Golden Plains

They’re coming in by foot and wagon
coming in from every place
you can catch the scent of the fever
no wild rain can wash away

We’ve never seen nothing like it
things are changing every day
it’s turning up in the dirt and gravel
flashes in the riverbeds and the clay

They say
it’s wild
the veins keep stretching
out, over and down, it’s rife
with fortune shifters

One for frost, two for fire
fine bright golden flooding plains
I climb up through the granite boulders
and watch ‘em come in droves now everyday

They say
it’s wild
there’s more I know it
more, it’s turning me bold and wild
the plains are golden

I was born down at Merriganowry
I’ve been along the Lachlan all my life
and just like my sisters before me
I’ve been made somebody’s wife

I’m still
a child
though I’ve seen plenty
Oh but this heart is wild
and future heavy

There’s more I know it
more, it’s turning me bold and wild
the plains are golden

Thief

I keep real quiet
bringing fuel in for the stove
I’m gonna feed this fire
so that you can see the smoke

I reckon mama’s known it
right there from the moment you walked in

That moment when your eyes held mine
I’ve never known something make me shine so bright
I can’t think straight, I’m in whirl
this thief of horses gonna steal my world

I can’t think straight, I can’t eat
my heart is charging and I sure can’t sleep
I’ve never known nothing like this charge and spark
this thief of horses gonna steal my heart

And while they’re sleeping
I listen for that sound
I wanna hear that rumble
I wanna know just what we’ve found

I know mama’s seen it
and I’m sure not what I used to be

I can’t concentrate on nothing else
I can’t think straight and I can’t help myself
that voice those hands, I’m in a whirl
this thief of horses gonna steal my world

A fire is burning and it’s in my blood
caught red-handed in a flashing flood
I’ve never known nothing like this charge and spark
this thief of horses gonna steal my heart

Wheogo Hill

Blankets drawn against the sun
but still there’s sun on skin
shadows dance in the light
let it in, let it in

Been watching the hens scratching
over frozen ground
oh how I’ve been dreaming
since you’ve been coming round

One wild-wind night
you chanced to call
and if you call this thunder
then let it roll, let it roll

Nothing Comes Close

My sister Biddy came by today
talking what she's talking lately
wondering if she'll go or if she'll stay
and so much crying about the babies

Oh my little sister I'm troubled too
you know I've been down with sorrow
but it feels like things with Frank are true
it's got me thinking about tomorrows

You know they'll keep being on out there mustering
and we'll keep toiling under
I look out across the rise for him
and my ears strain for hooves like thunder, like they’re straining now

The way I've sailed me out to sea
gone n swept myself right off my feet
everything else you can have it back
Oh nothing comes close to me and my Frank

Of course I know he's a wild one
course I know the troubles he's under
but in his arms a light lets in
a flood of hope and wonder

They're flashing eyes, it's a wicked grin
and the way he says so sweetly
the things I love to hear him say
you know I think i'm gone completely, yeah I’m a goner now

The way I've sailed me out to sea
gone n swept myself right off my feet
everything else you can take it back
Oh nothing comes close to me and my Frank

I wonder how long it could stay this way
and what of you and Jim and Henry
Biddy, Frank's been talking about far away
talking just me and my Frankie

It's a rough scrub it's a rocky soil
that we keep toiling daily
one of these days we might get away
one of these days just maybe

All The Love

Mares stirring out across the yard
heart churning as the night grows dark
me and Frankie got the stars to guide
pretty soon we're gonna run not hide

We'll have all we gotta have
running rivers, got the heavens above
we have all we wanna have
me and Frankie we got all the love

We'll be careful, we'll time it right
next dark moon in the dead of night
me and my baby and the guiding stars
it's now or never I’ve come this far

I'll take all I gotta take
roll the blankets, tack her up to ride
I'll break what I gotta break
gonna make it 'cross that great divide

You’ve known escapes and you've done em hard
like back in '51 when you rushed the guards
or down in Reid's Flat - such a terrible fight
you get some wrong but you get some right

We’ll take all we’ve gotta take
roll the blankets, tack her up to ride
we'll make what we wanna make
gonna make it 'cross that great divide

We'll be careful, we'll time it right
next dark moon in the dead of night
me and my baby and the heavens above
me and Frankie we got all the love

We'll have all we gotta have
running rivers, got the heavens above
we have all we wanna have
me and Frankie we got all the love

Catherine Christie

Yeah we got what you need
got flour, got tea and gin
yeah we got what you’re after
got sugar, lumber, nails and tin
yeah we got what you need
got picks and shovels, we got rum
keep rolling up from the harbour
all hoping they’ll be the lucky ones

Me and my loving comrade
we found our treasure, love is king
and we made a chance to start it
all over, over again
here I can be your Catherine Christie
here you can be my loving man
we turned it in a new direction
living this big love in a big new land

Yeah we got what you need
got rope and canvas by the pound
keep rolling up from the harbour
through Apis Creek to the Peak Downs
yeah we got what you need
got picks and shovels, we got rum
keep rolling in from every place
all hoping they’ll be the lucky ones

Me and my loving comrade
we found our treasure, love is king
and we made a chance to start it
all over, over again
here I can be your Catherine Christie
here you can be my loving man
we turned it in a new direction
living this big love in a big new land

Darlinghurst

They work us to the bone for sure
brothers, fathers, lovers, all
it’s a wild wild thing to see
that petty crime and poverty
could lead you here

Held in sandstone cut from hands like mine
a chink of light, the weight of time
it’s a wild wild thing is fear
oh Kitty I don’t know if i’ll ever make it out of here

And most, it’s true, I’ve seen before
but in Darlinghurst I’ve seen it all
it’s a wild wild thing to know
the iron clang and hammer blow
yeah I’ve seen the best and worst of men
but will I ever get to see you again

Valley

Climb here from the valley below
wait until it’s dark
'til that heavy roll of thunder starts

Storm coming to the valley below
I climb here above it all
high above the mud and brawl

Been down in a festering hull
and it plagues me every night
all those wish-I’d-never-seen-em sights

Been numb, I’ve been black and blue
and I’ve never been so sad
nor known of men so mean and mad

It’s no living in that valley below
yes I’ve been beaten night and day
and the rest I hope I’ll never say

Cold wind blowing in that valley below
just a streak of silver light
as morning sneaks up on the night

One more time from that valley below\
the sky is grey across the land
your silver pistol in my hand

Barbary Coast

Down by the pier, been coming here for years
it’s where I talk to you
and in the spring, when the fog rolls in
in to the afternoon
and there’s nothing like the show
the sun puts on from just below
throwing fire across the sky

And in the fall, when the wind whips all
sweet darkening clair de lune

Who’d’ve thought that it’d be me
left here instead of you, staring out to sea

There’s not a smudge across the sky
I’m gonna hold that blue
in my head, and in my dreams at night
you’re still here by my side
beneath a rising moon
in you I still confide
who’d’ve thought that it’d be you

Twilight Star

Sunday morning creeping
San Fran saloon
Jim’s fumbling dimes and nickels
he’ll be stumbling homeward soon

Joe leans across the counter
one lazy eye, whiskey-slack grin
says come on Frankie tell us
some of them tales of yours again

Of hold-ups, gold and horses
of cops and fires and fights
of Gilbert, Hall and O’Meally
racing with you through the night

And when the last of them
have spilled out to the dawn
I’ll turn the latch and bolt it
sweep up the floor

Let my old mind wander
rinse the tumblers, wipe the bar
it’s you I still dream Catherine
you’re my twilight star