Slim Dusty – Shanty On The Rise (Guitar)

         D                                                 A7
When the caravans of woolteams climbed the ranges from the West,

                                         D       G       D
On a spur among the mountains stood 'The Bullock-drivers' Rest';

       G                                    D
It was built of barks and saplings, and was rather rough inside,

        E                                                 A7
But was good enough for bushmen in the careless days that died

       G                            D               B7
Just a quiet little shanty kept by 'Something-in-Disguise',

       E                  A7                            D
As the bushmen called the landlord of the Shanty on the Rise.

          D                                               A7
'Twas the bullock driver's haven when his team was on the road,

                                           D        G          D
And the wagon wheels were groaning as they ploughed beneath the load;

    G                                  D
I remember how the teamsters struggled on while it was light,

        E                                         A7
Just to camp within a cooey of the Shanty for the night;

      G                                    D                     B7
And I think the very bullocks raised their heads and fixed their eyes

       E              A7                          D
On the candles in the window of the Shanty on the Rise.

        G                                    D
And the bullock bells were clanking from the marshes on the flats

      G                               D                 A7
As we hurried to the Shanty, where we hung our dripping hats;

        G                                 D
Then we took a drop of something that was bought at our desire,

      E                                                   A7
As we stood with steaming moleskins in the kitchen by the fire.

       G                              D                   B7
Oh, it roared upon a fireplace of the good, old-fashioned size,

         E                  A7                           D
When the rain came down the chimney of the Shanty on the Rise.

         D                                        A7
They got up a Christmas party in the Shanty long ago,

                                          D    G     D
While we camped with Jimmy Nowlett on the riverbank below;

         G                              D
Poor old Jim was in his glory — they'd elected him M.C.,

          E                                     A7
For there wasn't such another raving lunatic as he.

     G                            D               B7
'Mr. Dowlett, Mr. Dusty!' shouted Something-in-Disguise,

      E               A7                           D
As we walked into the parlour of the Shanty on the Rise.

      D                                            A7
Jimmy came to me and whispered, oh I muttered, 'Go along!'

                                  D       G      D
But he shouted, 'Mr. Dusty will oblige us with a song!'

       G                              D
And at first I said I wouldn't, and I shammed a little too,

         E                                                  A7
Till the girls began to whisper, 'We're all waiting now for you!'

     G                                  D               B7
So I sang a song of something 'bout the love that never dies,

        E                A7                           D
And the chorus shook the rafters of the Shanty on the Rise.

      G                             D
Jimmy burst his concertina, and the bullock drivers went

        G                                  D               A7
For the corpse of Joe the Fiddler, who was sleeping in his tent;

        G                             D
Joe was tired and had lumbago, and he wouldn't come, he said,

        E                                               A7
But the case was very urgent, so they pulled him out of bed;

         G                                      D              B7
And they fetched him, for the bushmen knew that Something-in-Disguise

      E              A7                           D
Had a cure for Joe's lumbago in the Shanty on the Rise.

     D                                             A7
I suppose the Shanty vanished from the ranges long ago,

                                        D       G       D
And the girls are mostly married to the chaps I used to know;

       G                                     D
My old mates are in the distance — some have crossed the border-line,

       E                                                  A7
But in fancy still their glasses clink against the rim of mine.

      G                          D                  B7
And, upon the very centre of the greenest spot that lies

      E              A7                              D
In my fondest recollection, stands the Shanty on the Rise.

      E              A7                              D     G    D
In my fondest recollection, stands the Shanty on the Rise.