Down The Line

[Verse 1: Solo] And I can't tell this story from the start It's origins have been lost, forgotten to the halls of the past But lets begin on the golden plains of holes creek with a boy named Ross living on a farm Second of 5 kids, who shared a surname that dated back 2 generations to a migrant who changed it to Smith Nice and plain he wanted to fit in But a time when people might not take too kindly to the likes of him, Now they spent their days herding cattle on the station Tough times, depression era, rural isolation A simple life They gathered by the piano at night and poems by Banjo for entertainment But that all changed in 39 With his slouch hat he shipped off for the front line Fought in trenches and saw men slain from the jungles of borneo to the desert of El alamein On his way home he met a lovely nurse Decided he would make her the offer that she deserved Got down on one knee and asked her to takes his hand And it wasn't too long before they were making plans [Hook: Sarah Corry] Gave me my voice, to sing refrain You felt it all, hunger to a war of pain You gave me fire To build my path Each stepping stone a lesson from your winding past And as I stand My outstretched hand Reaches for you To show my gratitude A presence from Before my time Traces that I’m bound to carry down the line [Verse 2: Solo] Fast forward, no the boys a man with children of his own Colts Roaming on the farmstead that they call home Days turn to years as the steam rose from the puffing billy and weathered hands worked the sheers Through flood and drought he kept food in the families mouths His four kids getting taller now Each climb to the top of that old pine tree Just to make believe they could see all the way to Sydney The second son watched the setting sun through his window With dreams of making his home in the big smoke So he finished school and headed to university Determined he would be the one to get the families first degree One of the lucky ones His birthday missed the draft as his friends headed off to Vietnam Horror on the evening news on the TV set Made him join the march in the streets in protest Between study and going home to work every summer He met a pretty girl and fell in love Put a ring on the finger of this beauty They had two sons, the youngest was none other than yours truly [Verse 3: Solo] So here I stand, the grandson of a drover Strong man who sang songs watching over his land So I know where I get the damn nerve from to step up on the stage and make the people throw their hands Flipping through these old photographs All the poems he recited and the notes he sang Flashed before my eyes as he laid with the family gathered round his bed on that ANZAC day And the last post played on the TV in the hallway as he past away And I said to myself that I wasn't gonna cry as the tears rolled down my face I stood by and watched it unwind following the bloodline as the life flowed out his veins But he remains Every time that I speak my Rhyme He lives on with what I leave behind, another down the line It's that beautiful but tragic fate That awaits us all Sure as the seed most of the trees leaves will fall Freefall into blackness Till we're nothing more than just a memory to be recalled What we wouldn't give for a minute just to sit and chat But nothing that we wish is ever gonna bring him back Though we can't press rewind They live in with what we leave behind Another down the line [Hook] [Bridge: Solo] And another one falls and another ones born It's another one down to the line And another ones gone and another lives on It's another one down the like And another one falls and another ones born It's another one down the line And though we can't press rewind They live on with what we leave behind Another down the line [Extract: Solo's Grandmother] I just felt that he had something that was just strong, a strong person, whether he was right or wrong, he was strong, it's as though it is we thought we were right, and ah, we get along