Boots

School never seemed to fit but it was good that my boots did

They sure were bigger than I knew that I could fill

So I droved north of flinders where I learned from our first people

Stories about how to survive this land

Dollar Mick the local Yura man taught me a thing or two

How to turn a single piece of cow hide into a comfort craftsman boot

The stockmen started buying, and we kept on supplying

A craftsman and a drover building shoes

It worked because I was who I was making those boots for

Men who needed better boots than they’d been in before

Because the outback here is endless

You need something to keep you standing tall

I’ve rode beneath the beating sun and

Weathered summer lightning

I’ve buried men whose name I didn’t know

I just want to know for sure that what I’ve left behind me

S’more than just some dust on an empty road

From a swagman to a millionaire and back I’ve learned

There’s something these boots know

The company kept growing and the mine kept on flowing

I could buy a hotel but I prefer my swag

The southern cross, Billy Tea and the red earth blazing out in Strezlecki

Elders voices meet the crackle of an open fire

From the tin shed in prospect to the hall of fame in Longreach

Ive worked to build a better world for those that rode be

I’ve been taking my own medicine since the day that I first got here

There’s no boots that I’d rather be inside

It worked because I was who I was making those boots for

Men who needed better boots than they’d been in before

Because the outback here is endless

You need something to keep you standing tall

I’ve rode beneath the beating sun and

Weathered summer lightning

I’ve buried men whose name I didn’t know

I just want to know for sure that what I’ve left behind me

S’more than just some dust on an empty road

When you!re deep in the outback you aint a millionaire no more

That’s something that these boots know

I am a swagman I am a millionaire and yet

I sleep best on the open road