The Stable Lad
Gordon Bok
Letra

[Intro]
      

[Verse]
                                                   
When Cobb & Co. ran coaches from the Buller to the Grey
                                                    
I went for a livery-stable lad in a halt up Westport way
                                                               
And I gave my heart to a red-haired girl, and I left it where she lay
                                                   
By the winding Westland highway from the Buller to the Grey

[Instrumental]
            

[Verse]
                                                       
I ve got Neatsfoot on me fingers, and lamp-black on me face
                                                     
I ve saddle-soaped the harness and hung each piece in place
                                                       
But my heart s not in the stable, it s in Charleston far away
                                                          
Where Cobb & Co. goes rolling by from the Buller to the Grey

[Verse]
                                                             
There s a red-haired girl in Charleston, she s dancing in the bar
                                                            
And I know she s not like other girls who dance where miners are
                                                       
And I can t forget her eyes and everything they seemed to say
                                                        
The day I rode with Cobb & Co. from the Buller to the Grey

[Verse]
                                                             
There s a schooner down from Murchison, I can hear her in the gorge
                                                       
And I ll have to work the bellows now and redden up the forge
                                                        
I m going to strike that iron so hard, she ll hear it far away
                                                      
In the roaring European where the road runs by from Grey

[Verse]
                                                
Some day I ll be teamster with the ribbons in me fist
                                                                
And I ll drive that Cobb & Co. Express through rain and snow and mist
                                                         
Drive a four-in-hand to Charleston, and no matter what they say
                                             
I ll take me girl up on the box and marry her in Grey

[Instrumental]
            

[Verse]
                                                                  
There s a graveyard down in Charleston where moss trails from the trees
                                                           
And the Westland wind comes moaning in from off the Tassman Seas
                                                             
And it s there they laid my red-haired girl, in a pit of yellow clay
                                                          
As Cobb & Co. went rolling by from the Buller to the Grey