H.M.A.S. Australia lyricsOn If You Don't Fight You Lose (1978), Rebel Chorus (1982) and The Essential Redgum (2011)
HMAS Australia (John Schumann) Here I am again in the ship’s post office I want to send a telegram Send it to the captain Asking where the hell I am I’ve been on this luxury cruise For twenty-five years or more And I’ve just begun to wonder Where we’re headed for And the band keeps playing American songs from 1973 We’re getting wise to the officer’s lies That we’ve even got a country You say we’re independent And we’ve got the right to choose Well we’re sick of doing nothing We’d like some work to do The swimming pools, the cocktail parties You keep us plied with drink But when we cruised through South East Asia It made us stop and think We never take on passengers Though we seem to have lots of room And I can’t escape the feeling, captain That this is a floating tomb Some of us have calculated That we must be short of oil Some mentioned fission And blood began to boil The passengers are restless, captain This is how they feel Angry at how it came to be you Who sits behind the wheel And the band keeps playing the Imperial Waltz From far across the sea It’s not a long way from discontent To open mutiny You say we’re independent And we’ve got the right to choose Well we’re sick of being passengers We’ve got some work to do |
1978 "If You Don't Fight You Lose" Album Version
|