Friday Tunes: Bow River

This week’s installment of labour themes in popular culture is “Bow River”. The song was recorded by Australia’s Cold Chisel, a band known to addressing working class issues in its songs.

Bow River is about a town in the outback and the hold that it has on the singer’s mind. It’s a place he (?) aspires to be while spending time working in a factory in the big city, trading his youth for wages.

I been working hard, twelve hours a day
And the money I saved won't buy my youth again
I'm goin' for the heat babe, and the tropical rain
In a place where no man's puttin' on the dog for me
I'm waitin' on the weekend, set o' brand new tyres
And back in Bow River's just where I want to be

Some of the cultural significance of the song is perhaps lost on Canadians (claims that this is the best song ever written baffle me). Yet the overall theme of alienating inter-provincial (or rural-to-urban) migration is a familiar one.



Listen now to the wind, babe
Listen now to the rain
Feel that water lickin' at my feet again
I don't wanna see this town no more
Wastin' my days on a factory floor
First thing you know I'll be back in Bow River again

Anytime you want babe, you can come around
But only six days separates me and the great Top End
I been working hard, twelve hours a day
And the money I saved won't buy my youth again
I'm goin' for the heat babe, and the tropical rain
In a place where no man's puttin' on the dog for me

Listen now to the wind, babe
Listen now to the rain
Feel that water lickin' at my feet again
I don't wanna see this town no more
Too many years made up my mind to go or stay
Right to my dying day
I don't wanna see another engine line
Too many years and I owe my mind
First set o' wheels headin' back Bow River again
First thing you know I'll be back in Bow River again

I got the motor runnin', I got the rest of my days
Sold everything I owned for just a song
So anytime you want babe, you can come around
But don't leave it too late, you just might find me gone

Listen now to the wind, babe
Listen now to the rain
Feel that water lickin' at my feet again
I don't wanna see this town no more
Too many years made up my mind to go or stay
Right to my dying day
I don't wanna see another engine line
Too many years and I owe my mind
First set o' wheels headin' back Bow River again

I don't need the score
I'm goin' through the door
Gonna tell the man I don't want no more
Pick up a fast car and burn my name in the road
One week, two week, maybe even more
Piss all my money up against the damn wall
First thing you know I'll be back in Bow River again
First thing you know I'll be back in Bow River again

First thing you know I'll be
Back in Bow River
Again

-- Bob Barnetson