Tony Gill (Senior): Lead and harmony vocals / Whistle and Flute. Dominic Gill: Lead and harmony vocals and Guitar. Ingrid Hapkey: Harmony vocals and Fiddle. Cliff Milne: Lead and harmony vocals and Electric Bass. Sound engineer. Special thanks to Ray Thomas for recording this show.

On this page below:

The words of Lazy Harry's

The written music of Lazy Harry's

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Diddychwy and the song Lazy Harry's

If there is a song in Diddycwhy that has lasted the passage of time, it is the song "Lazy Harry's." As the song, I can't get no, satisfaction is to the rolling stones, Lazy Harry's is to Diddychwy. It's been around forever.

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A history of the song Lazy Harry's

Here's what a site called: "Mainly Borfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music" has to say about the song 'Lazy Harry's.' A little bit of history.

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/lloyd/songs/theroadtogundagai.html

The Road to Gundagai (Lazy Harry's)

[Trad.]

This song was printed in Paterson's Old Bush Songs. A.L. Lloyd recorded it for his albums Australian Bush Songs (1956) and Across the Western Plains (1958). He commented in the latter album's sleeve notes:

I have been through the town of Gundagay without remarking anything special about it, yet clearly it was an important place in the imagination of the old-time bushwhackers, for it appears in a lot of songs and tales. Flash Jack came from Gundagai, and nine miles from Gundagai the dog “sat” on the tucker-box (the dog's statue, unveiled in 1932 by the Prime Minister, J. A. Lyons, is set five miles from Gundagai, so perhaps Mr. Lyons had special information). Best loved of all the Gundagai songs is the one recorded here, of the Riverine shearers making their way to Sydney with their cheques, but getting no further than Lazy Harry's on the road to Gundagai. The song has often been reprinted, in Lawson's Australian Bush Songs, Vance Palmer's Old Australian Bush Ballads, Reedy River Songbook, Overlander Songbook, etc., in forms more or less identical with that published by Banjo Paterson in his Old Bush Songs.

Trevor Lucas sang this song as Lazy Harry's on his second Australian solo album of 1966, Overlander, and Martyn Wyndham-Read sang it with A.L. Lloyd joining in on chorus on The Great Australian Legend. Lloyd wrote on the latter LP's backside:

Again, Paterson's Old Bush Songs helped with the spread of this greatly admired song. Vance Palmer's Old Australian Bush Ballads gave it new impetus among revival folk singers in the 1950s. Roto is some 450 miles almost due west of Sydney, so it seems the characters in the song were well off the track, if their road led them as far south as Gundagai. Still, that's folklore.

and in the accompanying booklet:

Work like horses, spend like asses, used to be said of the oldtime shearers. They would knock up a sizeable cheque in the shearing sheds, and then set out for a spree in the distant city. The chances were, they'd get no more than halfway before they'd spent the lot. Perhaps that's why the otherwise unremarkable town of Gundagai shows so prominently in the folk song. It lies just about midway between the big sheds of the New South Wales Riverina and the bright lights of Sydney. Many a shearer, making his way towards the capital with his cheque, got no further than Lazy Harry's grog-shop on the road from Wagga to Gundagai.

Roto is a station in South Central NSW. Gundagai lies on what is now the main road from Sydney to Melbourne, the Hume Highway. More songs mention Gundagai than any other town in Australia.

V1) O we started out from Roto when the sheds had all cut out. And with wips and wips of Rino that we meant to push about.

With a three spot cheque between us, and Sydney in our eye. We camped at lazy Harry’s on the road to Gundagai.

C) 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.

V2) We threw our flamin swags off, and marched into the bar. We ordered, rum and raspberry and a shilling each cigar.

The girl that served the poison, she looked at me so sly. So we camped at lazy Harry’s on the road to Gundagai.

V3) We crossed the Murrumbidgee, near old Yanco in a week. We passed through old Narrandera, across the Burnet creek.

But we never stopped at Wagga, for we'd Sydney in our eye. And we camped at Lazy Harry’s on the road to Gundagai.

V4) In a week our spree was over and our cheque was all knocked out. So we shouldered our Matilda’s and headed for the south. The girls stood us a nobler as we sadly waved goodbye. And we tramped from Lazy Harry’s from the road to Gundagai. C) 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.

Band members: Tony Gill (Senior): Lead and harmony vocals / Whistle and Flute. Dominic Gill: Lead and harmony vocals and Guitar. Ingrid Hapkey: Harmony vocals and Fiddle. Cliff Milne: Lead and harmony vocals and Electric Bass. Sound engineer. Special thanks to Ray Thomas for recording this show.

Here's all the official words to the song 'Lazy Harry's.' There are a few more verses than what we sing. After all, every good folk song has at least twenty verses and versions!