BILLY OF TEA          from Australia
Tune: Bonnie Dundee / waltz,  Key: D


        D                        G            D
You can talk of your whiskey and talk of your beer,
            D              Bm           E          A
But there's something much nicer that's waiting us here.
   D                  G             D
It sits by the fire beneath the gum-tree.
        D             Em          A        D
There's nothing guite like it - a billy of tea.

   D                        A
So fill up your tumblers as high as you can,
    A                           D
And don't you dare tell me it's not the best plan.
        D            G             D          G
You can let all your beer and your spirits go free -
     D           Em          A        D
I'll stick to me darling old billy of tea.



Well I rise in the morning before it gets light,
And I go to the nosebag to see it's alright,
That the ants on the sugar no mortgage have got,
And straight away sling my old black billy-pot,

And while it is boiling the horses I seek,
And follow them down as far as the creek.
I take off their hobbles and let them run free,
Then haste to tuck into my billy of tea.



And at night when I camp, if the day has been warm,
I give to my horses their tucker of corn.
From the two in the pole to the one in the lead,
A billy for each holds a comfortable feed.

Then the fire I make and the water I get,
And corned beef and damper in order I set,
But I don't touch the grub, though so hungry I be -
I wait till it's ready - my billy of tea!