Get all 11 Bill Jackson releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of 1965, The Kelly Songs (Bill Jackson - 2023), The Wayside Ballads Vol 3 (2021), The Wayside Ballads Vol 2 (2016), The Wayside Ballads Vol 1 (2015), Try / Somebody's Darlin' - (Single from 'The Wayside Ballads Vol 1' - Bill Jackson), Jerilderie (2011), The Nashville Session (2010), and 3 more.
1. |
Convict Blood
02:50
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Convict Blood (Ross Jackson/Bill Jackson)
Where did you get that spirit to fight that streak in you to prevail
Where did you find in darkness a light to survive when others had failed
Where did you get that flaw in your soul that threatens to show the stain
Is it the ghost of something untold or the convict blood coursing through your veins
Why do you weep and sob inside when you see a mother and child
Why won’t the tears fill up your eyes on a face that’s forgotten to smile
Where did you get that devil may care and those scars you hide in shame
Is it the sadness or something too deep or the convict blood coursing through your veins
In the courts of the realm of County Down the lords and the nobles bowed to the crown
And festered hate across black bitter seas
Into the souls of long gone banished Transportees
How did you find that depth of hate when you landed on these shores
Using sugar, guns and alcohol to help you win the wars
Where did you get that rebel streak was it through heartbreak and pain
Was it the ghost of something cold or the convict blood coursing through your veins
In the courts of the realm of County Down the lords and the nobles bowed to the crown
And festered hate across black bitter seas
Into the souls of long gone banished Transportees
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2. |
That's Why I'm Here
03:58
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That’s Why I’m Here (Bill Jackson / Ross Jackson)
I know I don’t look like you and you don’t dress like me
Maybe we can close our eyes and look out to sea
Beyond the blue horizon, beyond the lies and hate
Beyond the old religions, beyond the shackled gates
I’m tired of the bombs, tired of the sleepless fear
Tired of the tears in my children’s eyes and that’s why I’m here
I know I don’t pray like you and you don’t eat like me
When it all comes down to the bigger picture we all just want to be
The best brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers and peers
And live a life of dignity, that’s why I’m here
I’m tired of the bombs, tired of the sleepless fear
Tired of the tears in my children’s eyes and that’s why I’m here
I miss my real home but we had no choice
We ran like dogs to a bone can you imagine how that feels?
I’m tired of the bombs, tired of the sleepless fear
Tired of the tears in my children’s eyes and that’s why I’m here
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3. |
The Shed
04:25
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The Shed (Bill Jackson/Ross Jackson)
The sun burns through the iron roof and the floor cuts through your knees
It breaks your back and spirit to be harvesting the fleece
Your swollen wrists are taking strain from working Sheffield shears
Chalking up the numbers and dreaming of the beers
In shearers camps down muddy tracks they lived both poor and rough
The union set conditions shrugged off as a bluff
The raddling in the sheds is rife the tallies are all wrong
The bosses here are bastards now there’s scabs down at Brookong
So on a Riverina morning to a sweet Flame Robin song
They raised their hands in anger and put a black ban on Brookong
The unionising shearers came down on all the scabs
Held siege at Brookong Shearing Shed till it all turned to bad
The fighting and the riots lasted all day long
The coppers led away ten martyrs from Brookong
Two years of time in Goulbourn gaol hard labour to his like
Befell poor William Jackson and his brothers of the strife
You can whip us you can jail us but it won’t be lasting long
A change is surely coming you can hear it in the songs
So on a Riverina morning to a sweet Flame Robin song
They raised their hands in anger and put a black ban on Brookong
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4. |
Sons of Gippsland
03:14
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Sons of Gippsland (Bill Jackson/Ross Jackson)
They rode in from the stations and down the haunted hills
From the mines and dairy farms rural towns and timber mills
From Neerim South and Thorpdale, Bairnsdale and Bullumwaal,
Sale, Maffra and Stratford, Ruby, Outrim and Warragul
Horsemen young and daring skilled bushmen one and all
On mounts hardy bred and rangy bound for the Transvaal War
They sat the saddle proudly as only horsemen can
Who rode before they walked and as children worked the land
From inlet coastal windy
From the lush flat dairy plains
From Omeo and Orbost
The Sons of Gippsland came
Fighting for the old world for their King and Queen
For the diamonds and gold and the Empire dream
From Yarram Yarram and Flynns Creek, Cassalis and Briagolong
Morwell, Moe and Hazelwood, Jack River and Bullong
From inlets coastal windy
To the lush flat dairy plains
From Omeo and Orbost
The Sons of Gippsland came
From Yarram Yarram and Flynn’s Creek
The Sons of Gippsland came
From Woodside and Wron Wron
The Sons of Gippsland came
The Sons of Gippsland came
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5. |
Cut & Run
02:48
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Throwaway Song (Bill Jackson/Ross Jackson)
He was writing about wizards throwing wands up and down
Thrilling the crowd with the sparkling sound
And when the smoke cleared, he wasn’t around
He was nowhere to be found
He had vanished along some lonesome road
On a map from his past where sins had been sewn
Dragged him on down through the weight of their load
It’s a ragged old garden we hoe
He sat there in silence working on
A bottle of whiskey and a throwaway song
And he weren’t going to quit till both were done
He was not one to cut and run
As the sun broke through the slaughtered sky
Of black and blood as night time died
On a rainy day that refused to cry
He made up another lie
This broken world just rambles on
Many long years after he’s gone
There’s nothing left here to say he belonged
Besides a throwaway song
He sat there in silence working on
A bottle of whiskey and a throwaway song
And he weren’t going to quit till both were done
He was not one to cut and run
No he was not one to cut and run
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6. |
Summer on the Somme
03:53
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Summer on the Somme (Bill Jackson/Ross Jackson)
All that is left are names carved in stone
On the Main St in Eltham that they used to call home
Long ago in places hard to pronounce
Lie lost sons and daughters in Belgium and France
Summer on the Somme 1916
On July 1 it turned obscene
On the pretty green fields raged a living hell
Of deadly gas and machine guns and shells
After each battle the death lists came down
There was heartbreak and sorrow in the cities and towns
The shock of the loss the burning pain
Of never seeing or feeling a loved one again
Summer on the Somme 1916
On July 1 it turned obscene
On the pretty green fields raged a living hell
Of deadly gas and machine guns and shells
So many dead for such little gain
Man’s greatest achievement was to kill and to maim
Now all that is left are names carved in stone
On the Main St in Eltham that they used to call home
Summer on the Somme 1916
On July 1 it turned obscene
On the pretty green fields raged a living hell
Of deadly gas and machine guns and shells
On the pretty green fields raged a living hell
Of deadly gas and machine guns and shells
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7. |
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The Ballad of Billy and Rosie (Bill Jackson/Ross Jackson)
When Rosie met Billy this ballad got born
Young and restless in a country at war
And their love gave birth to a chain of events
Rosie a farm girl and a beauty they say
Billy drove trucks till the war came of age
And their lives got entwined to the bitter and the worse
I’m sure there were happy times four babies got born
But times were hard and Billy got torn
So he drank his way through a life of self destruction
I remember being dirt poor and a tender mothers love
And I remember chasing balls like it was written from above
And it made me richer as I stumbled through this chain of events
My brothers and sisters all scattered as one
Left Rosie and I to Billy’s whiplash tongue
So I withdrew into a world of my own
So here I am it’s been a roll of the dice
Some spit in the wind and no closing price
All that trouble and strife but at least I’m still here
I remember being dirt poor and a tender mother’s love
And I remember chasing balls like it was written from above
But I finally got around to writing The Ballad of Billy and Rosie
I finally got around to writing The Ballad of Billy and Rosie
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8. |
I Take My Whiskey Neat
04:48
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I Take My Whisky Neat (Ross Jackson/Bill Jackson)
No river flowed wild across flat bedrock white
Could smooth out the edges and make it feel right
Not a hundred Hank songs or words ever spoke
Could sing back a heart that’s just been broke
Where there’s smoke there’s fire
Where there’s fire there’s heat
Where there’s heat there’s drinking
I take my whisky neat
No songbird so sad could sing like the breeze
As it sighs through the branches and leaves of my trees
No raindrops fallen from a dark winter sky
Could warm down the cheek like a tear from my eye
Where there’s smoke there’s fire
Where there’s fire there’s heat
Where there’s heat there’s drinking
I take my whisky neat
No words of sorrow to a billion ears
Could change the hatred of a thousand years
We’ve come too far and for way too long
And how come we’re still talking about dropping the bomb
Where there’s smoke there’s fire
Where there’s fire there’s heat
Where there’s heat there’s drinking
I take my whisky neat
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9. |
She Rode Like the Wind
04:16
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She Rode Like the Wind (Bill Jackson/Ross Jackson)
The Warby Ranges back in the day had two kinds of folks locals and strays
Red was unchained forgiven of sin Ellen Irish and rode like a Quinn
Babies were born into desperate grief to those who gave mercy to killers and thieves
With her hair midnight black turning to grey and seven children standing over Red’s early grave
That mare in foal oh she’s mine lead her quietly away before the sun shines
Stolen meat, brands cut from the hide, there’s nothing to eat less you’re going inside
Music and Mirth shared altered brands, Ellen’s twelfth baby shackled her hands
Stringybark’s tall, a moonless night, wild dogs howled, something’s not right
She started on horses, finished in cars, drawn to the battle and showing the scars
She buried the old ones, her children and kin, saddled her pony and she rode like the wind
Cold cell in winter babe at the breast hot days of summer as his majesty’s guest
She was let loose forgiven of sin Ned hung by the neck and was dust in the wind
Dan was burnt black Kate howled at the moon and died on her own in a murky lagoon
With her grandson gone to a cruel war lost the cold chilled her bones such a heavy cost
She started on horses, finished in cars, drawn to the battle and showing the scars
She buried the old ones, her children and kin, saddled her pony and she rode like the wind
Saddled her pony and she rode like the wind
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10. |
Jesus Take the Wheel
03:22
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Jesus Take the Wheel (Bill Jackson/Ross Jackson)
The thinkers the dreamers and the poets who weep
Are the broken and empty souls on the street
With their aimless aimless shuffle and struggle to the beat
They lay shame to us all as they stare down defeat
The strength in their eyes is veiled by the need
To survive one more day from wounds that won’t bleed
Stumblin’ their way on a path that’s been cruel
As we look down upon them through the eyes of a fool
And a pittance from your pocket sets your soul free
As you place it in the hand of who you might have been
Or maybe your just thinking I can cut some kind of deal
Oh, Jesus take the wheel
The waves roll and crash the wind blows and sings
As we stroll through life and what it has to bring
Time goes slow with nothing to show
But a broken spirit and a row left to hoe
The thinkers the dreamers and the poets who weep
Are the broken and empty souls on the street
With their aimless aimless shuffle and struggle to the beat
They lay shame to us all as they stare down defeat
And a pittance from your pocket sets your soul free
As you place it in the hand of who you might have been
Or maybe your just thinking I can cut some kind of deal
Oh, Jesus take the wheel
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11. |
Worth Our Due
04:19
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Worth Our Due (Bill Jackson / Ross Jackson)
Oh mother it hurts so bad
I’m cold and hungry and I miss my dad
If I could ride I’d ride back home
To the Warby Ranges where I used to roam
My darling Ned if I could only touch you
It would surely make the past seem worth our due
Those coppers set us on our way to this house
Hold your head up high and keep your rouse
I can’t stop thinking ‘bout Steve and Dan
I couldn’t hold them back not to a man
And what about Kate my darling sister
If there’s anyone at all I’ll miss her
Oh Ned we didn’t stand a chance
Because it’s hard times when you’re Irish in this dance
Harassed and hounded to the sound of your voice
Blind persecution born to no choice
That bastard Barry he’s like all the rest
To the hanging of the poor the mans obsessed
I wonder how to history we’ll be read
If he had his way we’d all be swinging dead
Close your eyes son and think of home
The one across the sea that’s right there in your bones
You’ve done us proud and gave us hope
You’ve got a Kelly’s heart and all they’ve got is rope
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Bill Jackson Melbourne, Australia
'His songs are gritty and real and come at you like a hammer, ringin' in the mornin'. Take it or leave it, he's telling it
straight up' (Shane Howard)
' Take a chance and listen to some Roots Music that cuts across Borders...' (Keith Glass)
‘We heard Bill Jackson for the first time at the Unpaved Sessions earlier in the year and he’s up there with Paul Kelly’ (The Melbourne Folk Club)
... more
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