NZ Folksong * The Life of a High Country Shepherd

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Merino sheep graze at high altitudes in the mountains of Otago and Canterbury.
Shepherds muster them down to lower levels in early summer for shearing and
again in autumn before the winter snows arrive.

It's the life of a high country shepherd
Resembles the life of a dog
In summer you sizzle in sunshine
In winter you freeze like a log.

For companion a half border collie
Who's continually scratchin' for fleas
And from climbing the slopes of the Coronet
I'm considerably gone at the knees.

BORDER COLLIE dog bred on the border of Scotland/England. Energetic, inelligent and responsive.
THE CORONET - Coronet Peak, near Queenstown, Central Otago.

Oh but give me my stick and snow leggin's
For away to the tops I must go
Where a few thousand jumbucks are waitin'
For a chance to get out of the snow.
JUMBUCKS - Australian term for sheep.

Or give me the life of a squatter
Who can sit by his fire at ease
And mortgage his run for a motor
And drive out whenever yer' please.
SQUATTER - the owner of the sheeo that were grrazed on land leased from the government.
MOTOR - motor car.

Now when I get my cheque in the springtime
It's away to the races I'll go
I'll back some old brumby a double
And forget all my life and the snow.
CHEQUE - before internet bank payments, an employer wrote and signed a message on paper
to his bank asking it to pay cash from his account to the person bearing the signed piece of paper.
THE RACES - horse races where you placed large bets which horse would win
BRUMBY - a racehorse that runs like a feral horse, not like a thoroughbred.

A DOUBLE - you bet money on the winners of two races and get paid only if both horses win.

Now when climbin' the slopes of Mt Torrin
You go for a hell of a skid
And then you look yourself over
To see if you are the full quid.
THE FULL QUID - sensible, not stupid. A week's wages was five quid or £5, five pounds sterling.

And after a thorough lookover
You find that you're only five bob
It's then that you roll up your bluey
And look for a government job.
FIVE BOB - five shillings- not the full quid - stupid
BLUEY - clothes and bedding rolled up into a bundle for carrying; a swag.

Phil Garland

Philip Humphrey Garland QSM (b. 1942 d. 2017) was a folk music icon in New Zealand, as a musician, collector and preserver of New Zealand folk songs, poems, yarns and dance tunes.

He began his musical career in a talent quest, then performed in Christchurch rock-n-roll bands, with a No. 1 hit on the Hit Parade in 1962. He started to develop an interest in folk music in 1964, and then in 1967 he founded the Christchurch Folk Music Club.

In 1969 the various branches of the New Zealand Folklore Society raised money to allow Garland to engage in full-time collecting, which he carried out for four months in Central Otago. During this expedition he found various songs, but even more poetry and yarns. He also spent time researching in libraries.

In 1996 he published The Singing Kiwi, containing about 110 songs, some wholly traditional and others reconstructed from fragments, as was The Life of a High Country Shepherd. Most of his collecting was done in the South Island, so the songs generally reflect the working history of this region, with an emphasis on droving, shearing and gold-mining.

Phil was involved with bush-bands and recording ventures, releasing many albums over the years, and toured throughout the world, most widely in Australiasia.

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Webpage put onto folksong.org.nz website May 2019.