Words
and Music: Judy Small
Sue Ribado taught me this song of a woman so busy surviving she never had a moment to question the difficult life she chose as the wife of a cocky (or cockatoo) farmer. (AMM)
My father was a cocky as
his father was before him
And I married me a cocky
nearly fifty years ago
And I've lived here on
this station
and I've seen the seasons
changing
From the drought round to
the flooding
From the lambing to the
wool
Chorus:
And there've been times when I wonder
if it all was worth the doing
And there've been times when I thought
this was the finest place there is
For though the life is never easy and
the hours are long and heavy
I'm quite contented nowadays to have
joined my life to his
Together through the
thirties
while others' lives were
broken
We worked from dawn to
twilight
to hold on to what was
ours
And at night we'd sit
exhausted
and I'd stroke his dusty
forehead
With him too tired to talk
to me
and me to tired to care
Chorus
Instrumental
Then the children came
unbidden
bringing laughter to the
homestead
And I thank the lord my
sons were young
too young for battle then
And I counted myself lucky
to lose no one
close to family
Though my neighbors lost
their only son
sold up and moved to town
Chorus
And the children have
grown and
left me for careers in
town and city
And I'm proud of them but
sadly
for none chose station
life
And now I smile to hear
them talking
'bout the hard slog in the
office
For when I think of
working hard
I see a cocky and his wife
Chorus
From the Lambing to the Wool is recorded on the
album Harbors
of Home