Sweeney (1998 Digital Remaster) - Slim Dusty
It was somewhere in September
And the sun was going down
When I came in search of coffee
To a Darling River town
Come And Have A Drink
We'll call it is a fitting name I think
And twas raining for a wonder
Up at Come And Have A Drink
Underneath the pub verandah
I was resting on a bunk
When a stranger rose before me
And he said that he was drunk
He apologised for speaking
There was no offence he swore
But he somehow seemed to fancy
That he'd seen my face before
He agreed you can't remember
All the chaps you chance to meet
And he said his name was Sweeney
People lived in Sussex Street
He was camping in a stable
That he swore that he was right
Only for the blanky horses
Walking over him all night
He'd apparently been fighting
For his face was black and blue
And it looked as though
The horses had been treading on him too
But an honest genial twinkle
In the eye that wasn't hurt
Seemed to hint of something better
Spite of drink and rags and dirt
He was born in Parramatta
And he said with humour grim
That he'd like to see the city
Are the liquor finished him
But he couldn't raise the money
He was damned if he could think
What the Government was doing here
He offered me a drink
I declined twas self denial
And I lectured him on booze
Using all the hackneyed arguments
That preachers mostly use
Things I'd heard in temperance lectures
I was young and rather green
And I ended
By referring to the man he might have been
But he couldn't stay to argue
For his beer was nearly gone
He was glad he said to meet me
And he'd see me later on
But he guessed he'd have to go
And get his bottle filled again
And he gave a lurch
And vanished in the darkness and the rain
Now of afternoons in cities
When the rain is on the land
Visions come to me of Sweeney
With his bottle in his hand