They called him the bloke with the banjo ‘cause they’d
never seen Spanish guitar
When he stood with his hat on the footpath this busker
who would be a star
And the streetlights shone down as a spotlight and
gleamed from the guitar that he played
As the depressions poor victims passed by him he sang
for the coins which were paid
He came as a child through depression a swagman all
cheeky and game
To make a mass fortune and spend it then do it all over
again
The first to record our own folk songs to be played on
the old gramophone
From cities and towns through the outback and in cosy
old lantern lit homes
He rode and he sang and he acted for stage and the
radio shows
Then took it all with him and travelled in his great
tented rodeo show
He outsold the greats of his heyday in his awesome
showbusiness ascent
Great masses had all gone at showtime to pack out the
Tex Morton tent
With roughriders riding for glory whip cracking rope
spinning and clowns
Then in the sawdust roped in arena stood the man in
gabardine brown
And the noisy crowd wildly applauding would then sit
silent and mute
They were awed by his skill with the rifle for I tell
you Tex Morton could shoot
Now I give you a piece of the legend of the man with
the Spanish guitar
Who came from the street to the spotlight Australia’s
first superstar
In the history of the great showmen whoever performed
on the stage
Oh you’d have to give credits to Morton as you write
his name down on the page
Oh you’d have to give credits to Morton as you write
his name down on the page.
