An 'axe' to grind.

This is my old guitar. I bought it second hand in 1968 for $95. And that was a lot of money in those days considering I was working on the station for no salary at the time, my earnings coming from meat shooting in my spare time.

When I got married in 1971 I went on to the princely salary of $28 per week!

The guitar is a 12 string Hofner; a bit tuckered out now and can only handle six strings because with 12 the neck bends and I can't tune it. Never-the-less, with new strings on it it has a great sound and is still my old favourite.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

I'm a bit of a closet guitarist and like folk, country, blues and ballardy type songs. Recently I discovered "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" in a bunch of Joan Baez MP3s I put on my puter. I promptly downloaded the lyrics and proceeded to learn it.

Part of the appeal of this song is that it reminds me of an old guy that came to our high country station at Queenstown in the mid '60s to train a thoroughbred horse for my mother. Roy was his name. Roy must have been a bit of a hard case when he was a kid because he bull-shitted about his age and got himself on troopship bound for Gallipoli and there, amongst the carnage, had his sixteenth birthday!

Click on the image to see the song full size.