| [00:00.00] |
Clara Waters - Slim Dusty |
| [00:02.57] |
I was drivin' out through Mitchell |
| [00:05.66] |
Heard a lonesome railroad whistle |
| [00:08.29] |
So I stopped beside the highway for a spell |
| [00:13.97] |
And in this pleasant place |
| [00:16.43] |
Was a notice well displayed |
| [00:19.13] |
With a story I am now about to tell |
| [00:25.03] |
The notice was a roll of those who'd paid the toll |
| [00:29.88] |
While working on the railroad to the west |
| [00:35.53] |
Wives and workers perished |
| [00:37.95] |
With the children that they cherished |
| [00:40.44] |
And in lonely graves were gently laid to rest |
| [00:45.37] |
Then I found my vision misted |
| [00:48.38] |
As among the many listed |
| [00:51.21] |
The name of Clara Waters caught my eye |
| [00:56.59] |
I imagined my own daughter |
| [00:59.18] |
In the place of Clara Waters |
| [01:01.92] |
While the busy highway traffic hurtled by |
| [01:12.71] |
How short her life had been |
| [01:15.39] |
She was only seventeen |
| [01:18.04] |
Yet her story may be very simply told |
| [01:23.94] |
A doctor might have saved her |
| [01:26.29] |
From the fever after labour |
| [01:29.00] |
Her baby died when he was four days old |
| [01:34.51] |
Then the scene before me shifted |
| [01:37.16] |
As back in time I drifted |
| [01:39.84] |
As back in time a hundred years I went |
| [01:45.00] |
And through my muddled dreaming |
| [01:47.81] |
A morning sun came beaming |
| [01:50.46] |
On a battered billy steaming by a tent |
| [01:56.08] |
For here was pretty Clara |
| [01:58.57] |
With her husband there to share a |
| [02:01.35] |
Simple meal before their daily task |
| [02:06.58] |
I am anxious now to meet her |
| [02:09.20] |
So I hurry on to greet her |
| [02:11.94] |
With the questions that I feel I have to ask |
| [02:19.92] |
And when the day is breaking |
| [02:22.61] |
Is there happiness in waking |
| [02:25.31] |
Have you had your share of laughter joy and cheer |
| [02:30.43] |
You were very young to marry |
| [02:33.33] |
And the baby that you carry |
| [02:35.92] |
Does it make you wish your mother could be near |
| [02:41.52] |
In the coolness of the morning |
| [02:44.18] |
In the piccaninnie dawning |
| [02:46.82] |
Does your husband tell you often of his love |
| [02:52.25] |
While the magpies merry singing |
| [02:54.85] |
In the higher branches ringing |
| [02:57.58] |
Is bringing morning greetings from above |
| [03:03.12] |
Does the gentle evening breeze |
| [03:05.77] |
Wave the smoke up through the trees |
| [03:08.34] |
Do you see the shafts of sunlight drifting down |
| [03:13.56] |
Or has drudgery and duty |
| [03:16.23] |
Made you blind to every beauty |
| [03:18.93] |
While the camp is turning dusty bare and brown |
| [03:27.20] |
With a bed of planks and sacking |
| [03:29.67] |
And with every comfort lacking |
| [03:32.50] |
Growing heavy as your time is drawing near |
| [03:37.91] |
In your shabby tent so dreary |
| [03:40.81] |
Are you very often weary |
| [03:43.18] |
And do you sometimes shed a silent lonely tear |
| [03:51.37] |
And when her son was born |
| [03:53.91] |
On a hot December morn |
| [03:56.56] |
And the deadly fever started on it's quest |
| [04:01.69] |
Was there time for her to hold him |
| [04:04.66] |
And in her love enfold him |
| [04:07.30] |
Was there time to give him comfort at her breast |
| [04:12.78] |
Of course there's no replying |
| [04:15.28] |
To my questions and my prying |
| [04:18.04] |
And suddenly I know it's time to go |
| [04:23.40] |
But I reckon I'll remember |
| [04:26.09] |
What happened that December |
| [04:28.73] |
In the summertime a hundred years ago |
| [04:36.88] |
And then a road train passes |
| [04:39.53] |
There's a ripple through the grasses |
| [04:42.33] |
As if to wave a fleeting sad goodbye |
| [04:47.52] |
To Clara and her son |
| [04:49.97] |
Their lives so briefly run |
| [04:52.70] |
And the busy highway traffic |
| [04:55.83] |
Rushes by |
