Drover's Dream
One night when travelling sheep, my companions lay
asleep
There was not a star to illuminate the sky
I was dreaming, I suppose,
for my eyes were nearly closed
When a very strange procession passed me by
First there came a kangaroo, with his swag of blankets blue
A dingo ran
beside him for a mate
They were travelling mighty fast, and they shouted as
they passed
"We'll have to jog along, it's getting late"
The pelican
and the crane, they came in from off the plain
To amuse the company with a
Highland Fling
The dear old bandicoot played a tune upon his flute
And
the native bears sat round them in a ring
The drongo and the crow sang us
songs of long ago
While the frill-necked lizard listened with a smile
And
the emu standing near with his claw up to his ear
Said, "Funniest thing I've
heard for quite a while"
The frogs from out the swamp, where the atmosphere
is damp
Came bounding in and sat upon the stones
They each unrolled their
swags and produced from out their bags
The violin, the banjo and the bones
The goanna and the snake, and the adder wide awake
With the alligator
danced "The Soldier's Joy"
In the spreading silky oak the jackass cracked
a joke
And the magpie sang "The Wild Colonial Boy"
Some brolgas darted
out from the tea-tree all about
And performed a set of Lancers very well
Then
the parrot green and blue gave the orchestra its cue
To strike up "The Old
Log Cabin in the Dell."
I was dreaming, I suppose, of these entertaining shows
But it never crossed my mind I was asleep
Till the Boss beneath the cart
woke me up with such a start
Yelling, "Dreamy, where the hell are all the
sheep?"
Notes
There are many variants of this very popular song which has been collected form Darwin in the north down to Victoria. This version was printed in John Manifold's Penguin Australian Song Book. The original song was titled The Visions of a Night Watch and now part of this collection.