Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky’s Repertoire

(Teachers – ask if there’s something you want that isn’t here, as there’s lots more to be drawn on.)

INDIGENOUS ISSUES Content
Mermaid Ngadiji (Wositzky/Hargreaves) Song about Yanyuwa women’s Dreaming story from NT
Uluru (Wositzky/Hargreaves) Song about 1985 handback of Uluru to tradional owners
Welcome Wominjika (Wositzky) A thank you song to Indigenous Australians
Ab Gub/ Wassa Matta You? (Trad) Torres Strait dance song
Annie (Clapton/Lane/Lambert/Bradley) Rock legends translated into Yanyuwa
Drover’s Boy (Ted Egan) Song about sexual relations between white men and black women
Jabin Jabin (Trad) Traditional Waka Waka song from Qld
Ka Wome (Trad) Island song from the Torres Strait
Khuliliya (Land Rights song) (Bill Davis) Song in Pitjantjara, from the Ernaballa Choir
Land of Broken Glass (Bill Davis) A lament about grog destroying families
Gurindji Blues (Ted Egan) Song from the 1966 Gurdindji Walk Off, NT.
Bunjil and Waa (Trad) Re-working of Jarra Dreaming story from central Victoria
Nama Wells (Bill Harney) Story about water and a white man who died
Numul the Fire (Bozic/Marshall) Wagait (NT) Dreaming tale, with message of cultural appropriation
Kangaroo Tails (ABC radio/Wositzky) Bizzare outback happening, with blacks, police and kanga tails
COLONISATION/ CONVICTS
Jim Jones of Botany Bay (Trad) Our best convict song
Botany Bay (Trad) English broadside about transportation
Shores of Botany Bay (Trad) Song of Irish immigration
1850’s GOLD RUSH
Gold in the Heart (Wositzky) 1850’s gold rush, with philisophical musings.
Swag Upon My Shoulder (Trad) Song of a fortunate digger – 1850’s gold rush.
Maryborough Miner (Trad) Song of a rough, lawless gold digger
Good Time a Coming (Charles Mackay) Immigrant’s song of hope in a new land
Eureka (John Romeril) Poem about how gold panicked the rich.
19th CENTURY BUSH LIFE – PASTORAL
Another Fall of Rain (John Shaw Neilson) Song about the annual round of a shearer’s working life.
Billy of Tea (Trad) Gentle song about the delights of travelling in the bush.
Four Little Johnnie Cakes (Trad) A swaggie sings of contentment in the bush
Jog Along Till Shearing (Trad) The rowdy, drinking siong of a shearer’s spree
On the Wallaby (Henry Lawson) Australia’s best swagman song
The Lachlan Tigers (Trad) Shearing song about pride in work
The Springtime Brings on the Shearing (Trad) Sweet bush ballad to the travelling life.
Waltzing Matilda (Banjo Patterson) Our national song
Holy Dan (Trad) Story of a pious bullocky who fell from grace
How McDougall Topped The Score (Thomas Spencer) Wonderful country cricket tale, with dog as main character.
Mickety Mulga Jim (Trad) A short one about a foolish man – if he’s telling the truth
The Man from Ironbark (Banjo Patterson) Who’s smarter – country of city kids?
The Smiths (Dryblower Murphy) The characters in the WA gold rush
The Swagless Swaggie (E. Harrington) Tale of how a swaggie conned the whole pub.
Ballad of 1891 (D. Bridges & H. Palmer) Powerful song about the 1891 shearer’s strike in Queensland
Khala Khala (Trad) Afghan cameleer song from Austrlian outback
19th CENTURY LIFE – BUSHRANGERS
Streets of Forbes (Trad) Song of bushranger Ben Hall, and police murder
The Wooloomooloo Lair (Trad) Larrikin anthem from the Rocks area of Sydney.
Poor Ned Kelly (Smiling Billy Blinkhorn) A 1930’s look back at Ned.
Stringybark Creek (Trad) The song of Ned Kelly killing three policemen.
CITY & COUNTRY
The Play (CJ Dennis) A larrikin’s re-working of Romeo and Juliet.
The Man from Ironbark (Banjo Patterson) Who’s smarter – country of city kids?
WORLD WAR ONE
Bill Harney’s War (WE Bill Harney) Classic war story, recorded by ABC in 1958.
Band Played Waltzing Matilda (E. Bogle) Classic song of Gallipoli
A Letter to the Front (CJ Dennis) Poem from the man at the front.
Human Landscapes (Nazim Hikmet) Turkish poem of soldier at the front
20th CENTURY
Anti Fouling Roll (Bill Berry) Blues from the waterfront
Sayonara Nakamura (Ted Egan) Song of Japanese pearl diver at broome, WA.
Jim Pike (N.Gardiner) Song about Phar Lap’s jockey, Jim Pike.
The Ballad of Birdsville Drover (G. Jenkin) Tall tale about Donald Campbell and world land speed record.
CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN LIFE
Ahmet’s Letter (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Song from true life letters of a boy in Baxter Detention Centre
Fifteen Million People (Don Henderson) Satire on how everyone knows everyone in a small place
Brave Beneath the Bar (Wositzky/Hargreaves) Song about how a town cut down it’s biggest tree for income
Chain Saw Song (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Not too politically correct satire on logging
Midoriya (Wositzky/Hargreaves) An Australian lost in Japan
Sack the Jack (Wositzky/McManus) Pogues’ish dig at Queen as head of Australian government
Singing for You (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Lament for friend who died from alcohol, and why.
Hey Rain (Bill Scott) Classic anthem of the wet season in far Nth Queensland
The Singing Land (Dougie McLean) Spiritual ode to the Australian landscape
Apocalypse Café (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Story of how to make a fortune and learn about life at Coober Pedy
Can I have Your Body? (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Yarn about an outrageous Darwin funeral
God’s own Country (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) How Jan talked his way into Kerry Packer’s house – really!
Kangaroo Tails (ABC radio/Wositzky) Bizzare outback happening, with blacks, police and kanga tails
Man’s Best Friend (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Another bizzare outback mystery tale
Pomegranite Time (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Castlemaine version of Persephone myth.
Taipans (Kenneth Cook) Scarcely believable outback yarn concerning snakes on planes
What’s in a Name? (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Story of Jan Wositzky’s name
Postcard from Hell in October (A. McMillan) Powerful poem about hazards of a Darwin build up season
Life Cycle (Bruce Dawe) Poem about Victoria’s love of football
The Practical Smoker (Don Henderson) Poem on how to pull an industrial relations coup on the building site
Ballad  the Birdsville Drover (G.Jenkin) Outrageous story of Donal Campbell’s World Speed record.
POLITICS
Stump Speech (Trad/Wositzky) Satire on politicians speeches.
Service Song (Harry Robertson) Satire on politicians’ promises to ‘serve’ us
CONSERVATION ISSUES
Chain Saw Song (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Not too politically correct satire on logging
Pomegranite Time (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Castlemaine version of Persephone myth.
Brave Beneath the Bar (Wositzky/Hargreaves) Song about how a town cut down it’s biggest tree for income
NATIONAL IDENTITY
The Singing Land (Dougie McLean) Spiritual ode to the Australian landscape
Sack the Jack (Wositzky/McManus) Pogues’ish dig at Queen as head of Australian government
Ahmet’s Letter (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Song from true life letters of a boy in Baxter Detention Centre
THE OUTBACK
The Singing Land (Dougie McLean) Spiritual ode to the Australian landscape
Taipans (Kenneth Cook) Scarcely believable outback yarn concerning snakes on planes
God’s own Country (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) How Jan talked his way into Kerry Packer’s house – really!
Kangaroo Tails (ABC radio/Wositzky) Bizzare outback happening, with blacks, police and kanga tails
Man’s Best Friend (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Another bizzare outback mystery tale
The Singing Land (Dougie McLean) Spiritual ode to the Australian landscape
Apocalypse Café (Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky) Story of how to make a fortune and learn about life at Coober Pedy
Ballad  the Birdsville Drover (G.Jenkin) Outrageous story of Donal Campbell’s World Speed record.