NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG
Sticky Bun Rag
John Archer 1986

Maori songs - Kiwi songs - Home

My friends at Northgates, in Palmerston North, were keen recyclers of supermarket food...


G Oh the chooks are going cranky, hear them squawking round the shed
And I A can't give them a sausage, not a single slice of bread
But G she'll be right, it's F Monday night, C grab the torch, we'll E need the light
We're A7 going to do the D7 Sticky Bun G Rag, oh E yeah!
We're A7 going to do the D7 Sticky Bun G Rag !

Behind the supermarket, pull up by that Jumbo bin
You can hold the torch for us while John and I climb in
Mince meat, silver beet, squishy stuff beneath our feet
We're jiving to the Sticky Bun, oh yeah . . .
We're jiving to the Sticky Bun

Da Da Da, Da-dee Da Da Daa
Dum Da Dee Da-dee Doo-da Doo
Doo -di doo, "HEY THERE YOU!"
Oh my God, the Boys in Blue
They want to stop our Sticky Bun Rag, Oh no . . .
They want to stop our Sticky Bun Rag !

Come now constable, what's this all about?
We're good citizens recycling all this food that's been chucked out
it's lots of fun, have a bun! Oh that's sad, you've got to run?
Can't come and join our Sticky Bun Rag, How sad . . .
Can't come and join our Sticky Bun Rag !

Let's sort out the cardboard cartons with the sticky buns inside
The broken bag of peanuts and the punctured packs of Tide
Hen Grade, People Grade! Broccoli and marmalade
How I love our Sticky Bun Rag, Oh yeah . . .
How I love our Sticky Bun Rag !

Well we've fed the hens and rabbits, now what say we do a deal
You bring round your home-brew and I'll cook you a meal
Tomorrow night, gourmet delight, recycled food, Bon Appetite!
You're bound to love our Sticky Bun Rag, (Oh yeah!)
You're bound to love our Sticky Bun Rag, (One more time!)
You're bound to love our Sticky Bun Ra - a - g
(It tastes so G7 goo - oo - ood!)


Jumbo Bins

In the 1980s, our supermarkets in New Zealand were closed on Sundays, and on Monday mornings supermarket staff took all the wilted veges and stale loaves of bread that had not been sold on Saturday evening and threw them into their big rubbish skips, or "Jumbo Bins."

The bins were left unfenced at the edge of the supermarket carpark, so they were a great source of animal food for my friends. Living an urban version of the alternative lifestyle, they had built a dozen pens behind their house, full of hens, ducks, rabbits and guinea pigs that they bred for their supply of home-killed fresh meat.

Most of them worked in technical jobs at the local university, and had training in microbiology - they knew what foods to avoid - so this bit of anarchic behavior was a safe weekly adventure for them. The sticky buns were the long ones with pink raspberry icing on them.

Stephen Delft

Alas, I live in the back country and can only play the guitar. But this song need the exuberant joie de vivre of brass instruments. In 1987 I was making a trial recording of my songs at Upper Hutt on the 4-track tape recorder of Stephen Delft (now Sacha Delft) "Sticky Bun needs a tuba in the background," I commented to Stephen. The next morning I woke to hear my track of Sticky Bun being played at a slower speed, and Stephen playing along "Dum, dum, dum" on a double bass. Then I heard the song being played at the correct speed, and magically, there was a tuba in the background going "Poom, poom, poom."

Stephen's wife Judith told me he was often hired at Abbey Road studios in the 60s and 70s to do similar feats. "They could hire a whole busload of classical musicians," she told me. "Or they could get Stephen."

Stephen was probably Europe's top instrument technician, whether repairing a North African oud to restore its authentic sound, engineering a sound-track, adjusting the wiring circuit in a valve amplifier to enhance its reverb, or designing an innovative pick-up.

"Sticky Bun Rag" on record

1987, Mangamahu, John Archer, cassette

Webpage put onto folksong.org.nz website August 2012