Explore "Been There Before" by Andrew Barton Paterson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
There came a stranger to Walgett town, / To Walgett town when the sun was low, / And he carried a thirst that was worth a crown, / Yet how to quench it he did not know; / But he thought he might take those yokels down, / The guileless yokels of Walgett town.
They made him a bet in a private bar, / In a private bar when the talk was high, / And they bet him some pounds no matter how far / He could pelt a stone, yet he could not shy / A stone right over the river so brown, / The Darling river at Walgett town.
He knew that the river from bank to bank / Was fifty yards, and he smiled a smile / As he trundled down, but his hopes they sank / For there wasn't a stone within fifty mile; / For the saltbush plain and the open down / Produce no quarries in Walgett town.
The yokels laughed at his hopes o'erthrown, / And he stood awhile like a man in a dream; / Then out of his pocket he fetched a stone, / And pelted it over the silent stream -- / He had been there before: he had wandered down / On a previous visit to Walgett town.