End of the Pub

Lyrics

Oh, the dingoes are howling with hiccups tonight Out where the tall timbers wave The swagmen are having a real old-time jag 'Round the campfire they ramp and they rave Stockmen and drovers and jackaroos too Are in town tonight for a spree The publican reckons they've suffered enough So he's turning the beer on for free The swaggie came in with a smile on his face And asked for a splash in the can The boss shouted out to the barman at work "Fill up that jug for the man" He grabbed up the tankard and swallowed the lot And then put both hands to his side But he just couldn't take it, the shock was too great He fell on the floor there and died, hey Ol' Billy the blacksmith is with us no more He's sleeping the sleep of the just He hid in the cellar the day the beer came And went on a glorious bust He drank a nine-gallon 'twixt dark and the dawn And then staggered home to his wife As he fell in the kitchen, she picked up the gun And so ended the old feller's life We laid him to rest where the stringybarks wave In the cemetery down by the creek And then rolled a few barrels down to his grave And went on the binge for a week When the last keg was emptied, we wrote on a cross For strangers to read as they pass "Here lies the old blacksmith, he died as he lived "Full as a boot to the last," hey Now in those dull days when the pubs had no beer I started to save up my pelf Now the beer's flowing freely, I'm like all the rest Back in the doghouse myself Oh, the dogs 'round the pubs now are all sleek and fat They lollop around at their ease Where all they once got was a kick in the ribs Some pubs now have planted them trees Oh, it's lonesome out there in the spare room at night And although I know it sounds queer But I'd rather be there with my headaches and all Than the bar of a pub with no beer