Slim Dusty - How Will I Go With Him Mate lyrics

Now this is the tale of a mate I had Back in those other days Thin as wire and just as tough And woolly and wide and his ways When the going was rugged and really rough He would always cheerfully state "Things are bad but they could be worse So we'll see how we go with it mate." Now there was a time when we busted our cheques In a town on the long ago now When a big gun shearer got on the tear And started to kick up a row And he picked on the smallest one of our lot And slaughter was plain to see Till our mate said "Listen you son of a gun Come and fire a charge at me." Ha! things really began to happen then because As he picked himself out of the dust an the dirt Both eyes were the colour of slate And he squinted a bit as he said to me "How did I go with him mate?" Ha! That was the way our mate used to be Another time in the sunny state With both of us was badly bent With saddle bags empty and nothing to smoke And between us we hadn't a cent When we saw on a poster, stuck on a wall News of a rodeo; "Well here's our chance" he said to me "We'll be kings of the wild west show." But he drew the worse horse there was in the draw Mean eyed and short in the neck As he climbed up the chute, he whispered to me "Be ready to collar the cheque." Collar the cheque, this is what really happened As he picked himself out of the red Queensland dust Just a few yards away from the gate He looked up at me with a lop-sided grin and said "How did I go with him mate?" Ha! That was our mate Now this mate of mine has gone to rest The way he was destined to go Wheeling the lead of the scrubbers that broke From a camp on the overflow As I stood by his grave on that drear winters day With the rest of the crew and the boss I thought of his happy-go-lucky ways And I knew just how great was our loss And I thought of him climbing those long golden stairs With St Peter in-charge of the gate And I'm certain I heard his voice at my side, saying "How will I go with him mate?" Not to good i reckon Well it's all over now and I'm settled down Away from those rovin' days And the mates that I had, well they've all drifted on Like by-gone yesterdays But I'll always remember that certain mate And the way he could cheerfully state "Things are bad but they could be worse So we'll see how we go with it mate" Oh yeah, we'll see how we go with it mate