BACK TO BUSKING ON OL’ BOURKE STREET

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Worked up the valley in the strawberry fields

Bought a Japanese guitar, got a good deal

Learned a few chords…E, D, and A

Pretty soon I was ready to play

With a Head full of dreams with a rock ’n’ roll beat

I startin’ off a’ busking   down on ol’ Bourke Street

 

Got a few gigs in the local bars

And auditioned with a few rising stars

Pretty soon I was workin’ nearly every night

things seemed to be going just right

But I was playing for peanuts n taking a back seat

So I kept on busking  down on old Bourke Street

 

I cut a record for the ABC

They said they could do something with me

I got a manager and played that game

signed  a contract where I took all the blame

They said  I’d have to spruce up my image and look real neat

And stop that busking down on ol’ Bourke Street

 

The scene  went  wild and things got weird

I grew my hair but just couldn’t grow a beard

My record went sailing  up the charts

And I even starting breaking a few teenage hearts

I was too busy with the old meet and greet

And forgot all about busking down on ol’ Bourke Street

 

Bright lights   ‘n interviews parties ‘n planes

Every country town and city looked just the same

I was earning big time but you know what’s funny

Somebody else was getting all the money

I started poppin’ little white pills to stop draggin’ my feet

Sometimes I’d dream  that I was busking  backdown on old Bourke st

 

What’s that I heard you say? …did I make it in the USA?

They took me over there and told me what to do and how to play

Sang my songs and played real loud

All I got was a bag of dope and a rent-a- crowd

Fixed me up with a record deal, everything seemed a little unreal

I was a high as a kite in the Hollywood heat

So far from my beginnings down on ‘ol Bourke Street

 

After years of sleepin’ in the car and touring  highways that never  end

In the high places I finally found a few friends

When Bobby Dylan said he liked the way I played

I thought I really had it made

All the stars with guitars I did meet

I never thought  of my friends down  ol’ Bourke Street

 

They say  that what goes up must come down

My bubble burst and came crashing down to the ground

The company execs   said I was out of date

And that for my kind of music it was far too late

Flew across the Pacific  26 hours in an economy seat

It’s a long way back  from your  broken dreams  to busking  down on old Bourke Street

 

Now I’m back to busking on old Bourke street

Hear the rattle of the coins falling at my feet

(People passing by …I hear them say

Man the country boy he really can play)

They don’t want to know my story they prefer to believe what they read

Bright lights and fairy tales we all must need

At the end of the day …we’ve all  got to eat

So You’ll find me busking down on Old Bourke Street