Andy's Gone with Cattle

DESCRIPTION: "Our Andy's gone with cattle now, our hearts are out of order." Faced with a drought, Andy takes the herds away; the people left behind are lonely for the cheerful, clever drover. The singer hopes that it rains soon so that Andy may return
AUTHOR: Words: Henry Lawson (1867-1922)
EARLIEST DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: separation loneliness hardtimes
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Manifold-PenguinAustralianSongbook, p. 174, "Andy's Gone with Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stewart/Keesing-FavoriteAustralianBallads, pp. 150-151, "Andy's Gone with Cattle" (1 text)
DT, ANDYCATL
A. K. MacDougall, _An Anthology of Classic Australian Lore_ (earlier published as _The Big Treasury of Australian Foiklore_), The Five Mile Press, 1990, 2002, p. 233, "Andy's Gone With Cattle" (1 text)
NOTES [149 words]: This is one of those semi-folk songs. Obviously it is composed. But it has been sung by many people in Australia. Some of those people learned it in school, where it is the "standard" Lawson piece. But however it attained popularity, it is probably widespread enough to deserve inclusion here. John S. Manifold, Who Wrote the Ballads? Notes on Australian Folksong, Australasian Book Society, 1964, p. 137, says that "'Andy's Gone with Cattle' was being sung by Victorian station hands when I was a very small boy in the 1920s, and I have met one person who remembers it from about the same date in New South Wales.... The tune reminds me faintly of the beautiful English song 'Dearest Nancy.'"
Lawson later wrote a sort of an answer, "Andy's Return," in which Andy arrives home to a fine welcome despite being weather-beaten and with worn-out gear. This can be found on p. 234 of MacDougall. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: PASB174

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