Thank you. Thank you very much indeed, everyone. Great to be in Charters Towers once again.
Well, you know, some of the old-time country halls have got a lot of character, you know.
And a lot of these places have lots of memories. So I wrote a song about this last year,
simply called Old-Time Country Halls. Here we go.
As I pick up my guitar to sing another song
I hear the waltz of this old hall, you've done this thing too long
You know you've been around for years, I guess you've shown us all
I talk like this when I reminisce with an old-time country hall
I joined a tent show as a kid with a dream and an old guitar
De Silva's all-star cavalcade and Dandy was the star
He taught me lots about the game, today I understand
He was a great magician, Dandy was a fine old man
I'm a howlin' can-can brewer, I'm an old-time dinosaur
Hey, let me sing with a rock this ring in an old-time country hall, that's right
I've been on the road for thirty years, but Dandy could double that
And you'll find his faded poster still in some halls way out back
I like to go backstage and dream sometimes and just recall
The shows I've had, the good and bad shared with these country halls
Take the old town hall, Kalgoorlie, with its old-time charm and grace
And you multi-million complexes never will replace
All glass and steel and concrete, some large and some too small
So let me sing with a rock this ring in an old-time country hall
Here we go now, country business
We showed last night in the School of Arts and the town was real run-down
And you'll find so many towns like that today as you move around
Yeah, the wind of change is blowin' up such an economic load
The old-time shows we used to know will soon be off the road
I'm an old-time kangaroo now, I'm an old-time dinosaur
Hey, let me sing with a rock this ring in an old-time country hall
In an old-time country hall
In an old-time country hall