Big Man Down - The Rumjacks

They in their black battalion go

Fit to weep, dressed to kill, to the chapel on the hill

Through the wind and the blistering snow

They in their black battalion go

Fit to weep, dressed to kill, to the chapel on the hill

Through the wind and the blistering snow

Unafraid, undisguised, to put pennies in his eyes

The twist of a grin, the whiskers on his chin

Hide the teeth of a giant, broken, yellow and defiant

His bones lay crossed, he’ll no be back

He arrived in screaming pink, now he’ll leave in silent black

Cheer up ye lousy cadgers, I’ll no be missed

I’ve given ye all the day off work & leave to hit the piss

So tart me up in finery & put me to the flame

Don’t plant me in the ground tho' for fear I’ll grow again!

I know each & every line on your chiselled ugly faces

Every red & bloated inch from noses down to laces

Your nervous ticks, your treats & tricks, your secrets & your lies

Oh if you could only see yourself through these old hollow eyes

You’d surely die!

Oh its farewell for now my lovelies

Goodbye to your taunts & your charms

To stout hearted fellows with tunes for the burning

To waltzing in sweet Lassies arms

I’m off on the blood red rattler

With these villainous slappers & clowns

With the coughing, the wheezing, the farting & sneezing

Malevolent ghosts & their hounds

As a choking cloud he rose

To suffocate the lamp, the air was growing damp

Oily black the river flowed

The plough-beasts went blind, fruit hung rotten on the vine

The holy ones prepare a sacrificial virgin

The need for sinners to repent was ne’er before so urgent

The tired & lame are goners, strong men have soiled their breeks

All the roads are cut & its been pissing down for weeks!