Song, Verse & Tune Diamond Jubilee Competition winners

Click on pictures for large image 

Congratulations to the following winners who were announced at our Diamond Jubilee Dinner, and thanks to all who entered. The dance results will be announced soon due to the great number of entries.

Song - The Reedy River still flows            


Chorus:
Time goes by, how the years they fly
And fashions may come and may go
But as long as there’s music, as long as there’s dance
The Reedy River still flows
The Reedy River still flows

In the far distant times of the Dreaming
When people first walked this land
There was music and dancing to sing up the spirits
To bring us together, every woman and man

Chorus

And from far distant lands others came
And still come to our bounteous shores
They bring stories and songs that tell who we are
And we dance round the room as did others before

Chorus

In far distant places through the bush of Australia
The song catchers tirelessly roamed
Collecting the stories and tunes of our country
Collecting the dances, the songs and the poems

Chorus

So let’s sing songs of those come before us
And let’s strike up the fiddle and bow
And let’s dance till we drop, and then sing one more chorus
So the River of Music still flows

Chorus
© Bruce Watson 2013

Hi Sandra

I'm absolutely delighted.  I really appreciate the BMC running this project. For me it was a great catalyst for reflecting on the Australian folk music tradition and folk revival and what it means in our culture as well as in my life.

I'm really pleased with the song I wrote, which I have now dipped into the that flowing Reedy River, hopefully adding to that tradition, keeping it strong and, like a river, constantly renewing.

Thanks to the BMC for making that happen - all power to you.

Cheers

Bruce

Bruce's website  http://brucewatsonmusic.com/  includes a link to the video of the winning song

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Verse - Australian Dreaming 

You talk of old Australia, with the flooding rain and drought;
Of the shearer, of the drover; of the cook, the rouseabout;
You talk of paddle steamer, or of bullock team and dray;
It’s the noisy, smoggy city where we congregate today.

You talk of red Australia, and the hulking Uluru;
Of the emu and the brolga, of the bounding kangaroo;
You talk of Kata Tjuta, like a buried monster’s spine.
It’s in the boutique restaurants we like to meet and dine.

You talk of white Australia, and the mountains capped with snow,
Where only hardy currawongs and wombats care to go;
Or hibernating possums fast asleep beneath a drift.
We like a bright skyscraper with a fast ascending lift.

You talk of blue Australia, with its narrow rim of sand,
Where breaching humpback whales provide performances so grand;
Whale sharks up at Ningaloo, or dolphins in the surf.
The bitumen and footpath offer more familiar turf.

You talk of green Australia, with the moss, the ferns, the trees;
The dew drops in the morning, and the cool and healing breeze;
The nesting cassowaries, or the stealthy thylacine,
But we prefer the steady purr of petrol-fuelled machine.

We don’t think of Australia as we make our busy way
Through the surging hordes and traffic of another hectic day.
“No room for sentiment,” we say, but all’s not as it seems.
Australia comes, with scented gums, and greets us in our dreams.

© Stephen Whiteside 07.11.2013  

http://www.stephenwhiteside.com.au/

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Tune - Yabby Catcher by Maggie Sommerville

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