A Song for Frank

Lyrics:

CHORUS

Hi ho board the boat and away we go

Looking for adventure but whatever we find

We’re gonna have a hell of a time x2

Contract ticket number 1609 

For the Hobson’s Bay steamer on the Aberdeen line

Departed Southampton on the 10th of July 1929

His Daddy died when he was only three

Mam when he was ten, so now he’s headed across the sea

To find his fortune, a wife, a new life, maybe

BRIDGE

It’s a long way but I can’t stay

I’ve gotta get out while I can

It’s my fear I’ll be stuck here

Regretting that I never ran

CHORUS

Hi ho board the boat and away we go

Looking for adventure but whatever we find

We’re gonna have a hell of a time x2

Soldier QX20941

Short back and sides on a farm hand with a gun

Stamped PRISONER OF WAR when Singapore was overrun

Long march to Burma to get the railway done

Malaria, starvation and the jungle sun

One dead for every sleeper and they shoot ‘em when they run

BRIDGE

It’s a long way but I can’t stay

I’ve gotta get out while I can

It’s my fear I’ll be stuck here

Regretting that I never ran

CHORUS

Hi ho board the boat and away we go

Looking for adventure but whatever we find

We’re gonna have a hell of a time x2

A15 Row F, grave thirteen

A cousin buried in a country I have never seen

I’m pretty sure this was not Frank’s Australian dream

Never to stand again on English Soil

Headed where his Great Granddad had gone before

Never to stand again on English Soil

Another good man gone in another war