The Man From Iron Bark (1996 Digital Remaster) - Slim Dusty
Written by:Slim Dusty/A.B. Banjo Paterson
It was the man from iron bark who struck the Sydney town
He wandered over street and park he wandered up and down
He loitered here he loitered there till he was like to drop
Until at last in sheer despair he sought a barber's shop
'Ere shave my beard and whiskers off I'll be a
Man of mark
I'll go and do the Sydney toff up home in Iron bark
The barber man was small and flash as barbers mostly are
He wore a strike your fancy sash he smoked a huge cigar
He was a humorist of note and keen at repartee
He laid the odds and kept a 'tote' whatever that may be
And when he saw our friend arrive he whispered here's a lark
Just watch me catch him all alive this man from Iron bark
There were some gilded youths that sat along the barber's wall
Their eyes were dull their heads were flat they had
No brains at all
To them the barber passed a wink his dexter eyelid shut
'I'll make this bloomin' yokel think his bloomin' throat is cut
And as he soaped and rubbed it in he made
A rude remark
'I s'pose the flats is pretty green up there in
Iron bark
A grunt was all reply he got he shaved the bushman's chin
Then made the water boiling hot and dipped the razor In
He raised his hand his brow was black he paused
Awhile to gloat
Then slashed the red hot razor back across his victim's throat
Upon the newly shaven skin it made a livid mark
No doubt it fairly took him in the man from
Iron bark
He fetched a wild up country yell might wake the
Dead to hear
And though his throat he knew full well was cut
From ear to ear
He struggled gamely to his feet and faced the murd'rous foe
'You've done for me you dog I'm beat one hit
Before I go
I only wish I had a knife you blessed murdering shark
But you'll remember all your life the man from iron bark
He lifted up his hairy paw with one tremendous clout
He landed on the barber's jaw and knocked the barber out
He set to work with tooth and nail he made
The place a wreck
He grabbed the nearest gilded youth and tried to break his neck
And all the while his throat he held to save
His vital spark
And murder bloody murder yelled the man from iron bark
A peeler man who heard the din came in to
See the show
He tried to run the bushman in but he refused
To go
And when at last the barber spoke and said 'twas
All in fun
Twas just a little harmless joke a trifle overdone
A joke he said by hell that's fine a
Lively sort of lark
I'd like to catch that murdering swine some night in
Iron bark
And now while round the shearing floor the list'ning shearers gape
He tells the story o'er and o'er and brags of his escape
'Them barber chaps what keeps a tote by hell I've had enough
One tried to cut my bloomin' throat but thank the
Lord it's tough'
And whether he's believed or no there's one thing to remark
That flowing beards are all the go back home in
Iron bark
Flowing beards are all the go back home in
Iron bark