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Hellova triumph. Thanks Robin. Bill On 28/12/2013, at 8:02 PM, Robin Hamilton wrote: > << > From: Bill Wootton > > Also some sort of larrikin triumphing against the odds, particularly well-bred odds. >>> > > As in ... > > THE BASTARD FROM THE BUSH > > As the night was falling slowly over city, town and bush, > From a house in Hogan's Alley came the Captain of the Push, > And his whistle loud and piercing woke the echoes of the Rocks, > And a dozen ghouls came slouching round the corners of the docks, > > Then the Captain jerked a finger at a stranger on the kerb, > Whom he qualified politely with an adjective and verb. > Then he made the introduction, ''Here's a covey from the bush, > Fuck me blind, he wants to join us, be a member of the Push!” > > Then the stranger made this answer to the Captain of the Push, > 'Fuck me dead, I'm Foreskin Fred, the Bastard from the Bush! > I've been to every two-up school from Darwin to the 'Loo, > I've ridden colts and black gins, what more can a Bastard do?' > > “Are you game to smash a window?” asked the Captain of the Push; > 'I'd knock a fucking house down,' said the Bastard from the Bush. > Would you take a maiden's baby? said the Captain of the Push. > 'I'd take baby's a maiden,' said the Bastard from the Bush. > > Would you bash a bloody copper, if you caught the cunt alone. > Would you stoush a swell or chinky, split his garret with a stone, > Would you make you wife a harlot, would swear off work for good?' > Again that bastard's voice rang out. 'My fucking oath, I would! > > 'Do you help the girls pick gumleaves?' asked the Captain of the Push > 'No, I hit 'em with the branches! said the Bastard from the Bush. > 'Would you knock me down and rob me?' asked the Captain of the Push. > 'I'd knock you down and fuck you!' said the Bastard from the Bush. > > 'Would you like a cigarette?' said the Captain of the Push. > 'I'll take the bloody packet,' said the Bastard from the Bush. > Then the Pushites all took counsel, saying 'Fuck me but he's game. > Let's make him our star basher, and he'll live up to his name.' > > So they took him to their hide-out, that Bastard from the Bush > And they gave him all the privileges belonging to the Push. > But soon they found his little ways were more than they could stand. > And finally the Captain thus addressed his little band; > > 'Now listen here you 'buggers, we've caught a fucking tartar: > At every kind of bludgin' that bastard's got the starter. > At poker and at two-up be shook our fucking rules, > He swipes our fucking liquor and he robs our fucking girls. > > So down in Hogan's Alley, all the members of the Push > Laid a dark and dirty ambush for the Bastard from the Bush. > And against the wall of Riley's pub, the Bastard made a stand. > A nasty grin upon his dial, a bike chain in his hand. > > They sprang upon him in a bunch, but one by one they fell, > With crack of bone, unearthly groan and agonizing yell, > Till the sorely battered Captain, spitting teeth and coughing blood, > Held an ear all torn and bleeding in a hand bedaubed with mud. > > 'You low polluted bastard,' snarled the Captain of the Push, > 'Get back to where you come from, that's somewhere in the bush. > And I hope that vile misfortune may tumble down on you: > May some lousy harlot dose you till your bollocks turn sky blue. > > May the pangs of windy spasms through your aching bowels dart, > May you shit your bloody trousers, every time you try to fart, > May you take a swig of gin's piss, mistaking it for beer, > May the Push you next impose on toss you out upon your ear. > > May the itching piles torment you, may corns grow on your feet, > May crabs as big as spiders attack your balls a treat. > Then when you're down and out and a hopeless bloody wreck, > May you slip back through your arsehole and break your bloody neck.' > > http://warrenfahey.com/Sydney-Folklore/SECTION-18/sfp-18-Bastard-Bush.html > > I'm at work (intermittently, interminably) on an updating of S.J.Farmer's _Musa Pedestris_, which will conclude with a section of Larrikin poetry. At the moment, this encompasses the following, and any suggestions for additions would be much welcome -- including particular poems by C.J.Dennis, whom I intend to get round to reading sometime. > > If I were closer to Sydney, I'd look into the National Library, and check through the entire run of back numbers of _The Dead Bird_. Either the originals or the microfilm -- http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1921071. But alas, an ocean intervenes ... Unless someone would happen to be passing by there? > > Robin > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > 6. Larrikin Verse > > “Fanny Flukem’s Ball’ – c 1890/91: “Now, listen, rorty bummers …” > From Graham Seal , The lingo – listening to Australian English, p. 43 > > W.T.Googe, “The Australian Slanguage” -- 1898 > “'Tis the everyday Australian …” (From The Bulletin, 4 June 1898.) > > Louis Esson, Red Gums and Other Verses (Melbourne, 1912): > “Back Ter Little Lon” -- Renie’s left er ’usband—eighteen months aw’y, > “Jugger” -- Give the push the office … > > “The Larrikin’s Hop”: Did you ever see a larrikins' hop … > From Melissa Bellenta, “Leary kin: Australian larrikins and the blackface minstrel dandy” > > WOOLLOOMOOLOO LAIR – pre-1895 > “On the day that I was born, it was a cold & a frosty morn …” > http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=3254 > [Slightly edited by RH, 31.10.09] > > ‘Oh, my name it is McCarty / And I'm a rorty party' -- 1895 > Text from: Melissa Bellanta, “The Larrikin 's Hop: Larrikinism and > Late Colonial Popular Theatre". > Original in Djin-djin, the Japanese bogie-man (1895) > > Henry Lawson, THE CAPTAIN OF THE PUSH: > “As the night was falling slowly down on city, town and bush …” > http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Henry_Lawson/19132 > > THE BASTARD FROM THE BUSH: > “As the night was falling slowly over city, town and bush …” > http://warrenfahey.com/Sydney-Folklore/SECTION-18/sfp-18-Bastard-Bush.html > > I'VE CHUCKED UP MY PUSH FOR THE DONAH: > “I 'ave done with playin' fan-tan, and I've chuck'd the two-up school, > http://warrenfahey.com/Sydney-Folklore/SECTION-14/sfp-section-14.html > > LARRIKIN DITTY: > “Oh fare ye well gallant livers …” > http://warrenfahey.com/Sydney-Folklore/SECTION-14/sfp-section-14.html >