Old Riders In The Grandstand (Songs Fron Down Under, 1976)
I'm seated in the grandstand at a big-time rodeo With my walking stick beside me as I watch the scene below There are youngin's ridin' outlaws as I did when young and free And I wonder are there many old ex-riders here like me
The horses they are ridin', couldn't buck to save their hide Oh I'd like to see these youngin's on the ones I used to ride I've used the likes of spinifex for a night horse on the run And brahma bulls like Wadgerra, we rode them just for fun
The saddles they are using are designed to hold you in And the halter shanks are silky so as not to hurt your skin We rode in flattened ponies, in the days of long ago And could have rolled a smoke aboard the likes of Curio
The steers they use for doggin' are no bigger than a calf And the time they take to throw them make us old timers laugh We used to scrub big Mickey's twice the size in cattle yards Oh but that was many years ago way back when times were hard
These youngin's dress so lairy in their fancy cowboy suits We used to ride in moleskins and a pair of Bluecha boots But all our glory's vanished, we're forgotten men, it seems Old riders in the grandstand alone with all our dreams.