| Lyrics: | The shearers were shearing at Bethlehem,
The men were all at the shed,
When a swagman asked
for shelter of them,
For his wife on an ass he led.
The rep. looked him over, his head on
one side,
Like an emu out in the scrub,
When the stranger said his wife was
denied
Accommodation at the pub.
The girl was pregnant. Ah, what was the use,
Us
blokes we could read the signs:
They'd kicked her out when she couldn't produce
Respectable
marriage lines.
Well, that was all right. Why, every tramp,
White, or yellow, or
black,
Was welcome to meals and a place to camp
In the shearing sheds outback.
The
presser he dragged out a butt of wool
To the cosiest nook in the shed;
"Here, grab
'youseselves' a pack a piece
"And make 'youseselves' a bed".
That night we awoke to a racket
and ramp
And wondered what could it be?
It sounded like an Aborigines' camp
The night of
corroboree.
You've heard the music the Beatles played?
Well, toss in a harp, and a
horn,
And you've got the racket those angels made
The night that Christ was born.
While
the angels raved on about "Peace on Earth"
Us shearers went back to bed
For stranger things
than a saviour's birth
Have happened in shearing sheds.
There were shepherds, of
course, allaround the place.
Now these blokes, they don't see much of life,
So they gathered
around and they lent a hand
To help out the stranger's wife.
Three Afghan camel men came
from afar.
They were wise, so said the boss,
They had travelled a course 'neath a shining
star
Just East of the Southern Cross.
They were generous coves, too, I'll be
bound.
They gave him some toys, and a bell, |
