> Danny Spooner > Songs > Humpin’ Me Drum

Humpin’ Me Drum

[ Roud - ; Mudcat 86350 ; words adapted by Graham Seal]

Danny Spooner sang Humpin’ Me Drum in 2017 on his final CD, Home. He noted:

I like the way each verse seems to be sung by another travelling Australian character. I can’t remember from whom I first heard it but it was a folk song aficionado whom I met along the way and was blown away by his song. I can see his face and hear his voice but I can’t remember his name. I think it was Paul.
These words were adapted by Graham Seal.

Lyrics

Danny Spooner sings Humpin’ Me Drum

I’ve humped my drum from Kingdom Come
To the back of the Milky Way,
I’ve boiled my quart out on Cape of York
And i starved last Christmas Day.

I cast a line on the old Condamine
And one on the Nebine Creek.
I’ve driven through bog, so help be Bob,
Up Mungindi’s main street.

I crossed the Murray and drank at Cloncurry
Where they charged me a bob for a nip.
I worked in the Gulf where the cattle they duff
And the squatters they give ’em jip.

I’ve worked from morn in the fields of long corn
Till the sun was out of sight.
I’ve caused to know the Great Byno
And the Great Australian Bight.

I danced with Kit when the lamps was lit
And Doll when the dance broke up.
I flung my ’at on the Myall Track
When Bowman won the Cup.

I laughed aloud with the merry crowd
In the city of the plains;
I sweated too on Omdooroo
While bogged in those big bore-drains.

I wheeled my bike from the Shearer’s Strike,
Not wanting a funeral shroud.
And I made the weights for the Flying Stakes
But I dodged the lynchin’ crowd.

I carried a gun through World War One,
Then went on the track again;
From Omeo to Bendigo,
To Bourke and back again.

I lost some tears in the hungry years
When jobs were short and few,
And I packed up my swag and my old tucker bag,
There was nothing else to do.

Yes, I’ve humped my drum from Kingdom Come
To the back of the Milky Way.