To-night here by the road- side
After driving hard all day,
Dreamin' of the old folks
And a homestead o'er the way;
In dreams, I see the old place,
I'll be there within a week,
Where there's gum trees by the roadway
And willows by the creek.
I see the homestead cattle
As around the place they roam,
The old man with the horses
On the fields of golden loam;
And mother in the doorway
Just to make this scene complete,
With gum trees by the roadway
And willows by the creek.
Oh, I'd like to tell my story
In a simple kind of way,
It happened to many hundreds
In this war-torn world today;
I heard the call for duty
So, I donned a khaki suit
And I marched 'way from the gum trees
And willows by the creek.
Now, When the war was over
And we've marched the Victory Mile
The ties with home were broken
And from there I stayed a While
I pelled up with some fellas
Just to live on Easy Street
And forgot about the Gumtrees
and the Willows by the Creek
But when you land in trouble
And you're placed behind those bars,
That's when you start thinking
Of the country, moon and stars;
And when at last they free you
And you step out in the street,
Nothing then could hold you
from the homestead by the creek
That's why tonight I'm standing
By this cheery roadside fire,
Takin' in the country
Underneath the summer stars;
And from now on you will find me
Where the air is fresh and sweet,
Where forever there'll be gum trees
And willows by the creek.