Oh the odour of the ale and the smell of tobacco The scent of the old sour tea All around joy and laughter Bringing me more misery I hear old Slim twanging on the jukebox Singing of a life's that's free I see you in the bar from the jailhouse window Drinkin' with a fool like me Yesterday it was a big prospector Last week it was me Today I see you got yourself a buffalo man Who will the next fool be? I wonder will be smile when you've got all his money Will he finish up where I am? I see you in the bar from the jail house window Drinkin' with another man Corner of the bar sits the newspaper editor Guess he's got his paper to bed Pretty soon now they can read all about it Read all the things you've said See him frown as he reads the first copy Scans it line by line I guess it's gotta be around 3.30 Cause old Jimmy's always on time Oh the odour of the ale and the smell of tobacco The scent of the old sour tea All around joy and laughter Bringing me more misery I hear old Slim twanging on the jukebox Singing of a life's that's free I see you in the bar from the jailhouse window
Drinkin' with a fool like me See the black eye on the tall young stranger Oh no he's no friend of mine How was I to know that he's a policeman None of you told me in time See Bob Tudawli and the great white hunter And old run jungle Jack Laughin and drinkin' none of ya thinkin' Of the thirsy prisioner out the back Every moment is an hour of torture How the long hours pass Tasting in my imagnination every frosted glass When I'm free im gonna seek and find him Find that fiend of hell The man who built the window of the lockup facing The garden of the Vic Hotel Oh the odour of the ale and the smell of tobacco The scent of the old sour tea All around joy and laughter Bringing me more misery I hear old Slim twanging on the jukebox Singing of a life's that's free I see you in the bar from the jailhouse window Drinkin' with a fool like me I see you in the bar from the lockup window Drinkin' with a fool like me With another fool like me I'm barred from the bar by the bars on my window And you're with a fool like me.