Lazy Harry's
Oh we started down from Roto when the sheds had all cut out
We'd whips and whips of Rhino as w e meant to push about
So we humped our blues serenely and made for Sydney town
With a three-spot cheque between us as wanted knocking down
Chorus
But we camped at Lazy Harry's, on the road to Gundagai
The road to Gundagai
Not five miles from Gundagai
Yes we camped at Lazy Harry's on the road to Gundagai
Well we struck the Murrumbidgee near the Yanco in a week
And passed through old Narrandera and crossed the Burnett Creek
And we never stopped at Wagga for we'd Sydney in our eye
But we camped at Lazy Harry's on the road to Gundagai
Oh I've seen a lot of girls my boys and drunk a lot of beer
And I've met with some of both chaps as has left me mighty queer
But for beer to knock you sideways and for girls to make you sigh
You must camp at Lazy Harry's on the road to Gundagai
Well we chucked our blooming swags off and we walked into the bar
And we called for rum-an'-raspb'ry and a shilling each cigar
But the girl that served the poison she winked at Bill and I
And we camped at Lazy Harry's not five miles from Gundagai
In a week the spree was over and the cheque was all knocked down
So we shouldered our Matildas and we turned our back on town
And the girls they stood a nobbler as we sadly said good-bye
And we tramped from Lazy Harry's not five miles from Gundagai
Last chorus
And we tramped from Lazy Harry's not five miles from Gundagai
The road to Gundagai
Not five miles from Gundagai
Yes we tramped from Lazy Harry's on the road to Gundagai
Notes
First published by Banjo Paterson as "Lousy Harry's" in an article in the Adelaide newspaper The Chronicle 10 March 1900 in this collection. Later printed in Paterson's Old Bush Songs in 1905.
This version from the singing of A.L.Lloyd.
Ron Edwards collected a version of the song from Jack Parveez in Charters Towers, Qld. Parveez had a different tune and his shearers "started out from Reio".
Roto is a station in south central NSW. Gundagai lies on what is now the main road from Sydney to Melbourne, the Hume Highway. Perhaps more songs mention Gundagai than any other town in Australia.
Three-spot-check: a check in the hundreds of pounds