Union Songs
Across the Western Suburbs
A song by Seamus Gill and Denis Kevans©Seamus Gill and Denis Kevans 1973
Tune: Across the Western Plains(Bill Berry)
- [play]
(Mick Fowler)Oh me name it is Fred, in Sydney born and bred
And the inner city used to be my home, boys
But it's caused me heart to grieve for I've had to take me leave
Now across the Western Suburbs I must roam, boys
Chorus
Under concrete and glass, Sydney's disappearing fast
It's all gone for profit and for plunder
Though we really want to stay they keep driving us away
Now across the Western Suburbs we must wander
Where is me house, me little terrace house
It's all gone for profit and for plunder
For the wreckers of the town just came up and knocked it down
Now across the Western Suburbs we must wander
Before I even knew it, we were shifted to Mt. Druitt
And the planners never gave me any say, boys
Now it really makes me weep I am just at home to sleep
For it takes me hours to get to work each day, boys
What's happened to the pub, our little local pub
Where we used to have a drink when we were dry, boys
Now we can't get in the door for there's carpet on the floor
And you won't be served a beer without a tie, boys
Now I'm living in a box in the west suburban blocks
And the place is nearly driving me to tears, boys
Poorly planned and badly built and it's mortgaged to the hilt
But they say it will be mine in forty years, boys
Now before the city's wrecked these developers must be checked
For it's plain to see they do not give a bugger
And we soon will see the day if these bandits have their way
We will all be driven out past Wagga Wagga
Notes
Denis Kevans is a well known poet and songwriter of the labour movement and Seamus Gill was an organiser for the BLF (Builders Labourers Federation) of NSW
Many thanks to Bill Berry for permision to use his version on the Union Songs collection
The song is also known as Concrete and Glass and was recorded under that name by Mick Fowler and his jazz band called Green Ban'd in 1979.
First published in Australia Tradition, December, 1973
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union songs..........a selection by mark gregory