Sweeney

    It was 
D                              A
somewhere in September and the sun 
was goin' down,
                                         @A7$           @D$
    when I came in search of copy, 
  D
to a Darling River town.
                                                 @A$
     Come-And-Have-A-Drink we'll 
A
call it, 'tis a fitting name I 
think,
    and 'twas raining, for a wonder,
       A7              D
 up at Come-And-Have-A-Drink.

       G         
    Underneath 
                                  D
the pub verandah I was resting on a 
bunk,
    when a
 @E$                                         @A$      - @A7$
 stranger rose before me, and he 
    - A7
said that he was drunk.
        D                     
    He apologised for 
            A
speaking, there was no offence, he 
swore,
                                             @A7$            @D$
    but he somehow seemed to fancy 
  D
that he'd seen my face before.


[Verse 2]
        D             
    He agreed you 
                   A
can't remember all the chaps you 
chance to meet,
                                              @A7$              @D$
    and he said his name was 
  D
Sweeney, people lived in Sussex 
Street.
Continúa después del anuncio
                                        A
    He was camping in a stable, that
 he swore that he was right,
                                        @A7$           @D$
    only for the blanky horses 
  D
walkin' over him all night.

    He'd 
G                                                   D
apparently been fighting, for his 
face was black and blue,
           @E$                                                @A$ - @A7$
    and it looked as though the 
/b> - A7
horses had been treading on him too.
             D                    
    But an honest genial twinkle 
      A
in the eye that wasn't hurt
                                                 @A7$                 @D$
    seemed to hint of something 
  D
better, spite of drink and rags and 
dirt.


[Verse 3]
    He was 
@D$                                   @A$
born in Parramatta and he said with 
  A
humour grim,
                                              @A7$             @D$
    that he'd like to see the city, 
  D
'ere the liquor finished him.
                                            A
    But he couldn't raise the money,
 he was damned if he could think,
                                           @A7$           @D$
    what the government was doing 
  D
here, he offered me a drink.


[Verse 4]
       D                          
    I declined, 'twas self-denial,
       A
 and I lectured him on booze,
                                            @A7$              @D$
    using all the hackneyed 
  D
arguments that preachers mostly use.
   
                                              @A$
 Things I'd heard in temperance 
A
lectures, I was young and rather 
green,
                                    A7                D
    and I ended by referring to the 
man he might have been.

           G                                               D
    But he couldn't stay to argue, 
for his beer was nearly gone,
           E             
    he was glad, he said,
 to meet me, and he'd see me later
 A     - A7
 on.
    But he 
@D$                                   @A$
guessed he'd have to go and get his 
  A
bottle filled again,
    and he gave a lurch and vanished
        A7               D
 in the darkness and the rain.
    And of 
D                             A
afternoons in cities, when the rain 
is on the land,
    visions come to me of Sweeney 
         A7            D     G   D
with his bottle in his hand.