Flash Stockman
I'm a stockman to me trade
And my name is ugly Dave
I'm old and grey and only got one eye
In the yard I'm good of course
But just put me on a horse
And I'll go where lots of young 'uns daren't try
I can lead them through the gidgee
Over country rough and ridgy
I lose them in the very worst of scrub
I can ride both rough and easy
With the dewdrop I'm a daisy
And a right down bobby-dazzler in the pub
You should watch me use a whip
I can make the dawdlers gyp
I can make the flaming echoes roar and ring
With a branding iron well
I'm a perfect flaming swell
In fact I'm duke of every blasted thing
You should watch me skin a sheep
It's so lovely you could weep
I can act the silvertail as if my blood run blue
And strike me pink or dead
If I stood upon my head
I'd be just as good as any other two
I've a notion in my pate
That it's luck it isn't fate
That I'm so far above the common rung
For in anything I do
You can split me fair in two
For I'm much two bloody good to be in one
Notes
The original song was published in the Queenslander as The Stockman in 1895 where it was signed 'Crooked Mick' and the first verse began
I'm a stockman yes I am
And my name is Ugly Sam....
See The Stockman in this collection.
This version comes from the singing of A.L.Lloyd.