Diamantina Drover
© Hugh McDonald
Arranged Williams 2008

(I won’t be back)

The faces in the photographs are faded
And I can't believe he looks so much like me
For it's been ten years today
Since I left for Old Cork Station
Saying, I won't be back til the droving's done

And the rain never falls on the dusty Diamantina
And the drover finds it hard to change his mind
For the years have surely gone, like the drays from Old Cork Station
And I won't be back til the droving's done

(I won’t be back)

Well, it seems like the sun comes up each morning
And it sets me up then takes it all away
For the dreaming by the light of the campfire at night
Ends with the burning light of day

For the rain never falls on the dusty Diamantina
And the drover finds it hard to change his mind
And the years have surely gone, like the drays from Old Cork Station
And I won't be back til the droving's done

(I won’t be back)

I sometimes think that I'll go back to Sydney
But it's been so long and it's hard to change your mind
For the cattle trail goes on and on, and fences roll forever
And I won't be back when the droving's done

I won't be back when the droving's done

(I won’t be back)

Download: Diamantina Drover (mp3)

Background

Hi all, it’s been a while. I have a couple of songs in the works at the moment, but I’ve been concentrating on my PhD and travelling around the world. It’s a hard life, innit?! I was recently in the USA and Canada, having a very awesome time, and I even got to get a wee bit of local live music on the way. I was also given some lovely mix CDs from a couple of friends that featured a few Canadian bands. Yay!

And this kind of relates, because I did miss my Australian music when I was away, and I’m looking forward to going to see The Spoils with Yana Alana & the Paranas AND The Town Bikes at the Northcote Social Club this Sunday 25th May. However, I was also reading The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg, and discussions of dialects and accents got me also missing my recent obsession, Rachel Unthank & the Winterset – their gorgeous close harmonies and distinct Speyside songs. So I have been wanting to listen to folk music, and now I’m back in Australia, I want Australian folk music.

I woke up on my first morning back with a line in my head: “The faces in the photograph has faded, and I can’t believe he looks so much like me”. It took me a while to remember more of the song, and where I knew it from. It’s called Diamantina Drover, and I knew it from a cassette tape of John Williamson I used to listen to heaps as a kid. John Williamson sings some fantastic songs, and it annoys me that he also sings a whole bunch of utter tripe, too. When I tried to find a recording of him singing this online (so I could steal it and put it on a CD!) I could only come up with True Blue, Boogie With M’Baby and other annoyingly twee things. But I remember Diamantina Drover, Galleries of Pink Galahs, and the haunting lines of Drover’s Boy.

As I was hunting for it, I checked out YouTube, and found these two versions, both of which are interesting, but not quite what I wanted. . . one and two.

I also learnt that Christy Moore has done a version, which is delightful, because I love Christy Moore (not quite, however, in the same slightly obsessive way I love his brother Luka Bloom, but that’s another story!), that it was written by Hugh McDonald of Redgum, and can be found in the Second Bushwhackers Australian Songbook. I am not alone in liking the song, it would seem, as there are plenty of threads on various internet forums trying to find out more about it.

Recording

Anyway, I gave up trying to find a version online, so I decided to record my own. As my guitar is still missing a string, I tried using the 12 string, but it sounded far too busy. I think the song needs to have a bit of space to it. I decided on acapella – the first time I’ve done voice only since it broke. The recording ranges from one to four voices, and I am intrigued to hear some harmonics happening in some of the sections! It was so exciting when I played back one part where I’d recorded three parts and I could hear a fourth high up above them! I remember as a kid always harmonising with tapes, records, CDs, and I think this recording is what I always longed for on the John Williamson recording – I wanted full-on harmonies. Because . . . well, we all know about my love for harmonies!

The echoey bits I used because I wanted something to lead in and out of the song, something that remembered and foreshadowed some of the lyrics (“I won’t be back”, “Ends with the burning light of day”), just like a memory called up by a hint of something, fleshed out for a moment, then gone. Like looking at a faded photograph and suddenly realising some connection. I think they don't sound great, and I think I'll play with them to make them sound less tacky.

I didn’t make the decision to change “photograph” to “photographs” in the first line, and I’m not sure I care one way or another. I think the singular is probably more compelling, but oh well. I think I’ve also taken the Williamson lyrics “it’s been ten years today” rather than the original “for it’s been ten long years”, mainly because that’s the one I knew. I sang "go back to Sydney" without thinking instead of "settle back in Sydney". I have, however, gone with the original “I won’t be back when the droving’s done” at the end rather than Williamson’s repeat of “I won’t be back til the droving’s done”.

Conclusions

I think this is OK for something I just whipped up, and it serves the purpose for me – I have a version of it to listen to and to share with friends. I also really, really like having a full harmony version. I’m interested in what you all think about my new voice doing the different parts – it’s not particularly polished I know, but I wonder if it feels balanced enough? I kept wanting to sing higher, but I couldn’t. Boo! And I blame Rachel Unthank & the Winterset for the close-close harmonies.

Enjoy, and welcome to Australian folk if it’s your first encounter!

Please feel free to link, but please send people to this page rather than directly to the download. And remember I did not write this song! I just arranged and recorded this version.