John Williamson – Back At The Isa (Guitar)

C                    F 
Big galvanised roofs and monster pipes black 

 G7                           C 
Pink and white clouds from a chimney stack 

 C                         F 
Red dust and hawks in the wind out back 

  G7               C 
And here I am at the Isa 

C                   F         
What do you do in a town like the Isa 

 G7               C 
Retrenched at 50 become an old miser 

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Drink yourself blind so you're none the wiser 

       G7                          C 
Sit at home with the race form and whinge 

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Just over the hill in his own backyard 

   G7                  C 
The landscape becomes a picture postcard 

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Where the colours are soft but the life is hard 

       G7                   C 
On the stations here at the Isa 

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Tonight's the night of the rodeo ball 

   G                        C
Before riders and bull and horses stand tall 

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While out in the park some black people sprawl 

   G                   C
And share their money on flagons 

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There's so much more to be understood 

   G                     C
Before coming out here like Robin Hood 

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The do-gooders do more harm than good 

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Without really knowing the Isa

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Through the Leichhardt East Where fools gold flashes

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Fossick around for Maltese Crosses 

   C                    F
Flog them off to the tourist buses 

  G                 C
See ghost gums under the moon 

    C                   F
Some really battle some make do 

  G                         C
The luckier ones make a quid and pull through 

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Some perch at the bar like a caged cockatoo 

  G                     C
But that's nothing new at the Isa 

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And it takes a special kind of girl 

  G                       C
To stay out here in this rugged world 

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Keep your dignity when the oathes are hurled 

  G                C
I pay my respects to you 

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And I'll raise my glass to an outback town 

  G                             C
To that weathered spirit that won't back down 

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It takes the courage of a rodeo clown 

  G                  C
To stick it out at the Isa 

 C                    F 
Big galvanised roofs and monster pipes black 

 G7                           C 
Pink and white clouds from a chimney stack 

 C                         F 
Red dust and hawks in the wind out back 

  G7               C 
And here I am at the Isa 

      C                           F 
Never thought I'd return to this lonely track 

     G7                    C 
And here I am back at the Isa