Oh the dingoes are howling with the hiccups tonight,

Out where the tall timbers wave,

The swagmen are having a real old time jag

Round the campfire they rant and they rave

Stockmen and drovers and jackaroos too

Are in town tonight for a spree

The publican reckons they're suffered enough,

So he's turning the beer on for free.



The swaggy came in with a smile on his face

And asked for a splash in the can.

The boss shouted out to the barman at work

"Fill up that jug for the man."

He grabbed up the tankard and swallowed the lot

And then put both hands to his side

But he just couldn't take it

The shock was too great,

He fell on the floor there and died. Hey!



Old billy the blacksmith is with us no more

He's sleeping the sleep of the just,

He hid in the cellar the day the beer came

And went on a glorious bust.

He drank a nine gallon 'twixt dark and the dawn

And then staggered home to his wife.

As he fell in the kitchen she picked up the gun

And so ended the old feller's life.



We laid him to rest where the stringybarks waved

In the cemetry down by the creek

And then rolled a few barrels down onto his grave

And went on the binge for a week

When the last keg was emptied

We wrote on a cross for strangers to read as they 

passed,

"Here lies the old blacksmith he died as he lived,

Full as a boot to the last." Hey!



[Instrumental]



Now in those dull days when the pub had no beer

I started to save up my pelt.

Now the beer's flowing freely I'm like all the rest

Back in the doghouse myself.

Oh the dogs round the pubs now are all sleek and fat

They lollip around at their ease,

Where all they once got was a kick in the ribs

Some pubs now have planted them trees.



Oh it's lonesome out there in the spare room at night

And although I know it sounds queer,

But I'd rather be there with my headaches and all

Than a bar of a pub with no beer.