The Drover’s Dream

About this arrangement

A bush song about a drover who nods off while minding sheep at night and dreams that the animals are putting on a concert. Nearly every beat is a dotted quaver and a semiquaver (a dotted eighth and a sixteenth), long-short, so the tune trots along. It sits around middle C but keeps using the G, A and B below it, so the thumb goes down and back; for the kangaroo’s “swag of blan-kets blue” in bar 10 the hand moves up to the G above middle C. The left hand plays a low note then a chord, two to a bar, through C, F and G7.

Practice tip: Say “ONE night while DROV-ing SHEEP” in rhythm before you play. Keep the short notes short and light, like a horse trotting.

The words

One night while droving sheep, my companions lay asleep. There were lots of stars across the southern sky. I was dreaming, I suppose, for my eyes were nearly closed, When a very strange procession passed me by. First there came a kangaroo with his swag of blankets blue, A dingo ran beside him for a mate. They were trav'lling mighty fast, but they shouted as they passed, We shall have to jog along, it's getting late.

A short history

The words were first printed in South Australia, as “The Visions of a Night Watch”, in the Kadina and Wallaroo Times on Christmas Day 1889. The song then travelled through the bush and changed as it went; collectors have found versions from Darwin down to Victoria, and the animals change from version to version, though the kangaroo with his swag and the dingo usually lead the procession.

In later verses the pelican and the crane dance a Highland fling, a bandicoot plays the flute and the magpie sings “The Wild Colonial Boy”, until the boss wakes the dreamer to ask where the sheep have gone.

The usual tune is also played by bush bands as “Killaloe”, and the National Folk Festival tune book traces it to a march of that name published in 1887 by the Irish songwriter Robert Martin. This version is the one the BBC schools programme Singing Together printed in 1976.

Quick facts

Tune

Traditional (Australian, words printed 1889)

Key

C major

Time signature

4/4

Length

16 bars and a pickup

Tempo

Trotting along, crotchet = 96

Difficulty

Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 100 of 201)

Type

Australian

Hands

Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left

Copyright

Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use

Questions and answers