NOW I'M EASY

"NOW I'M EASY"

- Eric Bogle

For nearly sixty years, I've been a Cockie

Of droughts and fires and floods I've lived through plenty

This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood

But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy

I married a fine girl when I was twenty

But she died in giving birth when she was thirty

No flying doctor then, just a gentle old black 'gin

But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy

She left me with two sons and a daughter

On a bone-dry farm whose soil cried out for water

So my care was rough and ready, but they grew up fine and steady

But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy

My daughter married young, and went her own way

My sons lie buried by the Burma Railway

So on this land I've made me home, I've carried on alone

But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy

City folks these days despise the Cockie

Say with subsidies and dole, we've had it easy

But there's no drought or starving stock on a sewered suburban block

But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy

For nearly sixty years, I've been a Cockie

Of droughts and fires and floods, I've lived through plenty

This country's dust and mud, have seen my tears and blood

But it's nearly over now, and now I'm easy

And now I'm easy

Notes:

Cockie: Australian small-scale family farmer

'Gin ("Jen"): an Australian aboriginal woman

(The term is nowadays considered to be derogatory)