Songs - R.B Lonetree

Song Lyrics

Song Descriptions

American Girl (Bishoff/Lonetree) (Paint the Pony, 2006, © Medicine Road Music)

Lonetree explains the inspiration behind ‘American Girl’ thus;

“I wrote this song as an emotional response to an astounding historical photo of a young Pima woman I saw in the old Smithsonian collection of Native American peoples taken by Edward Sheriff Curtis around 1900. Thus the song’s story is a fantasy about a woman I never met; a fantasy from the mind of an Australian somewhat unfamiliar with the North American continent, but familiar enough with it from my brief travels hitch-hiking through the USA to be enraptured by the landscape and by the spirit of the land, its history and native cultures. I guess the story is not complete fantasy though. While I did not discover the beauty of the North American land under the wise counsel of one of its daughters, I did spend a wonderful week with a Californian Native American woman called Corrina who I met travelling further south on the Bolivian Alti-Plano. So I was not beneath the cottonwoods, gazing into the eyes of my American girl at all, but I was amidst the tall grasses that surround the ancient ruins of Tiahuanaco near the shores of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia with Corrina. She was profoundly and beautifully possessed of the spirit of the land that birthed and grew her, and I learned much about the land she came from through getting to know her and spending that great time with her. I hope she is well. I will not forget her, nor the wisdom she shared with me during that time in Bolivia. I love the Americas, north and south, their myriad indigenous peoples and cultures, and this song pays homage to that love and respect. The land contained within the modern national borders of the USA is particularly stunning, from the Great Plains that seem to stretch away forever, to the mighty rivers, the Redwoods of California, the mountains and the music that spills from them, the deserts of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, the mesas and stacks, the great canyons, the animals; the bison, Raccoon, bear, antelope, bob-cat, all so different to the critters I know here in Australia… although, ironically, there is a Bison farm not far from where I live here in Northern New South Wales Australia”.

Lorelei (Bishoff/Lonetree) (Paint the Pony, 2006, © Medicine Road Music)

This composition was first recorded at Woodford Queensland in 2006. It is a haunting murder ballad about the well known tale of the siren on the river Rhine in Deutchland who lures sailors to their death. This duet features the singing of Amanda Roberts as the siren.

Let Her (Fairley/Lonetree) (The Somnambulist, 2008, © Medicine Road Music)

‘Let Her’ is a tribute to the archetypal goddess and the feminine divine in all her forms; Gaia, Athene, Diana of the Wood, Demeter, Pacha Mama, etc. The rough-cut version of the song that appears on The Somnambulist was recorded by Dave Highet at Bushtrax Studios in Nimbin NSW during the Somnambulist sessions.

Such Is Life (Bishoff/Lonetree) (Paint the Pony, 2007, © Medicine Road Music)

This celebration of the Australian folk hero Ned Kelly is one of two Lonetree songs about this iconic bush-ranger. The song tells the story of the Kelly Gang’s outlaw days, culminating in the siege of Glenrowan at which all four members of the gang were killed or captured by troopers.

The Moon In the Water (Lonetree) (Paint the Pony, 2007, © Medicine Road Music)

The fourth track on the long play album ‘Paint the Pony’ was recorded and engineered by Pix Vane-Mason at his farm-house studio near Woodford Queensland. The song’s lyrics exemplify the author’s ongoing artistic exploration of Zen truth and wisdom, and examine familiar themes in Zen practice concerning the illusory nature of sensate experience and the futility of investing in the world of form. Whist the master counsels temperance – neither grasping nor pushing away – the fool keeps reaching out for the moon in the water. With candid testimony, the author confesses his ongoing foolery and seeks forgiveness from his lover for his fledgling wings. This folk track features some fine mandolin playing from legendary sunshine coast performer Steve Cook.

Till I Heard the Laughter (Fairley/Lonetree) (Tanglefoot, 2008, © Medicine Road Music)

This song was originally recorded for the album Tanglefoot and is the album’s closing track. The song’s musical qualities exemplify Michael Fairley’s wonderful finger style guitar method. Rob’s lyrics in the song embody a zen reflection on being and nothingness. Cye Wood’s violin lend haunting textures.

Let the Rivers Run (Bishoff/Lonetree) (All Fools Day, 2004, © Medicine Road Music)

This collaboration was first recorded during the All Fools Day Sessions at Peregian Beach Queensland. It was recorded by Mark ‘Sparky’ Paltridge. The song is a plaintive plea to “live and let live”.

Not the Singer But the Song (Bruce/Bishoff) (Paint the Pony, 2007, © Medicine Road Music)

This song revisits familiar Lonetree lyrical themes of being and nothingness, time and timelessness, and the impermanence of all “things”. It was first recorded at the studios of Paul “Pix” Vane-Mason at his farm-house near Woodford in South-east Queensland during the Paint the Pony sessions and is the album’s opening track. The album version features the mandolin of Steve Cook.

A Pony For Sad-eyed Maria (Bruce/Bishoff) (Paint the Pony, 2007, © Medicine Road Music)

This song is a tribute to the late famous Mazatec shamaness Maria Sabina of Oaxaca Mexico who lived and worked as a folk healer in the Sierra Maestra Mountains in the south of the country. Her mushroom veladas (all night shamanic ceremonies) came to the attention of Gordon Wasson and a photographer for Time Life Magazine who accompanied Wasson on his ethnographic field trip of discovery. From his examination of pre-colombian ceramic artefacts, Wasson suspected that a mushroom cult once existed in meso-America and probably still prevailed covertly. His suspicions were of course correct. The Time Life Photographer coined the term ‘magic mushrooms’. This term is now in popular usage, and, thanks to Maria Sabina, the ancient mushroom cults and the wisdom they contain have not been lost to the world. People the world over use psychoactive mushrooms in healing and extra-ritual contexts nowadays, all thanks to the revelations of Maria Sabina and the work of R. Gordon Wasson in disseminating her wisdom and magico-religious cultural knowledge. The article about Maria Sabina and the persisting mushroom cult of which she was a part became the subject of an article for Time Magazine. The hippy generation picked up on it and the gringo trail came to include the village of Juatla de Jimenez in Oaxaca and the rest is history.

The Gift (Fairley/Lonetree) (Tanglefoot, 2008,© Medicine Road Music)

The Gift tells the story of an Andalusian cross named Jahil. The song was written for Ulrike kraft, Lonetree’s life partner. and was first recorded during the Tanglefoot sessions in Nimbin NSW Australia in 2008.

Old Man Featherfoot (Lonetree) (The Somnambulist, 2008 © Medicine Road Music)

The Somnambulist is bookended by two murder ballads about sorcerers. The final track on the album, ‘Old Man Featherfoot’, tells the tale of a Kadaitcha man. In the Aboriginal nations of Australia, and in anthropological, ethnographic and other multi-disciplinary scholarship on shamanism, they are also variously referred to as ‘koradji’, ‘Glass-man’, ‘Wind-Rider’, ‘Puri-Puri Man’ ‘Clever Man’, ‘Witch’ ‘Witch-doctor’ or Feather-foot’.

The title ‘Feather-foot’, as described in the song, refers to their practice of wearing boots made out of Emu feathers which allows shamans to move over the desert sands without being trackable or traceable.

Shamans of the Australian continent are adept healers, and typically employ quartz crystals in their therapeutic interventions, often themselves swallowing quite large pieces of crystal. Other healing practices employed by Indigenous healers of the Australian continent are those typical to shamanism world-wide, and generally involve the manipulation of the body of sick persons through sucking, blowing, striking and massaging.

Illness (and death and misadventure) is typically regarded as resulting from the malevolent actions of sorcerers, (or malevolent spirit entities). Malevolent sorcery substance is first identified and located within the body of sick persons through the art of ‘seeing’, which is facilitated by the shaman’s entry into a so-called ‘ecstatic’ (from the Greek ‘Ekstasis’, literally, ‘flight of the soul from the body’) or non-ordinary state of consciousness. In Australia (but more commonly in Papua), healers are also referred to as ‘glass-men’ because of their ability to ‘see’ into the body of sick persons as though they were made of glass. Such seeing is only possible in non-ordinary states of consciousness such as trance states. The malevolent sickness substance is finally expelled from the sick person, often sucked out by the shaman and vomited away.

People are careful not to leave their hair, fingernails or shit lying around, lest a sorcerer locate it and perform sorcery with it. Other means that sorcerers employ to cause harm remotely to others include ‘singing’ them, ‘pointing the bone’ at them, hammering nails into the foot-prints they have left behind, ‘eating their souls’, etc.

Yage (Fairley/Lonetree) (The Somnambulist, 2008, © Medicine Road Music)

‘Yage’ is also variously referred to by practitioners in the Amazon as Ayahuasca and Natema (Shuar, Ecuador). It is a potent psychedelic beverage made with Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis and, sometimes, other admixtures. This song tells the story of a brujo or malevolent shaman who abducts the soul of a victim whilst in an ecstatic flight induced by his ingestion of Yage. He carries the soul of his stricken victim down into the underworld. But this song is a tale of healing and ultimate triumph. A curandero (healing shaman) is consulted, who, also under the influence of Yage, conducts spiritual battle with the brujo for the soul of his sick client. The soul is wrestled free from the brujo, delivered from the underworld and ultimately restored to the sick person. In shamanic cultures, the soul is regarded as a fickle thing, prone to forsaking its corporeal confinement and either wandering lost, or getting stolen by witches.

RB Lonetree’s album ‘The Somnambulist’ is book-ended by two murder ballads about so-called ‘witch-doctors’. The album begins with Yage and ends with the brooding and somewhat sinister ‘Old Man Featherfoot’, which refers to the Australian shamanic context.

The album version of ‘Yage’ features some wonderful finger style acoustic guitar playing from Michael Fairley, whose memorable melody lines and precise playing really stand out. All of the guitar work on the song is in fact by Fairley, whose unique style is fast becoming legendary.

RB Lonetree spent two years during the 1990’s living and working with Amazonian Ayahuasca shamans and Andean San Pedro (Achuma) shamans. Yage was inspired by his experiences amongst Tukanoan speaking indigenous low-landers of the Cofan, Siona and Secoya tribes, who inhabit the border region of the Rio San Miguel that separates Colombia from Ecuador. Lonetree aslso a lot of time in and around Las Lagunas Sagradas y Mysteriosos de Las Huaringas, in Huancabamba, a small rural village well inland from the Northern Peruvian coastal town of Chiclayo. Huancabamba is the centre of San Pedro shamanism.

The Cootchie Man (Bishoff/Lonetree) (All Fools Day, 2004,© Medicine Road Music)

This song is yet another Lonetree offering with an overtly shamanic theme. Amongst the Dieri of the Western Desert shamans beat on the ground with the tail of a kangaroo in order to drive away the evil ‘Cootchie man’. It is the job of shamans to keep the community safe from spiritual attack and sorcery-related harm. As practitioners of the sacred, they command spirit forces and have ‘spirit familiars’ that they manipulate and command for benevolent and/or malevolent purposes. Shamans often combine the two attitudes of healer and bewitcher. An earlier out-takes recording by Lonetree and Bishoff was recorded at Peregian Beach near Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. This version was included on the ‘Out-takes Volume III album and is regarded by Lonetree as his “favourite ever recording” in which he has been involved.

Sailor’s Song (This is Not a Country Song) (Bishoff/Lonetree) All Fools Day 2004 © Medicine Road Music)

This version was recorded during the All Fools Day sessions and features the fiddle playing of Randall Mathews.

Hard Roe to Hoe (Fairley/Lonetree) (The Somnambulist 2008 © Medicine Road Music)

The experience of African slaves on the cotton plantation in the deep South is invoked in this acoustic folk tune featuring the acoustic guitar playing of Fairley and the haunting strains of Cye Wood’s violin. The enslavement of people to work cotton fields was not confined to the North American continent. Australian Indigenous peoples were also forced to work in cotton fields on that continent also.

The Flying Dutchman (Bishoff/Kelly/Lonetree) All Fools Day 2004© Medicine Road Music)

Here is yet another ghost song/murder ballad from the pen of Lonetree. The music was co-written with Jay Bishoff and Alan Kelly of the Barleyshakes in a three-way collaboration. Kelly also plays rhythm guitar on the track. Rebecca Paltridge and Rebecca Wright offer harmonies, Bishoff plays acoustic guitar and Gary Ward bass. The work is a musical re-telling of the famous ghost story of the same name.

Idle Talk (Bishoff/Lonetree) ( All Fools Day 2004 © Medicine Road Music)

This duet was recorded during the All Fools Day sessions and features the voice of Rebecca Paltridge. Mark ‘Sparky’ Paltridge produced the track and plays drums on it. Jay Bishoff plays guitar, Gary Ward bass, and Neil Gibson’s slide playing is featured.

Lonetree has never recorded a version of this song, which was co-written with long time song-writing partner Jay Bishoff in Bali, Indonesia in 2008. The song’s title translates as ‘rubber time’, or ‘Bali time’, and encapsulates the relaxed Balinese attitude to linear time and the clock. Like the Mexican concept of ‘manana’, the Balinese concept of ‘jam karet’ reflects the relaxed zeitgeist of a timeless people not polluted by contemporary Western attitudes of time and punctuality.

In Bali, being a bit late is not considered to be a moral failing, and things are allowed to unfold at a sane and relaxed pace. This leaves plenty of space for simply ‘being’. After all, we are supposed to be ‘human beings’ and not ‘human doings’. The Balinese are far from lazy, they are simply not enslaved by the clock. The term ‘besok’, meaning tomorrow, is another related word often used to conjure the same sentiment; that things will happen some time in the not-too-distant future, but certainly not at the exact time specified.

Free (Bishoff/Lonetree) (© Medicine Road Music)

Jay Bishoff recorded a version of this song on his long play Album ‘Mercy of the Road’, and although the song is a regular inclusion in Lonetree’s live set list, he has never recorded a studio version.

Murdering Creek Road (Fairley/Lonetree) (The Somnambulist, 2008 © Medicine Road Music)

Murdering Creek Road is a dirt road that runs through Noosa National Park at Peregian Beach in South East Queensland, Australia. The place is a massacre site and derives its name from an incident about 160 years ago in which many First Australians of the Gubbi Gubbi nation were murdered by white invaders.

Lake Weyba and its catchment area must have been a paradise before Europeans arrived there for the first time in around 1860. The area was teeming with abundance, and provided the local inhabitants with all they needed. The arrival of the Europeans with their livestock and the encroachment of settlers began to displace the local Undanbi. An armed party from Yandina cattle station was organised by the Yandina Station manager and a local policeman. They set up an ambush and murdered many.

Today the coastal region around Noosa is an example of western decadence and tacky, tasteless over-development. The contemporary Anglo-Australian culture there is boorish, banal and vacuous. The ghosts of the past still linger around Murdering Creek Road, but it is increasingly hard to hear the old spirit voices above the roar of traffic and drunken revelry. Murdering Creek Road is in Gubbi Gubbi Country, near the place the white folks call Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Eastern Australia.

Almost every town in Queensland, and many elsewhere in Australia too, have places with ominous names like Murdering Creek Road, which bespeak the terrible past that most anglo-Australians would rather pretend never happened.

Many an Australian town has its Boundary Road, a line originally demarcating the apartheid like separation over which black people were not permitted to cross. Numerous towns in Australia have high cliff areas named “Niggers Leap,” where indigenous Australians were rounded up and chased over cliffs to their deaths.

There endures a strange ghostly presence down along Murdering Creek Road. The Paperbark forests have been preserved by the formation of a national park, though beyond the park rampant development has resulted in the destruction of almost all of the Melaleuca Forests in South East Queensland. But inside the park, the ghostly figures of the white paperbarks help preserve the mystical and solemn atmosphere that pervades there. This is a massacre sight, though the revisionists will try and have us all believe the area somehow got its name accidentally and innocently

Recently, a mainstream national news paper, the Fairfax owned Sydney Morning Herald, had the courage and honesty to reproduce, publish and offer free to readers a true map of the Australian continent. This map of Aboriginal Australia destroys the one nation, one continent myth that continues to be perpetuated by Anglo Australians and the ruling political elite. The map shows the true state of affairs, that not one but hundreds of autonomous nations, each with its own cultural, geographic and linguistic autonomy, have existed here for millennia.

Here is a list of some of the nations that make up the great continent Terra Australis;

Kalaw Kawaw Ya, Kala Lagaw Ya, Meriam Mir Muralag, Yadhaigana, Wuthathi, Kuuku-ya’u, Uutaalnganu, Kaantju, Umpila, Kuuku-yani, Umbindhamu, Mutumui, Lamalama, Guugu-Yimidhirr, Kokowarra, Kuku-yalanji, Djabuganjdji, Yidinjdji, Mbabaram, Djirbalngan, Wargamaygan, Nyawaygi, Bindal, Yuru, Giya, Yuwi, Guwinmal, Darumbal, Bayali, Gureng Gureng, Badtjala, Gubbi Gubbi, Waka Waka, Yuggera, Bundjalung, Ngarabal, Gumbainggir, Nganyaywana, Dainggatti, Biripi, Geawegal, Worimi, Wonnarua, Darkinung, Awabakal, Kuring-gai, Dharug, Eora, Tharawal, Gundungurra, Ngunawal, Yuin, Ngarigo, Jaitmatang, Bidwell, Kurnai, Woiworung, Boonwurrung, Pyemmairrener, Tyerrernotepanner, Paredarerme, Nuenonne, Toogee, Lairmairrener, Tommeginne, Peerapper, Gadubanud, Gulidjan, Wathaurong, Djargurdwurung, Giraiwurung, Gunditjmara, Buandig, Ngarrindjeri, Bindjali, Ngargad, Meru, Wergaia, Jardwadjali, Djabwurung, Djadjawarung, Taungurong, Waveroo, Ngurraiillam, Yorta Yorta, Baraba Baraba, Wemba Wemba, Wadi Wadi, Dadi Dadi, Nari Nari, Madi Madi, Yitha Yitha, Latje Latje, Kureinji, Wiradjuri, Barindji, Barkindji, Danggali, Wiljali, Wongaibon, Wandjiwalgu, Bandjigali, Barundji, Wailwan, Gunu, Kamilaroi, Muruwari, Barranbinya, Kooma, Bigambul, Kunja, Budjari, Margany, Gunggari, Mandandanji, Barunggam, Nguri, Dharawali, Peramangk, Narangga, Nawu, Wirangu, Banggarla, Ngadjuri, Kaurna, Andyamathanha, Malyangaba, Kuyani, Nukunu, Alawa, Jingili, Ngandji, Warlmanpa, Wambaya, Warumungu, Kaytej, Alyawarre, Anmatyerre, Arrernte (Aranda), Luritja, Walpiri, Jaru, Ngarti, Pintupi, Kukatji, Walmatjarri, Wakaya, Yulparitja, Mardu, Wawula, Karajarri, Mangala, NyangumardaTjupany, Nana, Kuwarra, Nakako, Ngalea, Kokatha, Ngaanyatjarra, Tjalkanti, Mandjindja, Nyandanyatjara, Wangkathaa, Kalaamaya, Amangu, Yuat, Wajuk, Balardung, Nyaki-Nyaki, Malpa, Ngatjumay, Mirning, Wudjari, Goreng, Wiilman, Pinjarup, Wardandi, Kaniyang, Bibbulman, Minang, Ngaila, Nyamal, Palyku, Kariyarra, Jaburrara, Kija, Punuba, Jukun,, Maya, Watjarri, Thiin, Jiwarli, Payungu Nhanta, Malkana, Yinggarda, Warriyangga, Purduna, Ngalawangka, Jurruru, Pinikura, Thalanyji, Kurrama, Nhuwala, Martuthunira, Yinhawangka, Yindjibarndi, Ngarluma, Pitjantjatjara, Yankuntjatjara, Antakarinja, Arabana, Ngatatjara, Miwa, Kwini, Yiiji, Yawuru, Nyikina, Warwa, Worla, Unggumi, Gooniyandi, Nimanburu, Ngumbarl, Jabirrjabirr, Nyul Nyul, Bardi, Djawi, Umida, Unggarangi, Worora, Wunambul, Ngarinyin, Gamberre, Miriwoong, Doolboong, Kadjerong, Gurindji, Bilinara, Mudburra, Yangman, Wardaman, Ngarinman, Warray, Jawoyn, Mangarayi, Karangpurru, Jaminjung, Murrinh-patha, Nungali, Ngaliwuru, Malak Malak, Kungarakany, Marringarr, Ngan’gikurunggurr, Marramaninjsji, Marrithiyel, Maranunggu, Kuwema, Tjerratj, Wadyiginy, Tiwi, Larrakai, Woolna, Yolngu, Mara, Wik, Winda Winda, Kunjen,Bakanh, Kokomini, Koko-bera, Yir Yoront, Thaayorre, Mbeiwum, Yinwum, Luthigh, Awngthim, Anguthimri, Yupangathi, Tjungundji, Teppathiggi, Anggamudi, Gugu-Badhun, Yilba, Miyan, Yambina, Barna, Wangan, Yagalingu, Bidjara, Gayiri, Yiman, Wuli-wuli, Garingbal, Wadjigu, Gungabula, Gangulu, Darumbal, Gabalbara, Baradha, Biri, Yangga, Birria, Yirandali, iningai, Kuungkari, Guwa, Yanda, Pitta-Pitta, Maiaawali, Karuwali, Mithaka, Yarluyandi, Kalkadoon, Yalarrnga, Wangkamana, Kullilla, Pirlatapa, Wadigali, Karenggapa, Yandruwandha, Wangkumara, Dieri, Katangum, Ngamini, Dhirari, Yawarawarka, Wangkangurru, Bularna, Warluwarra, Andegerebenha, Yanga, Mbara, Wunumara, Binbinga, KukatjTakalakAgwamin

Spirit Voices laments the post-industrial wasteland that is contemporary urban Australia. It is one man’s plaintive plea to his lover to escape the city for greener pastures. Bruce and Bishoff have recorded numerous versions of this song, and it still features in their live set list.

Lonetree revisits the lyrical theme of the celebration of the archetypal feminine goddess in this offering from the double album Laughter & Molasses. The song is a re-articulation of subject matter explored in “Let Her” from the Somnambulist.

The goddess has myriad forms and this song celebrates the huntress. Her other incarnations include Moira, Athena, Sophia, Yhi (Australian Aboriginal) Prithvi (Hindu) Pacha Mama (Incan, Aymaran), Terra, Ceres, Ops. Proserpina, Cybele, Demeter, persephone, Rhea, Houtu, Gaia, even Kali the black earth mother. The earth goddess is always the keeper and carer of animals.

The song “Music” appears on RB Lonetree’s long play album The Somnambulist. The true history that informs the lyrics in the song will be of special interest to those interested in Ned Kelly and Australian history more broadly.

‘Music’ was the name of the grey mare who the famous Australian bush-ranger Ned Kelly rode at the siege of Glenrowan. The horse belonged to fellow Kelly gang member Joe Bryne, but it was Ned who rode her during the final fight against police. Kelly was used to riding Music and admired her greatly, and soon after the police laid siege to Glenrowan, he rode her to turn back Kelly gang supporters who had been wrongly summoned by mis-fired signal rockets. After Joe Byrne was killed, Ned Kelly returned to the Glenrowan Inn. He stumbled wounded through the early morning mist, appearing like the mythical bunyip in armour and terrifying the many assembled police. Despite his grave wounds, Kelly attacked 34 police in an effort to break the siege and free his brother Dan and Steve Hart. When Ned was shooting it out with the traps, terrifying them, looking like a Bunyip in his heavy armour, Music stayed close to him and Ned was worried she’d be hit, as reported by eye-witness Donald Sutherland, whose important account is in the State Library of Victoria.

The police shot the Kelly Gang’s horses in the little horse paddock by the Glenrowan Inn (in fact the packhorses, the others were safe behind a nearby hotel in stables). Music was supposedly shot in the hindquarters by Sgt. Moore but survived, escaping into the Wombat ranges where people reported seeing her for a long time afterwards, moving like a ghost, a legend, through the bush.

From the “Waler data base on Facebook we read the following…

“Ned’s mother Ellen was an excellent horse-woman, and his sister Kate. His brothers were all noted horsemen. His father John, known as Red Kelly, was said to be a horse thief; never proved although once convicted of stealing a calf. The Kellys supposedly bushed their stolen horses in the mountains before running some in to sell; if so, some of the brumbies in the Snowies are their descendants.

Ned’s grandfather, James Quinn, had a big run – Glenmore Station – at the headwaters of the King River. Ned made good yards and fences for horses there. He was a great breaker. The first horse Ned was accused of stealing – another mare, chestnut with docked tail – had actually been stolen by Isiah “Wild” Wright. Thanks to another helpful comment from Brian for identifying her. Ned said his grey mare at Glenrowan could carry himself in his heavy armour – which weighed 97 lbs. He also used good hefty pack horses.

Once he became an outlaw, Ned and his gang – brother Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart – stole many horses. Some to ride themselves, some to sell. When Hart stole a good race mare from a Mr. McDougall, on request from McDougall, Ned returned the mare. He also returned another good horse after the owner gave one of his sisters 10 pounds; the horse was worth 60. At Jerilderie in early ’79, they mounted on two bays, a chestnut and a black, the Kelly gang stole 2 branded police horses; one a 16 hh grey the other a black.

After Ned was hung on the 11th November, his sister Kate and brother Jim gave horse riding exhibitions behind 128 Pitt Street, Sydney, with Kate’s pony Oliver Twist and a grey mare they said was Ned’s from Glenrowan, named Kitty. Big crowds attended but police arrested and bailed the pair on 25th; on what charge was never apparent. (Telegraph 29th Nov. 1880).

Almost no images of Ned and gang’s horses seem to exist; there are a few with copyright retained by the National Museum. Music was the name of the grey Mare that Ned Kelly rode at Glenrowan. She was actually Dan Burns’s horse Music”.

Music, saddled and bridled, loyally followed Ned during the early stages of the shoot-out. When Ned fell, Music stood firm beside him. Dr Nicholson of Benalla commented; ‘We finally expected to see him make a rush and mount it, but he allowed it to pass’. Perhaps Ned was reluctant to make Music a target of the police guns. They shot her anyway, twice. Constable Moore fired the shots. Both Kelly and Music regained their feet and as the police poured a withering fire into ned’s unprotected legs, Music escaped the battle-field.

Rumours circulated that a ghostly apparition of the grey mare was seen for a long time in the Wombat ranges after the siege, but, in actual fact, Kelly supporters appear to have rescued her and later, she appeared in the ‘Kelly show’, which Kate and Jim Kelly took to Sydney town after the deaths of their two brothers at Glenrowan.

In a post-script to a letter sent to his parents in Scotland by Donald Gray Sutherland, (dated 8 July 1880), we learn more about the mysterious mare ‘Music’ and her bond with Ned Kelly. Sutherland sailed to Australia in 1876 at the age of 24. He travelled to Glenrowan after the shoot-out. In the letter Sutherland even enclosed a lock of Music’s hair. He wrote;

‘The hair enclosed is from the tail of Ned Kelly the famous murderer and bushranger’s mare. His favourite mare who followed him all around the trees during the firing. He said he wouldn’t care for himself if he thought his mare safe’.

This song is Lonetree’s second musical retelling of the siege of Glenrowan, the other being ‘Such Is Life’ from his long play album ‘Paint the Pony’. Lonetree, like many Australians, clearly regards Kelly and his fellow gang members as folk heroes. Lonetree in fact named one of his horses “Music”, a grey Percheron mare who his partner preferred to call “Misty”.

The upbeat and bright Bruce/Fairley offering reflects the artists’ love of African blues. This version was recorded for the Rob Bruce long play album ‘The Somnambulist’, and features Michael Fairley on guitar, Greg Sheehan on percussion, and Greg Lyon on fretless bass.

The Sundance ceremony of the Lakota and other Sioux bands of the Great Plains comes alive in all its sanguinary and glorious austerity in this Bruce/Bishoff collaboration from the 2007 Long play Rob Bruce album ‘Paint the Pony’. The song serves as a metaphor for the suffering of Native Americans in general, and, at a broader level, of the perennial human struggle for liberation, emancipation and transcendence, both physical and spiritual.