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GIN AND RASPBERRY

Martin Curtis

The "Gin and Raspberry" was the richest mine in the Cardrona valley during the 1860s Otago gold rush. It got its name from the owner's custom of shouting gin and raspberry to all hands when a bucket of pay-dirt yielded an ounce of gold.

Capo 2:

      C             Am       Dm             G
  While hunting for Fox, we first came this way
       C             Am            Dm        G
  From Lake Pembroke township took many long day
      C             Am       Dm             G
  To cut through the bush and we found a new rush
          Am               G      Am
  With a mine called the Gin and Raspberry

Chorus
   C           Am    Dm        G
  Oh but it's hard, cruel and cold
   C         Am           Dm         G
  Searching Cardrona for nuggets of gold
      C           Am               Dm             G
  An ounce to the bucket and we'll all sell our souls
         Am             G      Am
  For a taste of the Gin and Raspberry

  The rumours went out and the thousands poured in
  A handful grew rich and many grew thin
  They all hoped to find their own patch of tin
  As rich as the Gin and Raspberry  
  Oh but it's hard . . .

  At first it was summer, and we all thought it grand
  No shirts on our backs as we sluiced and we panned
  But then came the snow and the southern winds blow
  And there's ice in the Gin and Raspberry
  Oh but it's hard . . .

  (Young) Billy McGrath, he worked hard and worked long
  (Always) ready to smile and to sing us a song
  But then he struck gold and was found dead and cold
  Down in the Gin and Raspberry

  So I'll work out my time and I'll stay out of strife
  I'll save all me tin to send home to me wife 
  And when the job's done, I'll leave at the run
  And to hell with the Gin and Raspberry.
  Oh but it's hard . . .

  Come and drink up your Gin and Raspberry.

The Wilson Version

Graham Wilson published a songster with the version below, before Martin had produced his own LP. A lot of people have followed the Wilson version, whose leading A minor chords, Martin feels, make the song rather dirgelike.

         Am                    Dm            G
  While hunting for Fox, we first came this way
        Am                         F          G
  From Lake Pembroke township took many long day
  Am                               Dm          G
  We cut through the bush 'til we found a new rush
          F             G      Am
  And we called it the Gin and Raspberry

   C          Em     F         G
  Oh but it's hard, cruel and cold
   C         Am           F          G
  Searching Cardrona for nuggets of gold
      C           Am               F             G
  An ounce to the bucket and we'll all sell our soul
         F             G      Am
  For a taste of the Gin and Raspberry

The Ballad Writers' Toolbox

Which of these contributes most to this ballad's is success ?: 1. Simple storyline and chord structure, but with surprise changes.; 2. People remember the much repeated "taste of the gin and raspberry"; 3. It lingers on vivid details, then leaps, eg to "...found dead and cold."; 4. The chorus unites the audience emotionally as they sing along.; 5. It has a definite beginning and ending.; 6. Average singers can sing it, and play its chords.; 7. Martin has personal experience of this area.; 8. The theme of "risky wealth v. secure family life" is relevant today.
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Gin and Raspberry on Record

New Zealand: 'Billy on The Boil' Graham Wilson (LP1980)
'Paths' Martin Curtis (compilation LP 1981)
'Gin and Raspberry' (LP 1983, cassette 1988?)
'One For You' Mike Harding (cass1989)
'Below the High Country' Martin Curtis (CD 1998)
USA: 'Mineapolis Concert'
Gordon Bok, Ann Muir & Ed Trickett. ( LP 1987)
'Brave Boys'
The Rounders, Hank Cramer and Steve Guthe. ( CD 2001)
England: Damian Barber
Canada: 'Get On With It' Fear of Drinking (cassette)
(This also has other NZ ballads on it: Flanagan, Dry Cardrona, The Magpie.)
Australia: 'Australian Tradition' Wongawilli
("searching Kiandra for nuggets of gold
...and a taste of the Rum and Raspberry")

Martin Curtis on Record

Paths, (compilation LP 1981)
Gin and Raspberry, (LP 1983, cassette 1988?)
Back from the Hills, (cassette 1985)
The Daisy Patch, (cassette 1988?)
Save The Wilderness, (cassette 1995)
Below The High Country (CD 1998) -the best of the above records.

Full details of Martin's albums

Martin Curtis

Martin, like many of the old Otago miners, is an English migrant who lives in Cardrona, not far from Lake Pembroke township, now better known as Wanaka. Martin has worked there for years as a rural delivery postman, but since July 1998 has become a fulltime ballardeer singing to the tourists at Queenstown, to South Island school history classes and folk clubs in England. More background details...

He is a gentle, lovely man, with a range of singing that can take you from the heartfelt abandonment of shipwrecked Davy Lowston (at a 2pm workshop), to the mystery of ghost gulls (at an 8pm concert), and on to the joyful bawdiness of "Oi arm a farmer's boy, Oi, Yar" (at a 2am jam session).

Gin and Raspberry has been the most popular song in NZ folk music of the last 20 years, and one of Martin Curtis's many fine ballads. (My other favourite is Jack's Song) Other excellent musicians have been drawn to record these songs with him, resulting in a series of albums that have become collector's items. He has been organising a folk festival at Cardrona for some years, every Labour Week-end (3rd week-end of October).

For further information about his albums, bookings or tours, or about the Cardrona festival, you can contact Martin at

Cardrona Valley : RD1 : Wanaka : NEW ZEALAND
Phone / Fax (+64) 03 443 8152
Email: curtismr@xtra.co.nz

Or you can find more details on Martin's own website

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This page was last revised on 27 Jan 2000.