Paul Kelly
(The Ballad of) Queenie and Rover
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Queenie was born on the banks of the
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great Ord River, 1930, maybe
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Her mother was black, her daddy white
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Papa was a fine horse-breaker
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Mama sang the songs of the old lawmakers
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She used to hide young Queenie in the bush
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And rub black charcoal all over her hair and her face
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Every time the police came around
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Looking for any blond haired, brown skinned children
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To round ‘em up and take ‘em on down town
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Shine on, shine on, immortal one, aha
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Shine on, shine on, immortal one, aha
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Rover was born in the desert,
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he lived out there ‘til his mother died
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Then he moved around a lot from place to place
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Bedford Downs, Bow River, Lissadel, Wyndham
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Building fences, working as a stock man
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Then he had a series of dreams
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He started painting what he'd heard and he'd seen\
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Rainbow serpent, Krill Krill, Cyclone Tracy, the killing fields
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Everything that lives and breathes
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Ride on, ride on, immortal one, aha
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Ride on, ride on, immortal one, aha
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Your story will always run
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When Rover and Queenie were young
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They met out on New Texas Down station
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She worked as a cook there for a long, long time
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She said, “Hey, Cowboy” later on she said
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“Nice boy, good worker, top rider, lucky one, that one”
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One day a mean horse ripped the scalp from his head
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She stitched him up with a boiled needle and thread
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Good as any doctor, they were friends ever after
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She said, “I want to paint," he said, “I’ll teach ya”
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They died within months of each other
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Ride on, ride on, immortal one, aha
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Shine on, ride on, immortal one, aha
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Ride on, ride on, immortal one, aha
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Shine on, ride on, immortal one, aha
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Your story will always run,
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always run,
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will always run
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Forever run,
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forever run,
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forever run
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Forever young,
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forever young
