RHYECE O’NEILL – JOURNEY TO BUNYA
Produced by J.B. PATERSON

Out May 1 - Lá Bealtaine

All lyrics written by RHYECE O’NEILL

GALILEE BASIN BLUES (WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?) is based upon the song written by FLORENCE REECE in 1931 about the HARLAN COUNTY WAR in the Kentucky coal mines fought between striking coal miners and anti-union vigilante groups in the pay of mining bosses and local government.

IN THE (BUNYA) PINES
Is based on the American folk song ‘IN THE PINES’ that dates back to at least the 1870s. It is said that the song’s origins can be traced to the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
Also referred to as “BLACK GIRL” or ‘WHERE DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT’. The authorship of ‘IN THE PINES’ is unknown.


JANDAMARRA

Somebody told me bout Jandamarra
Banuba ghost, a shape-shifting chimera
The man described a black guerrilla fighter
The Traps called him Pigeon
We call him Jandamarra
The black guerrilla fighter.

He said ‘catch me copper, come catch me if you can –
Banuba ghost I am copper! Comon’ be a man.’
You called him Pigeon
I call you a rat
You butchered his people! Just because they are black
He said ‘catch me copper, come catch me if you can.’

***

A LETTER FROM THUNDERBOLT TO MARY-ANNE BUGG

Oh Mary-Anne Bugg
Tell you what I’m thinkin’ of
Will you be my eyes to see?
Comon’ baby take a ride with me
In Botany harbour I am prison bound
Swim to me darling and don’t you drown
Mary-Anne please rescue me
We can ride with the wind a’ bound to be
FREE

Take my hand Mary today
The traps are near, It’s not safe to stay
Ride through the hills a’ Culgoa bound
There Ellie and Marina will be safe and sound
Lightnin’ & Thunder are my game
These prison guards they have no shame
Mary-Anne my heart’s embrace
I long to kiss your pretty face

Oh Mary-Anne Bugg
My eyes and ears through the Devil’s scrub
No stronger woman in the colony
A Worimi girl and my wife to be
Oh Mary-Anne Bugg
Tell you what I’m thinkin’ of
Will you be my eyes to see?
Comon’ baby take a ride with me

In Botany harbour I am prison bound
Swim to me darling and don’t you drown
Mary-Anne please rescue me
We can ride with the wind a’ bound to be
FREE

IN THE (BUNYA) PINES

She came from the Bunya Mountains
That’s where she belongs
On a cold dark night
I awoke with a fright
My Bunya baby took flight…

To the pines, to the pines
Where the sun don’t shine
My Bunya baby took flight
For there aint no doubt where she sleeps tonight
Beneath a Bunya Pine
She cried.

She came from the Bunya Mountains
No prouder woman to see
I offered her a ring, but she thought it a sin
To marry a rambler like me.

My Bunya babe I forgive you
For bringing these tears to my face
I’ll marry your soul every night
In my dreams we’ll forever embrace…

Neath the pines, neath the pines
Where the sun don’t shine
Babe we will reside
For there ain’t no doubt where I’m sleeping tonight
Beneath a Bunya pine.

***

THE YOGI SONG

Well they tell me that you’re a Yogi now
You’ve been strechin’ your body
Summoning the sacred cow
Me? I’m out to pasture trudging through the cow dung
I’ve been pickin’ her fungus
That grows without sun


Well they came down from heaven
They came down last night
They told me your story,
They said your alright
Babe I accept you
Will you accept me?
I’ll pray for you soul beneath
This ancient Fig tree

***

THE MURRAY RIVER RAMBLER

I’m ridin’ home to Bajool
Ridin’ home to you
Ridin’ that coal train
Black as gold babe
Rollin’ home to you

Ridin’ home to Katie-Mae
Ridin’ on that coal train
Ridin’ home to you Katie-Mae
Rollin’ home to you today
I’m a Murray River Man
I come from the southern land
There’s no more VB in my hand
Now I’m a XXXX drinkin’ man

I love my Bajool Mumma
I kiss you when you say:
I am the Murray River Rambilin’ man
I’ll ramble home to you one day

***

GALILLEE BASIN BLUES (WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?)

My Daddy was a miner and I’m a miner’s son
Granddaddy was a miner too down the Palmer River run
They say out on the Palmer, there are no neutrals there
You’ll either be a Eureka man or a thug for the Cooktown mayor.

Oh Digger can you stand it?
Tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab?
Or will ya be a man?
Tell me which side are you on Digger?
Which side are you on?
From the dusty Palmer River,
To the trenches on the Somme.

Now I’m workin’ out the Charmichael
Three kids a bank loan and a dream
She walked out six months ago
Freedom don’t come cheap
Singin’ which side are you on mate?
For the hour is getting’ late
That coal train reaches harbour
Filled by a Bagger 288
We were singin’ ‘Which side are you on boys’
Which side are you on?

For the blacks have blocked the road to work
And they’re singin’ an ancient song
They sung it the Palmer
They sung it on the Somme
Singin’ which side are you on Digger?
Which side are you on?

Oh Digger can you stand it?
Tell me how you can
For the blacks have blocked the road to work
And they say they’re makin’ a stand
I don’t wanna be a scab Mumma
I wanna be a man
But I just crossed that picket line
And a scab is what I am

They sung it at Eureka, they sung it on the Mekong
But the blacks have blocked the road Mumma
There’s a battle goin on.

I’m a digger of the black gold
But I just crossed the line
Please forgive me Jesus, I have three kids and a drunk ex-wife
Cause I’m a diggin’ the black gold
Put on a train north to the sea
To William Blake’s satanic mill
A Shanghai factory

If Blake was but a poet
Then I’m a worker man
There’s a power in a Union
And the Union’s where I stand
For my Daddy was a miner, and I’m a miner’s son
Granddaddy was a digger too
On the Somme neath the blackened sun

A coalminer like my Dad, I’m proud of who I am
But the blacks have blocked the road to work
And they’re callin’ me a scab

So take me back to the Palmer River
Take me by the hand
I’m longin’ for that Shanghai girl
Like the needle in my hand
I found her neath the milky way
No gold found through the day

I was lookin’ for my Shanghai girl
And a needle in the hay.

Singin’ which side are you on white boy?
Which side are you on?
They sung it at the Harlan County mill
Lingiari sung it at Wave Hill

Tell me which side am I on Vincent?
Which side am I on?
For your mob has blocked the road to work
And there’s a battle goin’ on
Which side am I on Vincent?
Tell me, Which side am I on?

From the dusty Palmer River
To the trenches on the Somme
I don’t wanna be a scab Mumma
I wanna be a man

But I just crossed that picket line
And a scab is what I am.

***

ROAD TO DAMASCUS (JOURNEY TO BUNYA)

The whorehouse is a burnin’
Pigdogs are a barkin’
Watching you swimming
Soon to be flying.

Damascus is crying
For there’s a chain on his ankle
Tried to break it for him
But the north was calling.

Those lights surely led us there
Jordan River dry and bare
Time now to sit and listen
Heed to the drover’s lesson.

Listen to the Whistling Kite
Banuba ghost howls nearby
I listen closely for your call
The Sea Eagle fly’s, she never falls.

She came from the Bunya Mountains
No prouder woman to see
I offered her a ring, but she thought it a sin
To marry a rambler like me.


The whorehouse is burnin’
Pigdog sticks the knife in
Eyes start to grinning
Soon to be cryin’
Soon to be lyin’
To me.

Lord! Damascus is dying!
For there’s a bomb in her kitchen
And the Eagle keeps on flying
Mumma’s kitchen burnin’
As the world keeps on turning
On me.

She came from the Bunya Mountains
No prouder woman to see
I offered a ring, but she thought it a sin…

To marry a rambler like me.


END.