Do you know any traditional bush ballads pertaining to your neck of the woods?
"Click Go the Shears" is a traditional Australian bush ballad.
The song details a day's work for a sheep shearer in the days before mechanical shears.
The song reflects the traditional role that the wool industry has played in Australian life.
It describes the various roles in the shearing shed, including the "ringer", (fastest shearer), the "boss of the board", (the contractor who employs the shearers), the "colonial experience man" (The 'Colonial Experience' man is a reference to a young man sent from England to the colonies to get some colonial experience before returning home to take a role in the family or corporate business) and the "tar boy". A young boy who was employed to stand by with a pot of hot tar and dab it on any sheep that had been cut while being shorn to stop it bleeding.)
https://youtu.be/OLOSks3RRYo?si=hB0YMn_pbu7fGPb0
The song details a day's work for a sheep shearer in the days before mechanical shears.
The song reflects the traditional role that the wool industry has played in Australian life.
It describes the various roles in the shearing shed, including the "ringer", (fastest shearer), the "boss of the board", (the contractor who employs the shearers), the "colonial experience man" (The 'Colonial Experience' man is a reference to a young man sent from England to the colonies to get some colonial experience before returning home to take a role in the family or corporate business) and the "tar boy". A young boy who was employed to stand by with a pot of hot tar and dab it on any sheep that had been cut while being shorn to stop it bleeding.)
https://youtu.be/OLOSks3RRYo?si=hB0YMn_pbu7fGPb0
61-69, M
