town with no cheer

well

it's hotter than blazes

and all the long faces

there'll be no oasis for a dry local grazier

there'll be no refreshment for a thirsty jackaroo

from melbourne to adelaide on the overlander

with newfangled buffet cars and faster locomotives

the train stopped in serviceton less and less often

no

there's nothing sadder than a town with no cheer

vic rail decided the canteen was no longer necessary there

no spirits

no bilgewater

and eighty dry locals

and the high noon sun beats a hundred and four

there's a hummingbird trapped in a closed down shoe store

this tiny victorian rhubarb kept the waterin' hole open for sixty-five years

now it's boilin' in a miserable march twenty-first

wrapped the hills in a blanket of paterson's curse

the train smokes down the xylophone

there'll be no stoppin' here

all you can be is thirsty in a town with no cheer

no bourbon

no branchwater

though the townspeople here fought her vic rail decree tooth and nail

now it's boilin' in a miserable march twenty-first

wrapped the hills in a blanket of paterson's curse

the train smokes down the xylophone

there'll be no stoppin' here

all you can be is thirsty in a town with no cheer