Hills of Bendigo

from Make a Dead Man Sing by The Button Collective

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lyrics

Saddle up the horses lads, it’s nearly time to go
Down to Victoria through the southern snow
Everyone is heading there, seems it’s the place to be
Let’s go make our fortune down in gold country!

They say that men are pulling out money from the hills
Well if the good lord put it there, it must be his will
That say that you can stake a claim eight feet wide
The gold ain’t gonna dig itself, ride boys, ride!

Chorus:
There’s plenty of gold, so I am told
Way down south where the cold winds blow
Onwards we go, through the rain and the snow
‘Til we find our fortune in the hills of Bendigo

Some men sell up all they have, head on out alone
Others bring the wives and kids, cart along the home
They’re hitching rides on bullock drays, sleeping in the hay
The air is getting colder there with every passing day

Every now and then you see, in a cloud of dust
A lucky digger heading south to Melbourne or bust
He’s flogged his horses half to death, he’s giving all he’s got
There’s bushrangers on his tail, they’re going for his gold

Chorus

It doesn’t matter who you are, there’s money to be made
You could be a prince’s son or man of a trade
Your hands are gonna blister, boy, that you can be sure
It’s the finest way to tell a man who’s digging for his gold

I heard that down at Ironbark a city has been made
With canvas tents and wooden sheds, going on for days
It’s got more pubs than Sydney town, Melbourne in a pinch
And women there so beautiful, to look is to lynch

Chorus

Well I dug deep in my eight-foot patch, hands aching in the cold
All the while I’m thinking back to what I have been told
The days turn into weeks; the weeks turn into months
What gold was here has disappeared, been pulled from the mud

And every day you dig your plot you have to pay a fee
It means digging holes won’t fill the bowls of a hungry family
Your children cry themselves to sleep, your wife withers away
While you dig your hole, pray for gold, long past the close of day

Chorus

credits

from Make a Dead Man Sing, released December 14, 2019

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about

The Button Collective Lismore, Australia

The Button Collective is a band that takes having fun very seriously. They combine old-time melodies with a high-energy style perfect for a hoedown. Songwriter Brodie Buttons has a definitively Australian style, writing about his life and experiences in a way that takes audiences all over the country with him. ... more

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