My young wife started something when our partnership 

was new,

She wrote "Dear Slim from your loving wife, June 13th, 

1952

The 'Poetical Works of Lawson', just a plain red bound 

book,

But this since 'fifty-two, I've worked right through, 

My bible of the bush..



It's battered now and faded and it's travelled o'er the 

years,

An' I patched it up so many times, an' mended the pages 

with care,

Oh, there's pencil marks on the pages 

Abbreviations where a verse is long

But the ole red book, my bible of the bush, 

Always has just one more song.



[Instrumental]



Whenever I'm down an' angry, an' the world is closing 

in

Hey, I grab my guitar and the old red book 

An' I find another song to sing,

Once again on the track with Andy,

Gone with cattle down the Castlereagh,

Well I'm lecturing old Sweeney on that pub verandah 

again.



Oh, there's truth there's hurt, there's pity,

For the battler, the lonely, the old,

There is laughter, humour and kindness

In the stories of life Lawson told,

I hope that you take my meaning



I'm not being irreverent an' smart,

But when I call this book my bible of the bush,

I speak from the depths of my heart.



It's battered now and faded from, it's travelled o'er 

the years,

An' I patched it so many times, an' mended the pages 

with care,

I suppose I should get a new but I feel that it would 

be wrong,

For this ole red book, my bible of the bush, 

Been my track mate too darn long.



Hey this ole red book, my bible of the bush, 

Been my track mate too darn long.