by Daniel Kelly 2023

     Am                 C         G
Working the wood in the old high country,
F            C        G          Am
Axe, Froe, Adze, Cross-Saw and Maul
Am                       C         G
Seeking the heart of the ancient timber,
     C      G        Em       Am
Break her back and watch her fall.

Search for the tree amidst the forest,
Straight in trunk and timber sound,
Cut the scarf and saw the back through,
Hear the crack and she comes down.

Strip the bark now, best be hasty,
Bush worked timber’s best done green,
Load it on the cart and homewards,
Time to build a slab hut dream,

Mark the post and strip the sapwood,
Cut with axe to black string line,
Work the broadaxe square and smooth like,
Post will stand till the end of time.

The froe cuts slabs, when maul she hammers,
Split two inches with the grain,
Square with broad axe sides all even,
Chamfer to keep out the rain,

Cut the grove in post with auger,
Chisel, maul and lots of care,
Drop the slabs in, walls are rising,
To keep out the winter air.

     G               Em
Now Lucy found a book within the
  C             D
House of the magician,
     G               Em
A magic book with spells and charms to
     C    D
fix any condition.
     G               Em
And Bastian read the book he stole,
          C          D
After attic stairs ascending,
     G          Em
The story of Fantasia,
           C          D      G
Which, it seems, was never ending.

Now this book is a special one,
With wisdom for the ages,
The secrets of the universe,
Revealed within the pages,
An essential read for clerics,
Wizards, bards and mages,
And the reason that the CCP,
Keeps good people in cages.

The Bible is a relic,
Of days from long ago,
When it comes to naming authors,
We really just don’t know,
Not many folks have read it,
But lots of them say so,
It’s a sequel to the Torah,
And we all know how they go.

There is only so much time you have,
In life for which to read,
Unless you are Hermione,
With a time-turner’s magic speed,   
So consider reading this book,
It will sure be worth your while,
If you have ever sat and wondered,
At life, its joys and trials.

A book that’s given freely,
to all of humankind,
That teaches truth and tolerance,
and kindness of the mind.

by Daniel Kelly 2023

     G                        D      G
Lake George is just lovely at this time of year,
           C               Am         G               D
And there’s nothing like sailing to bring you some cheer,
     G                      D             G
I set out Friday morning the weather was fine,
     C          G            D        G
The sun and the water, and feeling sublime,

          C          D               G       C
Now I’m stranded on George in my Top Hat and tails,
           C         D              G          Em  
The wind blows me in circles though fluttering sail,
     G          C          G          C
I’ve only one oar, so I just turn around,
     G             D            G
I hope that real soon I’ll be found.

I don’t have a sailboat, but I did have a sheet,
Tied to a broom-handle, my ship is complete,
But the thing I forgot, as I set out that day,
Is a boat that can’t tack will go only one way.

Now darkness has fallen, the wind starts to rise,
The rough lake’s night water comes over the sides,
What’s that I see flashing, far off on the shore,
After SES rescue I’ll be on TV for sure,

 

 

 

 

 

by Daniel Kelly 2023

     G
Help me cross the river,
     C               G
Said the scorpion to the frog,
     C               G
It won’t take but a minute,
           Am             D
You’ll be back upon your log.

     C            G
Why would anyone help you,
     C            G
The frog boldly replied,
     C               G
We all know you’re a killer,
     C          D    G
I’m not giving you a ride.

Listen said the scorpion,
You’ve got the story wrong,
I’m not a ruthless murderer,
And the river’s wide and long.

I’m not much of a swimmer,
And you can swim so well,
Give me a ride this one time,
And I’ll promise not to tell.

The frog he listened carefully,
To the scorpions sorry plea,
Was he really such a monster,
How could that possibly be,

I’ll let you ride upon my back,
If you promise not to sting,
If you do that, you’ll doom us both,
T’would be a foolish thing.

The scorpion climbed upon the frog,
He swam out from the bank,
But when they reached the middle,
Deep in the stinger sank,

You’ve killed us both yelled out the frog,
You vicious crazy fiend,
You promised me you wouldn’t,
Why did I help someone in need,

A scorpion’s a scorpion,
No matter what is said,
All creatures live their nature,
Be sure to use your head,

Some folks will tell you anything,
To get what they think they need,
Even if it kills you,
That’s the nature of their greed.

 

A Parody by Daniel Kelly and Paula L ( base on Home on the Range)

D                          G    Gm
Oh give me a meme, the American dream,
     D               E7         A7
that the punters will all click away,
     D                    G          Gm
Where never is heard, even one honest word,
     D               A7         D
And the anger is on full display.

  D        A7     D
Farm, farming the rage,
Where the fear and uncertainty play,
Where seldom is found, any argument sound,
And the balance was long thrown away.

How often at night, in the glowing screen’s light,
On the book of the face, or the ‘gram,
You’ll shout and you’ll frown, at the lies I have grown,
It’s basically money for jam.

Oh that is my brand, the blight of the land,
Any thing that will capture your goat,
At Karen and Chad, I’ll make you feel mad,
It’s hatred that sure floats my boat.

You wish that I'd leave, No more cause you to grieve
At the violence and death I effect.
For the horrors I cause, and the corrupted laws
It's the world I am trying to wreck.

by Daniel Kelly – 2023

     G
Once you’d hear my whistle,
     C               G
From way down by the river,
     C                    G
My smoke would fill the valley,
     Am                 D
My steel made tracks to shiver,
           G
I would bring the folks and mail,
           C    D      G
I would carry wool and flour,
           C          G          D
Those days were the height of my power.

     Em
Now I’m rusted to the tracks,
     C          G
I’m not going anywhere,
     C                    G
There for sure are new horizons,
        Am             D
But to travel I don’t care,
     G
No more for me the whistle,
           C               G
Or the screaming of the steel,
     C               G
I’ve forgotten what it is to
     D
really feel.

The tramway it was opened,
Back In eighteen ninety two,
Connecting Yass to Sydney,
And Melbourne city too,
It was supposed to go to Canberra,
But just like now as then,
We are governed by incompetent old men

The kids they climb aboard,
Drive me in their minds,
Stoke the coal fed fire,
Wheels being to grind,
I’m flying down the rails,
Just as I did before,
But in the real world,
I don’t do that any more.

by Daniel Kelly – 2023

     C                 
It seems a simple choice,
          F         G
To give everyone a voice
Am
But maybe there’s more
     F             G
To this than there seems.

When you look at what was done,
With disease, the cross and gun,
There may be reason,
To doubt sincerity.

Is the voice really a ploy,
To share the freedom others enjoy,
On paper, but not
In reality?

           C                G
Give us a voice, An honest voice,
               F           G
A voice with dignity and power,
             F
Not just a voice,
                   G
through which we cower,
               C
We’ll find our voice,

If the things that they decide,
Wash away with every tide,
As the politicians
Nod their heads and sneer,

Like a toddler in the car,
Steering a fake wheel near and far,
This voice is just an
Insult in disguise

It continues 200 hundred years,
Of abuse and fear and tears,
It’s a treaty and the
Truth we really need

When your land you didn’t cede,
To the white conqueror’s greed,
Demand a voice,
That also comes with power

 

A re-write of the original lyrics to this song by Jack Judge.

Up to dreary London
Came an Irishman one day.
The street were never paved with gold
Despite what people say,
Singing songs of Piccadilly,
The Strand and Leicester Square,
Till Paddy got down hearted,
Then he whispered to them there:

It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square!
It's a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there.

Paddy he wrote a letter
To his Irish Mary-O,
Saying, "Should you not receive another
Then the foe has laid me low!"
"If I make mistakes in the spelling,
Mary, dear," said he,
"Remember, this isn’t our language,
But the tyrants legacy!"

Mary she wrote a sweet reply
To Irish Paddy-O,
Saying "Father Murphy said a prayer for you
And he wanted you to know
Don’t leave the Strand or Piccadilly
Till you've one a Fenian’s fame,
For love of Ireland sings in my heart
And our sons will know your name!"

 

By Daniel Kelly – 2023

    G        C        G
You rocket up into the air,
         C            G          D
To the shrieks and gasping for fear,
    Em               G
And then silence will fall,
    D        G
upon one and all,
    C            D        G
As hurtling to earth you appear.

Every time that you fly,
When you open your soul to the sky,
A piece of my heart,
Down here on the ground,
Is withered away when you fly.

Then time stands still in my heart,
In the moment till parachute parts,
And blooms as before,
to float you down to the floor
A master of science and art.

I know that the people will pay,
To see you endangered this way,
But my thoughts they run wild,
For me and our child,
Should fate take you from me today,

By Daniel Kelly – 2022

       G
When you see Ned Kelly’s Armor,
       C                       G
What does it bring to mind?
       C                    G
The murder of Tom Lonigan,
       D
Shot down in his prime?

       C                    G
Did it house a ruthless killer,
Am                   D
A man of hollow fame,
C                    G
Did it house a rebel hero,
       C                          G
Should the nation sing his name,

       C                    G
We still sing of Edward Kelly,
       Am                     D
Though a hundred years has passed,
       C               G
We keep telling his story,
       D                    G
He still calls us from the past.

Now Ned he was a complex boy,
A drunken father’s son,
A copper hurt his sister,
So he went on the run,

Was he really thieving cattle,
Or was that a mistake,
The crime of being an Irishman,
and policemen on the take.

He was shot down in Glenrowan,
In the town his statue stands,
You can see his suit of armour,
on a million trinket brands.

But the thing that I remember,
About our young son Ned,
Is the green sash he was wearing,
As from gunshot wounds he bleed.

by Daniel Kelly - December 2022

     G         C             D           G
In Clonoulty, Tipperary, one cold September night,
     C         G         Am        D
100 local Irishmen did work by candle light,
     G                C            D           G
To destroy Ballagh dispensary, with hammer, axe and saw
     C             G             D           G
In protest of the English Tithe, they did defy the law.

Thirteen men were transported, to Australia they were bound,
In chains of penal servitude, fourteen years to work the ground,
Ned Ryan came to Goulburn, until 1825,
When he got his leave ticket, lucky to be alive,

     D             G             C           G
One day I’ll build a castle, A castle tall and grand,
     C                  G             Am             D
And I’ll own the land for miles around, where my family can stand,
     C                    G            C             G
And they’ll hear the name of Ryan, and our power it will grow,
     C             G             D           G
Fear of English church and Englishmen my kids will never know,

Ned became a squatter, when his freedom it was won,
The family from Ireland, they joined him on the run,
Brothers, Sisters, Cousins, helped the flocks to grow,
With a hundred thousand acres, Ned was the man to know.

Then Ned he build his castle, among the Galong hills,
In stones of hard defiance, a symbol of his will,
Proof that transported Irishmen, still retain their pride,
A piece of Tipperary, just on the other side,

Now Ned’s line it was ended, not long after it began,
But his house became a monastery, for the raising of young men,
To be warriors for Jesus, in the catholic empire,
And he rests beneath the marble, of Rusconi’s ornate spire,

by Daniel Kelly 2022

(Written on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II)

    G            D        G
I cannot lead you into battle.
C            D      G
Your laws I do not make
G          D          G
I cannot give you justice
         C            D            G
but something else I hope you’ll take

I gave my heart and my devotion,
To these fine islands of old,
And the people who dwell in them,
The faithful, brave and bold

C                       G
Grief is the price we pay for love.
C                G
Grief is the price we pay.
    C           G     Em
As a queen, I rose above,
                 C        D     G
Grief is the price we pay for love.

To all those who have suffered,
From the violence of our past
I extend my hand in sorrow,
With sympathy at last.

With the benefit of hindsight
we come to see the ways we fall
things we wish we had done better,
or should not have done at all,

Tradition stands behind me,
More than a thousand years
And the true strength of an Empire
Born in fire, blood and tears;

I am pledged unto your service,
My life be short or long,
I shall seek the wining of your trust.
And keep our nation strong.

 

by Daniel Kelly 2022

Hush little Nav Com, don’t make a beep
Captain’s tired and needs to sleep.
Keep our course, straight and true,
Asteroid fields you steer us through,

Hush little engines, just make a purr,
Fold through space at the speed of a blur,
Reactor metrics stable and tight,
Pushing us past the speed of light.

Hush little filters, scrub and compress,
Keep the air breathable in bunks and mess,
If that warning light comes one,
Oxygen will fail and we’ll all be gone.

Hush little doctor in med bay,
Keep the viruses away,
Find a cure for the alien flu,
Don’t want crewmates turning blue.

Hush little lasers, hold your fire,
Keep your pulse till their shields expire,
If they don’t surrender soon,
You can blast them to the moon.

Hush little cargo in the hold,
Smugglers life is short and bold,
If we make the drop as planned,
I’m gonna buy me a piece of land.