Eric Bogle © 1980 Banksiaman Press/Larrikin Records
Eric Bogle is said to have said (sounds like the Internet, eh?) that he got talking with a cocky in a bar one night, who sketched out this working-life's story over the course of a few hours. And what a beautiful job Eric did of sketching it for us. A cocky (or cockie) is usually a poor, small farmer.
Gordon – Spanish guitar
It's nearly sixty years I've been a Cocky
Of drought and fire and flood I've lived through plenty
This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood
But it's nearly over now, and I'm easy
I married a fine girl when I was twenty
She died in giving birth when she was thirty
No flying doctor then, just a gentle old black gin
But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy
She left me with two sons and a daughter
And a bone-dry farm whose soil cried out for water
So my care was rough and ready, but they grew up fine and steady
It's nearly over now, and now I'm easy
My daughter married young and went her own way
My sons lie buried by the Burma Railway
So on this land I've made my own, I've carried on alone
But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy
City folk these days despise the Cocky
They say with subsidies and all we've had it easy
But there's no drought or dying stock on a sewered suburban lot
But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy
Now I'm Easy is recorded on the album Dear To Our Island