Chords with lyrics
Verse 1:
D MajorD A augmentedA
It was somewhere in September and the sun was goin' down,
A7A7 D MajorD
when I came in search of coffee, to a Darling River town.
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Come-And-Have-A-Drink we'll call it, 'tis a fitting name I think,
A7A7 D MajorD
and 'twas raining, for a wonder, up at Come-And-Have-A-Drink.
G+G D MajorD
Underneath the pub verandah I was resting on a bunk,
E MajorE A augmentedA - A7A7
when a stranger rose before me, and he said that he was drunk.
D MajorD A augmentedA
He apologised for speaking, there was no offence, he swore,
A7A7 D MajorD
but he somehow seemed to fancy that he'd seen my face before.
Verse 2:
D MajorD A augmentedA
He agreed you can't remember all the chaps you chance to meet,
A7A7 D MajorD
and he said his name was Sweeney, people lived in Sussex Street.
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He was camping in a stable, that he swore that he was right,
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only for the blanky horses walkin' over him all night.
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He'd apparently been fighting, for his face was black and blue,
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and it looked as though the horses had been treading on him too.
D MajorD A augmentedA
But an honest genial twinkle in the eye that wasn't hurt
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seemed to hint of something better, spite of drink and rags and dirt.
Verse 3:
D MajorD A augmentedA
He was born in Parramatta and he said with humour grim,
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that he'd like to see the city, 'ere the liquor finished him.
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But he couldn't raise the money, he was damned if he could think,
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what the government was doing here, he offered me a drink.
Verse 4:
D MajorD A augmentedA
I declined, 'twas self-denial, and I lectured him on booze,
A7A7 D MajorD
using all the hackneyed arguments that preachers mostly use.
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Things I'd heard in temperance lectures, I was young and rather green,
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and I ended by referring to the man he might have been.
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But he couldn't stay to argue, for his beer was nearly gone,
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he was glad, he said, to meet me, and he'd see me later on.
D MajorD A augmentedA
But he guessed he'd have to go and get his bottle filled again,
A7A7 D MajorD
and he gave a lurch and vanished in the darkness and the rain.
D MajorD A augmentedA
And of afternoons in cities, when the rain is on the land,
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visions come to me of Sweeney with his bottle in his hand.