elton john-the drover’s ballad Lyrics

from the sunburned plains of far-off north australia
came a fella born to ride the wide
brown land
oh
he grew up runnin’ wild
but soon
by all
was styled
as the country’s greatest-ever drovin’ man
oh
his legend rode the winds from broome to darwin
they loved and loathed him right from end to end
for when the drover gave his heart
to a girl whose skin was dark
from that day on
he was no white man’s friend
so goes the drover’s story
you’ll hear it near and far
and in the end
it’s all he’ll ever own
it says
the outcast is a free man if he sleeps under the stars makes the blanket of the southern skies his home” then they called him up to fight for mother england in a far-off war that spilled his brothers’ blood inside the jaws of hell where both his brothers fell he just watched his faith in man die in the mud there was no hero’s welcome for the drover just a country that had turned its back on him when he came home from the war his sick wife they were not pure they let her die for the colour of her skin so goes the drover’s story you’ll hear it near and far and in the end it’s all he’ll ever own it says “the outcast is a free man if he sleeps under the stars makes the blanket of the southern skies his home” the drover is a man of constant shadows haunted by his pain his past and name for every mile he rides what he cannot hide is the longing in his heart to love again so goes the drover’s story you’ll hear it near and far and in the end it’s all he’ll ever own it says “the outcast is a free man if he sleeps under the stars makes the blanket of the southern skies his home” makes the blanket of the southern skies his home his home”