Gordon Nightingale
“Come with us to Creswick
For a night out on the town,
Have drinks and dinner at a pub,
And a chance to play the clown.
Odessa at Leaver’s pub,
Right opposite the old town hall.
I’ll let you know arrangements
When I confirm the final call.”
Only two days out of lockdown,
Raring to kick up the heels,
To taste that social freedom,
To remember how it feels.
A chance to leave the cabin,
A night of fun with special friends
At a popular local watering hole,
Where the music never ends.
The atmosphere inside was so cosy,
Like a genuine Irish Pub.
But that’s where the shamrock connection ended;
It was all Aussie and Asian grub.
‘Family Farm’ were playing,
They’re a classy local group.
Blue grass, folk, traditional jazz,
Blues and Country and Western to boot.
The female lead on keyboards,
A powerful, raunchy, husky voice,
The guitarist on lead vocals too;
The audience spoiled for choice.
The audience found themselves in raptures
With the haunting, soulful repour,
To Johnny Cash’s last recorded song,
‘The L & M Don’t Stop Here Anymore’.
After a long enjoyable set,
The band went outside for a break.
Second drinks were ordered then,
A rising thirst to slake.
When ‘Family Farm’ returned they went acoustic
Accompanied by more musicians.
Fiddlers, a banjo, trumpeter and guitarists
Circled in various positions.
They began ‘St James Infirmary’,
Louis Armstrong’s famous song.
The singer on the banjo
Kept it going loud and long.
‘It Takes a Worried Man’
And everyone was singing,
Urged on by the guitarist lead,
They soon had the rafters ringing.
Reluctantly, we all departed
Out into the foggy dew;
Drive carefully home to Daylesford,
It was the safest thing to do.
Gordon Nightingale is a local author and poet and the convenor of the Daylesford U3A Writers’ Circle.
