Brown Rice and Kerosene lyrics

On Brown Rice and Kerosene (1981), Caught In The Act (1983), The Very Best of Redgum (1987), Against The Grain (2004) and The Essential Redgum (2011)

Brown Rice and Kerosene (Michael Atkinson)

Julie did three years' trade school 
I served my apprenticeship time 
We made a modest living, but we were upstaged 
Because computers don't strike or need holidays 

Our parents ate bread and dripping 
Stole wood from the park to keep warm 
We're eating by the heater in threadbare jeans 
Brown rice and kerosene 

Life wasn't meant to be impossible 
Spare us the indignity 
Two cheers for progress, reason denied 
Whitewash and platitudes are all I can find 

Our parents ate bread and dripping 
Stole wood from the park to keep warm 
The cupboard's bare, all we can share's 
Brown rice and kerosene 

Sometimes I think about cocktails 
Update Molotov's recipe 
Forget the gravel ballast and stink of benzene 
Use rice and kerosene 
A major change of scene 
Like 1917 
With people before machines

Album version