Song of the Artesian Water

Song Of The Artesian Water An adaptation of a poem by Banjo Paterson Now the stock have started dying, for the Lord has sent a drought But we're sick of prayers and Providence - we're going to do without With the derricks up above us and the solid earth below We are waiting at the lever for the word to let her go Sinking down, deeper down Oh, we'll sink it deeper down As the drill is plugging downward at a thousand feet of level If the Lord won't send us water, oh, we'll get it from the devil Yes, we'll get it from the devil deeper down Now, our engine's built in Glasgow by a very canny Scot And he's marked it twenty horse-power, but he don't know what is what When Canadian Bill is firing with the sun-dried gidgee logs She can equal thirty horses and a score or so of dogs Sinking down, deeper down Oh, we're going deeper down If we fail to get the water, then it's ruin to the squatter For the drought is on the station and the weather's growing hotter But we're bound to get the water deeper down But the shaft has started caving and the sinking's very slow And the yellow rods are bending in the water down below And the tubes are always jamming, and they can't be made to shift 'Till we nearly burst the engine with a forty horse-power lift Sinking down, deeper down Oh, we're going deeper down Though the shaft is always caving, and the tubes are always jamming Yet we'll fight our way to water while the stubborn drill is ramming While the stubborn drill is ramming deeper down But there's no artesian water, though we've passed three thousand feet And the contract price is rising, and the boss is nearly beat But it must be down beneath us, and it's down we've got to go Though she's bumping on the solid rock four thousand feet below Sinking down, deeper down Oh, we're going deeper down And it's time they heard us knocking on the roof of Satan's dwellin' But we'll get artesian water if we cave the roof of hell in Oh we'll get artesian water deeper down Yes, we'll get artesian water deeper down And a harsh wind is blowing The temperature is vast Nobody here is knowing Of your good deeds from the past You can scream into the darkness You can dig your knuckles raw But the Good Lord he can't hear you And old archfiend wants you more And it's down, deeper down Oh, we're going deeper down And it's time they heard us knocking on the roof of Satan's dwellin' Yeah, we'll get artesian water if we cave the roof of hell in Sinking down, deeper down Oh, we're going deeper down As the drill is plugging downward at a thousand feet of level If the Lord won't send us water, ah, we will get it from the devil Yes, we'll get it from the devil deeper down Yes, we'll get it from the devil deeper down