Land Of The Getaway CD, MP3 Album, Individual songs, Sheet Music Available

Land of the Getaway

Words and Music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 Universal Music (Aust)

Sharlene and her husband Craig
Been 6 months out of Mackay
Livin’ like gypsies in a Cassa Villa pop top
Takin’ one day at a time

Hooked up with Pete from Revesby
Who gave the teachin’ game away
Joined the inland wanderers
Now he’s pickin’ grapes in the MIA

No passports
No orders
No bosses
No borders

CHORUS
They’re livin’ in the land of the getaway
No tellin’ where the road will end
They’re livin’ in the land of the getaway
And just around the bend is a brand new day
In the land of the getaway

You’ve got Gemma with her life in a her backpack
Chucked in her law degree
She’s done chipping Goondoowindi cotton
She’s gonna hitch up the Territory

White tribes in the red dirt camp grounds
playin’ cricket as the sun goes down
a beer and a chuckle
as they wonder what their mates
in the city are doing now


No peak hour
No hurry
No rat race
No worries...

CHORUS

BRIDGE

No deadlines
No hum drum
A full tank of freedom

CHORUS

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Fishing Fraser Island

Words and Music by Colin Buchanan © 2007 Universal Music (Aust)

Baz pulled out of Noosa,
Tinnie on top of the cruiser.
Beer and esky, rods and tent.
He hit the barge and off he went.
Baz is in his element,
Fishin' Fraser Island.

CHORUS
And he's strapped the rods across the bonnet,
There's a fish with his name on it,
String a tarp and pitch the old marquee.
He's campin' in a sandy dream,
And he's Fishin' Fraser Island.

He pulled her up past Eulrong,
And it didn't take old Bazza long.
He chucked her in and the line went tight,
The mongrel put up quite a fight.
You're in for a good feed every night,
When you're Fishing Fraser Island.

CHORUS

There's a tournament run every year,
And all the diehards head up here.
Flathead, Whiting, Bream, Wahu.
There's prizes and it's quite a doo.
And they're never short of hooligan soup,
When they're Fishing Fraser Island.

CHORUS

Yeah, Fishing Fraser Island.

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Out On The Wallaby

Words and Music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 Universal Music (Aust)

Don’t know when the travellin bug bit GT
Something he read or something about turning 40
But next thing Thommo’s got 4 x 4
With a second-hand satellite phone
Bull bar, snorkel, fridge and winch
And they’ve sold the family home
And they’re headin….

CHORUS
Out on the wallaby
Any old where
Any old how
Out where they wanna be
Takin’ the long way round
One little family
Out on the wallaby now

First little fun was a 4 week Kimberley fly-in
They hire a rig and dipped their toe in a bit of camping
Well they shredded the spares, got stranded in the desert
But the trials turned to yarns
And by the time they got the photos back
They were planning a Flinders fun
To get back…

CHORUS

So in late July they’re rollin out on the big one
Makin their way to the call of the red horizon
And I can see GT by a Kimberley River Stealing a sunset kiss
And saying to Anne “Well you couldn’t plan it any better than this!”
Makin’ out….

CHORUS X 2

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Top End Man

Words and Music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 Universal Music (Aust)

He drove a HJ wagon and the dusty back window
Somebody had written “Wash me!”
He had a fish-out-of-water, bushie-in-the-city
Sort of look when he came across me
Something in the drawl
As he came charging through the gate
He said “I’m Jim and I’m not from round here, mate!”

CHORUS
You could tell by the leathery tan
You could tell by the way the shook a hand
No big worries
No big plans
Oh – you can tell
A top-end man

He had a world-class collection of roadhouse cassettes
99% Slim Dusty
He had a stack of tats
And a gut to die for
Bigger than a Darwin stubbie
Just about as friendly as the day is long
A brickie’s smile and rubber thongs…

CHORUS

BRIDGE
He’s gone Katherine, Camoweal, Isa, Cunnamulla, Bourke
Hook down to Sydney buy a new set of wheels
And then head back north to work…
He said, “Catch you later”
I said “Goodbye Jim!”
I thought, “Darwin’s full of blokes like him!”
(..and some girls as well)

CHORUS

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Doo Wah Didjeri

Words and Music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 Universal Music (Aust)

Way out there on the Mundi Plains
You’ll hear that sound again & again
It goes….

CHORUS
Doo wah didjeri doo now
Doo wah didjeri doo

Way up there on the tip of the Cape
Hear the sound the crocodile make
(They go…)

CHORUS

BRIDGE
Doo wah didjeri(Doo wah didjeri)
Doo wah didjeri(Doo wah didjeri)

CHORUS

All the cousins in the Kimberley playin’ along by the boab trees
(They go…)

CHORUS
Ancient misty mountain tunebongong dance, silver moon

CHORUS

BRIDGE

CHORUS

Sunset twilight Uluru
Clapstick boomerang didjeridoo
(They go…)

CHORUS

It’s our didj, It’s our song
White fella, black fella sing along

CHORUS

BRIDGE

Doo wah didjeri(Doo wah didjeri)
Doo wah didjeri(Doo wah didjeri)…

CHORUS

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The Bishop of Burrill

Words & Music Colin Buchanan © 2001 Universal Music (Aust.)

He’s going up into the mountains
Going up into the hills
Going to saddle up the chestnut mare
And let her take him where she will

Goin’ to catch himself a fish or two
Going to gather up some wood
Going to sit beneath the messmates wondering
How he ever got it so good

CHORUS
Somewhere out past Yadboro
Out behind Termeil
In his ironbark cathedral
Rides the Bishop of Burrill
Out past Yadboro
The bush behind Termeil
Is ringing with the praises
Of the Bishop of Burrill

Going do a lot of thinking
Going take a bit of space
Maybe let a bit of angry weather
Put him in his place

On a swag under the moonlight
By the flicker of a fire
He going marvel at the majesty
Of the One who names the stars
(and who knows that ...)

CHORUS

And on top of Kaliana
He’s going to sing a simple prayer
For the everlasting mercy
Of the God who put him there
And who holds him in his care

CHORUS

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Doo Wah Didjeri

Words & Music Colin Buchanan © 2001 Universal Music (Aust.)

I went to the doctor’s cos I wasn’t feeling right
Off my food and out of sorts, not sleeping well at night
He tapped and poked and prodded
Ran a test or two
Sat me down, said “Son I think I know what’s wrong with you”
See, what you need to do is…

CHORUS
Get yourself to Tully
And get yourself there fast
If you do not get to Tully
Well I’m not sure you will last
Nothing wrong with Innisfall
Ingham’s OK too
But you need to get to Tully
I would if I were you

I said your treatment is unorthodox
I’m probably just run down
Are you serious ‘bout sending me to some
Two horse sugar town?
He said “Son, you wash your mouth out
I’m trying to get you right
A bit of time in Tully could be
Enough to save your life
And time for you is tight – you better…

CHORUS

Well maybe it was the steamy days
Or the soaking tropical rain
Or the hills of ripe bananas
Or the fields of sugar cane
But the moment I hit Tully
I became a brand new man
My advise to you is that you hatch yourself a plan
Any way you can – you got to…

CHORUS
Get yourself to Tully
And get yourself there fast
If you do not get to Tully
Well I’m not sure you will last
Nothing wrong with Innisfall
Ingham’s OK too
But you need to get to Tully
You’ve go to
Get yourself to Tully
And get yourself there fast
If you do not get to Tully
Well I’m not sure you will last
Nothing wrong with Innisfall
Ingham’s OK too
But you need to get to Tully
Yeah, hook on up to Tully
Get yourself to Tully
I would if I were you

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House #163

Words and music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 UNIVERSAL MUSIC (AUST.)

House number 163
33 steps to the top of Australia
Gloria and Ken were younger back when
They lived in old 163

Like folks from all over the world
The were bundled together in old Cabramurra
It was in 51
They prayed for a son
In old number 163

Chorus
They were the women’s women
They were the men among men
They were taming the rolling Snowy
As the blizzards came rolling in
Danger, adventure
Beauty and wonder
She closes her eyes and can see
The snow and the glow
Of house number 163

And we wept for that little one
She carried within her
Cold as the winter
Held to her breast
And then laid to rest
In front of old 163

Chorus

And every year her daffodils
And daisies bloom again
Dancing alpine monuments
To Gloria and Ken
And that little life the Snowy took from them

Danger, adventure
Beauty and wonder
She closes her eyes and can see
The snow and the glow
And the little one she never got to know in 163

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The Smiling Man

Words and music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 UNIVERSAL MUSIC (AUST.)

Busy people don’t know what to do
With the smiling man
He’s at the station as they scurry on through
Past the smiling man
He looks in their eyes
And says hello
They don’t look back
No on they go
He’s not like them you know
Cos he’s the smiling man

CHORUS
(He just…)
Turns his mouth up at the corner
Gets a sparkle in his eyes
So what you’re seeing on the outside
Is just a glimpse of what is going on inside
The smiling man

He was born and raised on Bland Parade
The smiling man
His Daddy worked and his Mummy prayed
That smiling man
And at the end of the street he’s climbed the tree
And from the top branch he could see
Clear into eternity
That smiling man (and he’d just…)

CHORUS

He went to the big brick school
That smiling man
He did the drill and he kept the rules
The smiling man
They taught him history and geography
And he copied it all down carefully
But deep down all he really wanted to be
Was a smiling man (so he could…)

CHORUS

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Kick The Ball Around

Words and music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 UNIVERSAL MUSIC (AUST.)

Riley George was nearly 3
But he loved that soccer field
He’d run along the sideline
While the big boys played for real
But that little guy had urges
That he could not control
So he crossed that line the wind behind
And scored the winning goal….

CHORUS
You might’ve bout your ticket
Got the best seat in the ground
But it’s much more fun to be the one
Who kicks the ball around
You might lose your seat on the sideline
Might be in for a little pain
But I’d sooner wheeze and skin my knees
Than never play the game …

Scotty Ken was a buildin’ man
But he dreamed of driving trains
A love of coal & diesel
Was just chugging through his veins
So he sneaked about the drivers cab
Of the 38-0-1
The whistle blew and off it flew
As Scotty had some fun…

Emily Margaret took the plunge
And the training wheels were gone
But could she ever ride her bike
Without those trainers on?
Well the day she wobbled on her way
and overcame her fear
The joy of riding high was worth
every bump and scrape and tear

CHORUS

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I Am The Road

Words and music by Colin Buchanan © 2001 UNIVERSAL MUSIC (AUST.)

I have been your long companion
You have never been alone
I was there for every footstep
For I am the road

It was I who made you restless
For horizon open sky
Beckon over hill and mountain
For the road am I

CHORUS 1
I am red dirt, I am stone
I am gravel, I am sand
I am always waiting for you
Just around the bend

I have made you friends forever
Comrades who can share the load
I see every weary drifter
For I am the road

CHORUS 2
I am hard and I am tender
I am lonely I am free
Every mile you’ll ever travel
You will share with me

Bridge
And I’m calling, calling
And I’m calling, calling

I will be your long companion
You will never be alone
I’ll be there for every footstep
For I am the road

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