by Daniel Kelly - 2024 D Just one blossom on the tree, G A Says the winters ending, D Bm Though other cold days still we’ll see, A D The light is now ascending, D G Hear the Spring, D Hear the Spring, G D From soil and branch, A D She’s beginning to sing. With trees still bare against grey sky, The days still hold some sorrow, But Daffodil has raised her head, And warmth will come tomorrow. The memory of winters chill, Still lingers by the river, But joyful chirp of finch and wren, Welcomes the life giver,
Archives: Projects
Six8 Coffee
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
G Em A Coffee’s just a coffee, C G You make it from a bean, C D But a coffee made with kindness, D G Is a thing more seldom seen, G Em And a coffee that helps others, C D Is a rarer thing than gold, C G A prayer to build a better world, G D G In every cup that’s sold. D G With justice in your actions, D G And mercy in your love, C G Walk humble upon the earth, D G As required from above. If you think about a single bean, And where it has come from, And every hand that touched it, Upon it’s journey long, The soil and the water, That fed each growing tree, Must all share in the bounty, That comes from you and me, When you sell a bag of beans, And profit comes to you, There is a choice to hoard the wealth If that’s what you want to do, But also you could pass some on, To those in greater need, And all the world will flourish, With the planting of that seed,
Change is Coming
by Daniel Kelly 2024
There’s a change coming, x 2 There’s a change coming in the wind (x 2) There’s a change coming, I can hear the roots a thrumin’ There’s a change coming in the wind. For the folks in wealth and power, It’s the ending of your hour, Theres a… For the hopeless and down trodden, The machine’s rusted and rotten, Theres a… Those spread’n lies and terror, It’s too late to see your error, There’s a… If you’re selling false salvation, The train has left the station, There’s a… For the truth it is returning, And the world will soon be burning, There’s a…
Facebook Feed Blues
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
C G7 G My Facebook Feed’s Full of Misogynist Crap G C And although I block them, they keep coming back, C G7 G I just want to see the news from my friends, G C Or cat memes and squirrels, not young ladies’ rear ends. It’s not that I’m prudish, or seeking to shame, It’s just that I know the exploitation game, This content is made just for getting the clicks, Enticing the lusty who think with their, eyes. F G C I’m blocking another page, G G7 C Trying to contain my rage, F C Am I did not ask to see it, Make it go away, G C Can I survive Facebook for another day? My Facebook feed’s full of Republican lies, About folk eating dogs, or Ukrainian Spies, I know Taylor isn’t in the CIA, AR-15s for children, surely isn’t the way, It’s not that you shouldn’t defend where you stand, but kids are being shot all over the land, They keep on pretending Trump’s in with a chance, He’s got less than the sofa assaulted by Vance My Facebook feed’s full bots selling shirts, In colours and themes so ugly it hurts, I’ll help you recover your profile that’s hacked, Just click on this link and you’ll soon have it back, I love daily posts by the filker Tom Smith, And music from friends always gives me a lift, But the broke algorithm that ruins my feed, Can go back to Twitter, that’s what I need.
Wherever
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
G D C G I brought my love a ring of gold, C G Am D Her heart to win by stories told, G C D G But her fine finger it would not hold, C D G The wildness grew but stronger, C G D G Fa la la la, Fa la la di, C G D G I’ll follow her path, wherever she be, I brought my love a flowering tree, Hoping our hearts entwined to be, Blossom and thorn filled with honey bee, They grew our garden over, So I wrote my love the sweetest of songs, With melody fine and verses strong, A chorus to sing, but not overly long, And sang it to win her favour, I gave my love my hand to hold, Through year on year until we grow old, Warmth in a fire, that’ll never be cold, And love beyond all measure.
William Fly
by Daniel Kelly – 2024, based on the last words of the Pirate William Fly
God reward ‘em accorin’ to their Deserts. Said William Fly, William Fly I must be where I am. 'Tis vain to say more. Said William Fly from the gallows, I shan't own myself a Murderer’s Guilt, Our Captain and Mate used us Barbarously. We poor Men can't have Justice done. To our Commanders words there were none, Let them never so much us abuse, Poor Sailors just like dogs they use I shan't own m’self Guilty, no killer I be, False Oathes have others made against me!
Wee Jasper School
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
For the 125th anniversary of the public school at Wee Jasper.
D G Two hours out of Canberra, D A On a long and windy road, G D Once you cross the Taemus Bridge D A’ Where the murrumbidggee flows, D You’ll find some magic country, G D Shaped a million years ago, A’ D Rocky hills and crystal rivers, A D Where the eucalyptus grows, D A’ And there’s a tiny school, D G With a giant heart, A D For the big big world, G A’ There’s no better start, D A’ With community, D G In a world apart, G A’ D Here at Wee Jasper School We rode to school on horseback, Left our ponies to the grass, Unless your name was Harold Carey And rode straight into the class, Though often small in number, We are always taught with care, For a century and a quarter, Young lives were started here. The school house is still standing, Despite bureaucracy and years, A 1000 students through the doors, All off on their careers, When the Education Minister, Arrives by chopper once again, He’ll see the school is thriving, An may it never end,
Giants – for Bob Brown
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
G C G I stood at the foot of a giant tree, D Looked up to its crown, G C As it looked down at me. C Two thousand years old, G D And a hundred feet tall, C G D G And I felt so small in its shadow. I floated the Franklin in a tiny boat, Tossed by the current, And barely afloat, Ancient stone rose, Around every bend, And I drank in the cool of its shadow, C G D G Stone and water, moss and tree, C G C D I’m part of them as they are of me, C G I’ll fight for their right, D G To live and let be, C G D G Though all the world seek to destroy them I sat in the halls of democracy, And I spoke up to power, As it looked down on me, In State and in Capital, I spoke truth to them all, And I refused to hide in their shadow, I’ve stood at the front of the protest line, For tree and for river, And peace in our time, And many a day, I’ve been led to a cell, But I always emerge from the shadow. I sit at the foot of a giant tree, Looked up to its crown, As it looks down at me. And though I am old, I can still hear the call, and the millions who march in my shadow.
Unicorse
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
Em G I got fleas, I’m gonna eat em, D Em Chicken buckets, you can’t beat em, C G Broccoli showers, well you can keep em’ D If there’s a better looking horse, Em I’d like to meet ‘em. Em D G D C Cause I’m a Uni, Uni, unicorse, G D C A uni, uni, unicorse. Em D G Yes I’m a unicorse x 2 You tell a story, I’m gonna spoil it, If you hit me, I’m gonna lawyer it, Don’t brush my teeth, or take showers, If you ask me to be quiet, I’ll talk for hours. Little children, my favourite snack, I’ve got a horn, it will attack, Tell me your problem, you’re gonna hear, Aaaaaand why should I care?
Another Weasley
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
G Well I’m another Weaseley, Em Like my father was before, C G They say I won’t amount to much, C D But that’s not what life is for. C D We may not have the finest house, G C But it’s always filled with love, C G And that is the most precious thing, C D G A wizard can dream of. Em D G But I wanna know what Rubber ducks are for, Em G D Do they use them to hold open a door? C D Those Muggles keep so many things, G C I just cannot keep score, C D G But what exactly, are rubber ducks for. Molly is my only love, We met in Gryffindor, We got married in the middle, Of the first wizarding war, If you mess with her family, You’ll regret it for sure, And find out like Bellatrix did, What Molly’s wand has in store, In the Order of the Phoenix, We fought for wizard kind, But Fred my son and the price he paid, Is always on my mind, Often it is the little folk, That stand up to the strong, When a true heart beats within you, You never can go wrong, (chorus lines) Do they protect you from sharp things on the floor? Are they a vessel from which alcohol can pour?
Gertrude McAlister
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
About the 22 year old woman murdered in Wee Jasper in 1914.
Am G C Am Young Gertrude McAlister, a girl of 22, Am G Am G Am With years of life before her, so much left to do, Am G Am G Started working as a servant, out on the old Wee Jasper run, Am C G Am But Alexander McBean, he had a wayward son. C G Though you escaped the hangman’s rope, Am G By choosing your own gun, G Am There isn’t blood in all the land, C G Am To pay for what you’ve done. Norman he was 35, 13 years older than her, He forced himself upon the girl, violence, lust and fear, I doubt he even listened to her lonely broken cries, The arrogance of privilege, she was chattel in his eyes. When Gertrude told him of the consequences of his deed, In frightened shameful panic, Norman hatched a vile seed, The girl would have to disappear, or risk the family name, So he shot her in the kitchen, faked a note to hide the blame, Then Norman asked the copers, how the hanging it would go, If they should catch the murderer, what would the inquest show, When his fate became apparent, he took the cowards path, And shot himself between the eyes, a week after Gert had breathed her last.
Plastic World
by Daniel Kelly - 2024
G
Just one block onto another,
G7
You can make them any colour,
C
And a whole world to discover,
G G7
Anything that you can dream,
C
You can create,
G
Isn’t it great.
D C
In the plastic world,
Bm C
In the world of your devising,
Bm G
Changing towers they are rising,
C
In shapes wild and surprising,
C G
It’s a plastic world x 2
Old Kirk the wood toy maker,
Had ideas, that bold risk taker,
Clutch power was no faker,
There is no limit to the ways,
They can be stuck,
What brilliant luck,
Now there’s lego about star wars,
Harry potter and some flowers,
You can sit and play for hours,
With the strangest ideations
of your mind,
What will you find,
Never a Friday
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
C It’s a Friday in the office, G7 The clock has just struck two, G You’ve been working on that code all week, C And want to see it through, C You bypass pre-prod testing, F After your first clean compile, G G7 But a voice the in the back of your mind, G C Says wait a little while. F C Never push to production on a Friday, G C No not a Friday, Never a Friday, F C Never push to production on a Friday, G7 G F G C Unless you’re hoping, To Unleash Hell. If your code will be soon be running, On a million odd machines, You better be sure that it works, Cause that’s a lot of beans, You might disrupt the airlines, Or the AT Machines, And you won’t have a job come Monday, If it was your code caused the scene. So if you’re a developer, A cutter of the code, Then never bypass pre-prod, And test is under load, When it comes to ones and zeros, There’s edge cases galore, And if you fail to spot them, You’ll soon be shown the door,
Wolverpool
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
Em D Em That guy, he’s got claws on his hands, Em C Em That guy, he knows where he stands, Em D Em He’s got, more trauma than me, D We could be so good together, C Em Why can’t he see. G D Yeah, I’m in love with the wolverine, Em C He’s everything I hope and dream, G D I tell him jokes that are quite obscene, Em C But I understand why he’s so mean, G D Em It’s tough to be the wolverine. That guy, he’s from down under it’s true, That guy, looks good in yellow and blue, He’s got, abs made of stone, And so many anger issues in his Adamantium bones, That guy, he’s running away, That guy, I can’t make him stay, He’s got, a bottle of jack, And under so much pressure, We should cut him some slack,
The Winter King
by Daniel Kelly - 2024 In the deep frozen heart of the winter, A man rises up from the ground To take a last look at his lady, Before losing his green ivy crown. For back in the heat of the summer, His beard it was golden and long, But now it is white as the snow fall, Forgotten the mirth and the song, Carry him into the future, Carry his soul with the flames, Carry our hopes for the Spring time, That summer may return again, The leaves they have yellowed and fallen, The light has gone out of the sky, The chill of the wind bites our fingers, It’s the way of the living to die. But spring it awaits on the branches And blossoms will follow the cold, As we wait and we warm by the fire, On the circle of seasons so old
The Community Hall
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
Em D Em The Community Hall, is the heart of the town, C G Am D It’s for birthdays and dancing in tails and gown, Em D Em They never make money, and are often run down, C G But the good folk that keep them, D Em And give of their time, G D Em Know they’re holding the people together. The Yass Valley Council, has sent out a bill, To the people of Bowning, for rates owing still, Almost four thousand dollars, and it’s sure to kill, The community spirit, The volunteers work, Is treated like fodder for stealing, The Community Hall, for a hundred odd years, Has been hosting the dances, and witnessing tears, Of memorial diners, and victory cheers, Those greedy pen pushers, And technocrat schemers, Are killing the heart of Australia. So Yass gets 50 million, for fancy new digs, For the council to sit at, in make-up and wigs, But the people of Bowning, left out with the pigs, To pay Prince John’s taxes, While council relaxes, It’s time for a change at the table.
Good Ale
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
Written for Twilight Waters
Chorus: For we all need good Ale, Sir. We all need good Ale, In cup or flagon or pail Sir, We all need good Ale. The fishmongers work is messy and hard, He doesn’t smell great when he comes from the yard, Finding a wife is a challenge he’ll fail, So he sure needs good Ale. The merchant he takes all your coin it is true, And seldom measures with weights that are true, He’ll put up the price while he tells you a tale, And sell you a fine cup of Ale, A baker arises well before the sun, And kneading his dough doesn’t look like much fun, The bread that he sells is moldy and stale, So he needs a good cup of Ale, The blacksmith strikes hard with a powerful arm, Sparks fly on cutlass or plough for the farm, He can even make you a good set of mail, And he needs a flagon of Ale, The sailor works hardest of all that’s no lie, And when he’s ashore there’s something he’ll buy, Best serve it to him in a bloody big pail, A generous portion of ale, The harlot she learns ins and outs of her trade, And flat on her back is where her money’s made, She’ll give you a smile from up on the rail, If you buy her a good cup of ale,
White Jesus
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
G Hey white Jesus, Am Can you answer a question for me, G Em Cause I’m really struggling to see, C G How my saviour could be convicted, D Of a felony. Hey white Jesus, Did you feed the poor too much again, Did you turn the other check again, Were you speaking out against corruption, In the government. C G Cause I’m trying to understand, C G Are you really just a man, C Em Was your vision for America, C D Just a con and not a plan, Hey white Jesus, The Stormy sure wasn’t your wife, Yet you claim to live a righteous life, Were you lying to the masses, All along. C G You are not the messiah, D G You’re just a naughty boy, C G You are not the messiah, D C G America is not your toy, Hey white Jesus, When they find out that you are a fraud, And you’re truly not the risen lord, There’ll be no one to protect you, From the angry mob.
Work of the Beavers
Parody of 'Wark o' the Weavers' - 2024 G D C G Beavers they are wonderful, beavers they are smart, C G C D To keep the rivers healthy, they always do their part, G D C G Civil engineering, that’s also a work of art, C G D G So be thankful for the wark o' the beavers D C G If it wisnae for the beavers, whar would ye stand? C G C D Ye wadnae hae a river, that is good and dammed' G D C G A lovely spot for fishing, and for swimming also grand C G D G Sae be thankful for the wark o' the beavers The humans often hunted us and turned us into hats, With guns and spears and arrows, snares and nets and traps, They extracted our secretions, called us fish, imagine that, A very sorry fate for the beavers Geronimo the beaver, he came from Idaho, They took up into a plane and threw him down below, Lucky he had a parachute, landed ready to go, Continuing the wark o' the beavers So if you see a beaver, down at your local stream, Be thankful for the work he does, building a wetland dream, And don’t begrudge the trees he takes, and never treat him mean, And be thankful for the wark o' the beavers
Never Came Home
by Daniel Kelly – 2024
Dm C G Am Dougie Therkelsen was 19, when he went to Tarakan, C G Em Am To help General McArthur, take back oil from Japan, G Am C G Am In the 2nd / 4th Commandos, he would learn to be a man, C G G Am But he fell upon the beaches, never to come home again. C G Em Am No he never came home, like so many more, C G C G Am That lie there forever, on a far lonely shore, G Am G Am With family and friends left to carry the pain, C G Em Am Of a son or a father, that won’t be home again. Dougie came from Nanango, he joined in 1943, With his parents George and Eva, a happy family, He left it all behind him, because his country was at war, But nothing can prepare a man, for what fate has in store, It was in operation Oboe, that Dougie was cut down, The Japanese were set to fight for every inch of ground, Storming pill boxes with rifles, was a foolish way to die, But orders they are orders, and a soldier don’t ask way,