The Maintop Balladeer

For sharing of original song lyrics, together with haiku, sonnets and other unusual poetry forms. Although not strictly bush poetry, we welcome the sharing of members' compositions in these three genres, with a view to inclusiveness and mutual encouragement. Open to all Registered Forum Users. See Board Index for separate section on free verse and non-rhyming poetry.
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thestoryteller
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Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:02 pm
Location: Bargara, Queensland.
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The Maintop Balladeer

Post by thestoryteller » Thu Jun 16, 2016 7:50 pm

THE MAINTOP BALLADEER

There’s a bloke I’d like you all to know whose Aussie through and through,
from his felt hat to his R.M. boots, he ridgy didge, true blue.
He was born in Roma, Queensland, back in nineteen thirty-three
and his parents were from sturdy stock, a pioneer family.

Station life was in this young man’s blood and one can understand
why he took to writing lyrics based on things he knew first hand.
Those loved tales of some lad’s ‘Silver Spurs’, the ‘Rutland Rodeo’
and ‘A Time When I Was Mustering’ he penned so long ago.

Chorus

Yes, his heart is in his lyrics this tall man from Injune way
and he’s had his songs recorded by top artists in his day.
Yes, Wave Jackson loves his ballads and mate let me make this clear
he’s admired in music circles as the Maintop Balladeer.


Old Mac Cormack and Joe Daley both wrote lyrics by the score
and along with Wave and Coster … hell they made an awesome four.
They all had their songs recorded by Slim Dusty through the years
and these men are all respected to this day by all their peers.

Wave continues this tradition and he still writes to this day
and now picks and strums a Maton in the true bush ballad way.
You will find him at most Musters and he’s happy as can be
as today he shares his talents on his very own CD.

Chorus

Yes, his heart is in his lyrics this tall man from Injune way
and he’s had his songs recorded by top artists in his day.
Yes, Wave Jackson loves his ballads and mate let me make this clear
he’s admired in music circles as the Maintop Balladeer.

Wave has travelled ‘round Australia and he’ll tell you that he’s sold
on the fact there lots of songs out there just waiting to be told.
He then proved this down in Tamworth when he won a gold guitar
and of all his fine achievements it’s the best he says so far.

It has been a wondrous innings for this gentleman of song
and I hope things will continue and his journey will be long.
He’s a real true blue Australian and they are but far and few
and I’m proud to have him as a mate and share his song with you.

Chorus

Yes, his heart is in his lyrics this tall man from Injune way
and he’s had his songs recorded by top artists in his day.
Yes, Wave Jackson loves his ballads and mate let me make this clear
he’s admired in music circles as the Maintop Balladeer.

© Bush Poet and Ballad Writer - Merv Webster

Back in the eighties I was working as an Electrical Linesman and one Sunday night we were called out to a property called Maintop west of Injune that had lost power. The owner Waverly Jackson was away and had just killed some beef so we were able to help restore power and save the contents of the freezer. Some years later while Emcee at the Surat Battered Bugle I actually got to meet him. Wave was a ballad writer and had written a number of songs that had been recorded by Slim Dusty.

As I began to go to various Bush Balladeer Festivals we became good friends and in 2005 Wave and Jeff Brown picked up a gold guitar for Wave’s song “Where the Yellow Kapocks Bloom”. Wave then recorded his own album “A Snapshot of Queensland.” In a lot of cases songwriters often write a tribute after the person dies so I thought I’d write a tribute for Wave while he was still with us.

“The Maintop Balladeer” was a finalist and winner in the 2005 Lyrics Only section of the Tamworth Songwriters Association’s National Country Music Songwriting Awards and recorded on the “Bard to Balladeer” album in 2006 and the “Bush Ballads and Verse” album in 2010.
Some days your the pidgeon and other days the statue.

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