| Author | Message | ||
     Danny Lloyd Member Username: Dannill Post Number: 2 Registered: 07-2006 |
I always thought the first line of the 2nd verse was, "I recall a boy of neat appearance" and have always used that line when singing and playing that beautiful riff on acoustic guitar. Being about the same age as Grant (was) it is very evocative of communion & school photos etc. After reading the lyrics on this site and listening closely, I reluctantly accept that I was not correct and he actually does say "a boy in bigger pants" which, while being prosaic, does not quite belong in the "worst lyrics" thread. Meanwhile, I will dogmatically continue to use the "neat appearance" thing. I hope this is not an heretical subversion of what has deservedly been rated one of the top 5 Aussie songs of all time! | ||
| Rick Hawkins Member Username: Hamlet Post Number: 7 Registered: 01-2008 |
Does anyone know the spoken words at the end of the song? They're not in the lyrics sheet on the CD and every web site with GBs lyrics leaves them out too! | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 167 Registered: 05-2005 |
This is only a 'guess-timate' working from 'memory wastes' It's the part Robert Forster wrote: I recall a saying A reply From time down to mine That time was bad Until I knew where I was Alone and (so) far from home Older, wiser (?), deeper (?) Cattle and cane ... | ||
| Rick Hawkins Member Username: Hamlet Post Number: 8 Registered: 01-2008 |
It's tantalising isn't it? How did you know that Robert wrote that part? It's strange that it’s not on the lyric sheets on the CDs but it can be a mystical process discovering difficult-to-make-out lyrics - recalls boyhood days, listening to AM radio on the cheap trannie and hearing all sorts of weird variations on songs’ words. (Often it was disappointing to find out the truth when you read the real lyrics!) Cattle and Cane is so haunting and that end part is even more haunting than the rest, especially against the strange 11/4 music. I hear words like: “I recall the saints, they reply / (Indistinguishable) / From time down to mind / That time was bad but I knew where I was / Alone and so at home” (a beautiful last line). Then, “further, higher, wiser, deeper..”? | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 183 Registered: 05-2005 |
I got my copy of the GB's songbook in the post today. It has the notation and lyrics including Robert's perspective at the end of the song. I'm too tired to retype it here but it's pretty close to whatever that bast*ard fsh wrote above. I'm the only person allowed call me that by the way. Nice looking book - go buy ... My cut and paste doesn't seem to be working either this evening so look at the news page and there's a link to details on the songbook there. | ||
| Martin Schori Member Username: Martin_s Post Number: 18 Registered: 05-2006 |
I recall the same, a reply A plan you once had from time down to mine that time was bad So I knew where I was alone and so at home Further, longer, higher Not so much to retype ... But I have to say the book is not nice looking. The scans of the pictures are not good enough, the typography is a bit boring, the cover is a shame, the text from Klaus Walter is too much narcistic, but the tabs are good ... | ||
| Ian Darby Member Username: Jan Post Number: 2 Registered: 10-2006 |
I notice that Robert took to singing the last bit as 'alone, and so far from my home' and that Grant added, 'further, longer, higher ....older' to his bit. As he says on the DVD - 'I look forward to singing that 'older' every night - sadly he didn't have to worry about it | ||
| Rick Hawkins Member Username: Hamlet Post Number: 11 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, on the Striped Sunlight DVD on-the-porch jam, Robert intones the last lines and definitely says "Alone, and so far from home", which I don't think is anywhere near as good as Grant's original "Alone and so at home". | ||
| Philip Geoffrey Smith Unregistered guest |
Fascinating, ain't it, that there is still some ambivalence about Robert's finishing but officially unscribed addition to a great song. I always thought it was a very necessary part of the song, and it remains a mystery to me that it wasn't considered essential to the written lyric. Perhaps the mystery was always intended...... |