Woke up the next morning stone the crows there’d held to pay I had failed – the ship had sailed while I slept with Ellie May Swear to god I am no deserter, but I’d be tried and sentenced to be hung If I was found so went to ground in the summer of ‘61 Madam needed a worker, broad of back strong of arm To clean the bar, change the kegs and kept the girls safe from harm Out of all that whole crew one survived his name was Bill Coltrane The rest were killed at Secessionville or the Battle of Mobile Bay Billy walked into the barroom years had passed it was 1865 Saw my face in its disgrace and said “Jim, I see you’re still alive!” “I was saving the union, you deserted the boat I’ll take the young one in the corner, here boy you take my coat” I said “Billy hold on change of plan, the young one isn’t free She has a name it’s Ellie May and she belongs to me!” Billy said “you know I’ve killed men, stand aside, a whore’s a whore’s a whore I’ll be satisfied now run and hide Jimmy like you did before” Then he pulled out a dagger, had it up at my throat I dashed a bottle across his temple, and gave the man back his coat It was on a warm day in ‘66 when the war was done I travelled north to Plymouth Port to say hello to Mum So good to see her old face at the door looking so surprised The letter had read that I was dead when clearly I was still alive When she asked for my story, what was I supposed to say I just said “mother meet my children and my good wife Ellie May”

Underneath these northern stars, picking on a mate’s guitar With a breeze from Kandahar blowing soft and warm See my own is in its case, with the Movers just off base On a pallet down the space ‘cause I’m going home Fighting season got underway after harvest back in May With attacks in Chahar Cheneh and Charmeston But the Checkpoints all have held it wasn’t pretty but oh well Let them do it all themselves and let’s go home We don’t get out too much these days, with the base in ‘retrograde’ This trip hasn’t been the Guns of Navarone Nothing like my first go around, out in the valleys round for round 40 good men in the ground now we’re going home Now up on Kabul’s streets I hear, they’ve got billboards everywhere Of the Lion of Panjshir or a 3G phone Meanwhile down here in TK (Tarin Kowt), they’re banking on MK And the fighting Fourth Brigade cause we’re going home I don’t know how I am going to fit back home Been out here now so long this is what I know Brother, thanks for your ear, life is easier out here It’s love and family I fear but I’m going home Hear the Mullah sing his song, at the rising of the sun Shares his love for everyone through a megaphone By the time he sings again, I’ll be on that bird my friend This war is at an end and I’m going home.

There’s no way to explain, all that goes down in this brain Except to confess it’s a bit of a mess and you don’t want to know. So I went for a walk if only to remove the cork Let it all flow with the heel and toe, lets call it heal and toe Heal, toe, wherever you may go, just get me out of here In here’s tears and love and hope and fear, so here’s to us my dear Made my way down Lonsdale Street, as if I had someone to meet Heel and toe down that bitumen road just wandering alone On every corner street café, there were cyclists on display Facebooking likes for their NASA-built bikes on their new smart phones Me I haven’t got that far I got a Nokia and a Malvern Star Backpedal brakes and the mudguard shakes, through the rusty chrome Sometimes it breaks down you know, leaving me to heal and toe Heel and toe down the bitumen road to find my way back home Home, home, I’m never going home, get me out of here In here’s tears, and love and hope and fear, so here’s to us my dear So I went travelling overseas to where they all speak Japanese Polite and discrete as they shuffle their feet through the streets of Tokyo I crossed the ocean and in New York pedestrians prefer to walk Heal and toe through the old Soho where they drink Champaign and it tastes just like cherry Home, home I’m never going home, I kind of like it here So cheers beers, and bugger love and fear, and here’s to us my dear One day I will settle down build a home near my home ground Light a torch on the old back porch and sit there writing poems If I get restless I will know to heal myself with heal and toe Round the park till the day gets dark then find my way back home Heal, toe, wherever you may go, you always lead me here So here’s cheers to love and hope and fear, and here’s to us my dear.

Gather round boys and hear the Seasick song of a sailor who has done wrong Sailing the ocean all of his life coming to port to find a new wife A new situation and a family, the frustrations of a big city When he could be on the open sea in a boat with blokes like you and me. Life can be simple life can be complexity always seems to come with sexual feelings for a girl or boyfriends who treat them like a worn out toy Box clever boys, for mark my words, the sublime can quickly turn Absurdity strikes you and you have to laugh in the ocean, even in the bath! Ai Ai Ai brothers of the sea I will save you if you save me Wee Wee Wee all the way home, from my true love never shall I roam Out on the ocean you may get the urge, find self service the only way to purge These emotions bottled up inside send a message looking for a bride Find her drifting floating on the tide, open up and let her inside She’ll become your little stowaway as on the ocean bed with her you lay So gather round boys and hear the seasick song of a sailor who has done wrong Seeing the size of every ocean waving goodbye as his emotions sway To the starboard and towards the porthole through which he sees the fishes Caughting together while the fishermanagages now to find a brand new plan

Beautiful girl, new to this world Your mama’s good-looking she’s been cooking you since May or June And now you’ve come to steal my heart just like the dish ran away with the spoon Beautiful girl, soft like a pearl Laying there happy in your nappy like a lump of dough Your mamas gonna feed you when you need to you just let us know Beautiful girl, princes and earls I know they’re going to come to court I’ll build a fort to keep their fingers off you! But like your Grand daddy knew you’re gonna do just what you’re going to do Well it’s as fickle as fashion, there’ll be bright lights flashing As you crash into your darkest night This old world’s going blind, but if you know your own mind I know you’re going to be all right Beautiful girl, it’s a dangerous world And it’s suffering its huffing and puffing and its going to blow But with a heart like Magellan there’s no tellin’ where you just might go And your dad is going to be here if you need him, just so you know Yes you daddy’s going to be here, if you need me, just say so.

They say that in the north of France there’s a guy who wears his pants so high that you can sometimes see his knees His real name is Reggie the French call him “Wedgie” ‘cause his pants are higher than the Pyrenees In Paris among Parisians he was treated with derision they would laugh at him and whack him with baguettes Till one day after heavy rains he saved a child from the Seine without even getting his pants wet And I can see you far away…I can see you far away I knew a guy called Dave who just could not be saved from a loneliness there deep down in his soul His missus couldn’t reach him, his children couldn’t teach him, he lived out in the backyard in a hole Now and then he’d surface on a mission with some purpose and make a beeline for the hardware store And come back two hours later with some chips made of potato, hammer, nails, plywood and saw One afternoon I went around and I looked up instead of down and there I saw the finest treehouse up in the tree A voice came from the hole saying “it’s still dark and cold but now at least the kids can look down and see me” I said Dave “that much is true but the kids seem to look up to you, too early to pre occupy a grave You will be forgiven if you come and join the living, put on a clean shirt and maybe shave” And I can see you far away…I can see you far away Well cycling became Reggie’s claim to fame his trouser legs clear from the chain he won the Tour de France one day And everyone said what a guy as he road with a head and pants held high down the The Avenue des Champs-Élysées And Dave seems better though his shirt’s a little wetter from the tears he finally cried that afternoon I’m not doing too bad though I sometimes too feel sad and I’ll be back here playing again next June And I can see you far away, I can see you far away

Illawarra Rose, Jericho, forever on the road, feeling low. I saw you seek, somewhere safe, digging deep, full of faith, Illawarra Rose Illawarra Rose, those long yards, everybody knows it’s been hard To book the gigs, write the charts, keep the beat, melt the hearts Sell CDs, see the man, roll the leads, and pack the van Illawarra Rose I wrote this song ‘cause I wanted to be, at the wedding there with you and Steve. Double booked and I’m on the road again in a very smelly van with some very Spooky Men. Illawarra Rose, friend of mine, in the end I know, you’ll be fine. You’ve got the steel, you’ve got the grace, so good to see the sun on your face Illawarra Rose

Thanks for coming round, this week’s been untidy My heads been spinning round but I made it to Friday Through a world without love Maybe you and I, we could go walking, And maybe by and by, we’ll start talking About anything but love When we could be out there riding the fences Turn the other cheek to the wind and the rain Never to let love slip through the defences Opened like a child to the joy and the pain Out of my front door and into the courtyard A statue from the war, of a soldier who fought hard But never found love Walking past the children out in the playground Come home when it’s cold with talk of what they found Out looking for love When they could be out there riding the fences Turn the other cheek to the wind and the rain Never to let love slip through the defences Opened like a child to the joy and the pain Baby you and I ain’t getting much younger And as the years go by, I’m losing my hunger For anything but love So step into my room, take your coat off Show me all the wounds in the flesh that you’re made of If you’re looking for love… Never to be out there riding the fences Turn the other cheek to the wind and the rain When we could let love slip through the defences Opened like a child to the joy and the pain

So many of us gathered that December afternoon, To hear the final tune, of the laureate buffoon. Ceremony over with, Louise had said her piece, We poured into the street, and drank our heads off to the morning Six months into winter and Maryanne’s asleep, The phone bills are steep, but the Internet is cheap A message to you Megangirl living in Bigpond, Would that I could wave a wand, make the man walk through the doorway But it’s my job to make words rhyme, Get it right half the time though my song be so uncertain Naked as his namesake of Mikelangelo, The fiddler and his bow, ran the whole dam show We were drawn to him like refugees from Generation X, The poetry and sex, nudity and fireworks So I took this job trying to make words rhyme Get it right half the time though my song be so uncertain. You and he were lovers. So were me and you. Though he ended up with Lou and fair enough too. Still I feel his absence here like a gaping hole, The city is losing soul, the Gypsy Bar is closed now. But I kept my job trying to make words rhyme I get it right half the time though my song be so uncertain. So all your friends are pregnant now or looking for a guy, Contemplating suicide, or otherwise preoccupied Adding to the loneliness of trying to write your book, Don’t be such as sook, just write the goddamn book I know ‘cause it’s my job trying to make words rhyme Get it right half the time though my song be so uncertain So if you hear the calling voice of the tea lady of your soul, Your coffee is getting cold, she knows you’re getting old If your little black dog will not be thrown a bone, Call me on the phone, you can take this song on loan. And if you’re broke reverse the charge, though my bill is already large, And if you speak to Maryanne, it’s okay, she’ll understand, ‘cause she is bigger than the world, just like you are Megan girl, David’s courage lives inside you I’m going to keep this job trying to make words rhyme, Get it right half the time though my song be so uncertain And though I’ve been wrong now time after time Through the cracks the sun will shine though my song be so uncertain.

Sitting at home, still as a stone, thinking about the women in my life Some I set free, the others left me, except the one who’ s currently my wife So I got on to writing this song, knowing it could only bring me grief It could cause you some trouble too, so I’m gonna keep it brief What you give’s what you get and I’ve had a lot Free from regret I am not There was Lucille she was unreal back then we were smoking lots of grass And drinking beer till the floor disappeared, couldn’t tell our elbows from our arse Willow and Bree, Jane and Lisa-Marie each of them deserve a separate song Less so Renee, although people say, she’s seems happier now since she met Yvonne What you gives what you get and I’ve had a lot Free from regret I am not Well what can I say? They all went their own ways – some to Melbourne some to study law I started this band, met Maryanne, I think that’s her now coming through the door All the above, taught me of love, lost a lot of skin along the way Stripped of some pride now I’m softer inside work to do and bills I gotta pay What you gives what you get and I’ve had a lot Free from regret I am not What slipped through the net was not meant to be What you give is what you get now I’m getting me

Sometimes before I go to sleep at night, when my working day is through After I have put the bins outside, and watched a little evening news And thrown my shirts into the wash, and sent some e-mails too Sometimes before I go to sleep at night, I think of you. Sometimes before you go to sleep at night, when your working day is done Tucked your daughter ‘neath her blankets tight, and read a story to your son And fixed your husband’s lunchbox right, whoever that might be Sometimes before you go to sleep at night, do you think of me? Some bitterness still lingers on, from when it all fell through. Still sometimes before I go to sleep at night, I think of you Not discontent with all I now call mine, and love, I have learned, is a narrow road So I hope there’s somebody by your side to ease things as you go

Living on the road my friend, Was gonna keep you free and clean. Now you wear your skin like iron, Your breath as hard as kerosene. You weren’t your mama’s only boy, But her favorite one it seems. She began to cry when you said goodbye, And sank into your dreams. Pancho was a bandit boys, His horse was fast as polished steel. He wore his gun outside his pants For all the honest world to feel. Pancho met his match you know In the desert down in Mexico, Nobody heard his dying words, Ah but that’s the way it goes. All the Federales say They could have had him any day They only let him slip away Out of kindness, I suppose. Now Lefty cannot sing the blues All night long like he used to do. The dust that Pancho bit down south Ended up in Lefty’s mouth. The day they laid poor Pancho low, Lefty split for Ohio. Where he got the bread to go, There ain’t nobody knows. All the Federales say We could have had him any day. We only let him slip away Out of kindness, I suppose. The poets tell how Pancho fell, And Lefty’s living in a cheap hotel The desert’s quiet, Cleveland’s cold, And so the story ends we’re told. Pancho needs your prayers its true, But save a few for Lefty too. He only did what he had to do, And now he’s growing old. All the Federales say We could have had him any day. We only let him go so long Out of kindness, I suppose. A few gray Federales say We could have had him any day We only let him go so long Out of kindness, I suppose.

You’re looking hungry cobber, here plant your arse down mate would you like some mashed potatoes with that burger on your plate? it’s been another long shift here at the Cooper Pedy mess but if you’ve got a minute I’ve got something on my chest The 24th of August back in 20 10 I was working out of Tarin Kowt with a squad of 20 men The Dutch had pulled the pin leaving Uruzgan for good It fell to us to fill the void to the west in Deh Rawud It had been a lethal summer starting back in June We’d lost Smithy, Snowy, Palmer, Aplin, Chucky and then Bewes August took down Jason Brown then Kirbs and Thomas Dale On the morning of their service, we set out on Route Whale I was carrying the Maximi a thumping belt fed gun With an action like a jackhammer, the weapon weighed a tonne We drove south of the Tangi to an RV where we met With two brick of boys from Anur Joy and we turned for Derapet Lance Jack MacKinney – the boys all called him ‘Crash’ He was the fastest bastard we all knew for distance or for dash A soldier’s bloody soldier and the fittest man I’ve met I was proud to walk beside him on approach to Derapet 60 clicks out in the sticks to the west of Tarin Kowt The sappers saw the FAMS move in and the women all clear out A TIC was what we wanted, a TIC was what we’d get It was only a matter of when and where in the fields of Derapet Me and Crash were partnered in reserve back at the rear Although we weren’t at point that day I felt and smelt the fear The boys kept probing forward through the aqueduct and sluice Till from a nearby tree line I could see all hell break loose They’d had hit a complex ambush of about a 100 men The chattering of AKs and the thud of PKMs The rounds were whistling around em but we couldn’t tell where from Cause the Talibs had concealment from the tree line and the corn A call came on the ICOM to come forward from the back They needed my machine gun at the front of the attack So me and Crash we hoofed it as the rounds around us cracked Running with that weapon and my armour and my pack We’d come 600m through the muddy aquaduct By the time we reached the front line, frankly I was fucked My mind said just said keep going but my body just said nope And I collapsed back on my pack at the bottom of the slope Crash grabbed my Maximi and hauled it up to the crest That’s why he was where he was when the round burst through his chest I looked up in that instant and I never will forget As he spun around and crashed facedown in the dust of Derapet Wooly called for dust off we were too far from the cars We worked on Crash for an hour taking turns on CPR The chopper came and medevac’d him back in to TK Where the Doctor at the Role 2 declared him DOA Meanwhile, Keighran broke cover dancing dangerous and strange A hundred Talib muzzles flashed untill the Aslav’s found their range Between those Guncars the Apache and the M777 Many Talibs became martyrs with their virgins up in heaven The battle soon was over they had lost their will fight They left their dead and dying they’d pick em up that night We walked back to the Aslavs and crawled into the FOB I remember sitting quietly with Langer, Sean and Rob Fanners ran the section through an after action brief I tuned in though exhausted I was numb with shame and grief The BDA said by the way there’s 30 of them dead and so they say we won the day and the Battle of Derapet. «» Beckie’s waters broke at the crematorium Just a few hours later, she gave birth to a son The boys help out with mowing and she got some compo cash Helps pay the bills but it wont fill the hole where once was Crash Langers won selection, Daniel Keighran got a gong Abbott won the election, and Fred Smith got his song Those who get these accolades deserve all they get But Crash did not deserve to die at the Battle of Derapet I came back to Brisbane and got out on ‘civvie street’ Now I’m working in this mine, mate, in this mess we’re miners eat I’m married now with children to a woman named “Regret” It’s the price you pay for a summer’s day in the fields of Derapet