More Aussie Christmas carols

[gemfyre]

First up - an appropriate song for a bird geek like me.


Out on the plains the brolgas are dancing
Lifting their feet like warhorses prancing
Up to the sun the woodlarks go winging
Faint in the dawn light echoes their singing
Crana! Orana! Orana to Christmas Day

Down where the tree ferns grow by the river
There where the waters sparkle and quiver
Deep in the gullies bell-birds are chiming
Softly and sweetly their lyric notes rhyming
Orana! Orana! Orana to Christmas Day

Friar birds sip the nectar of flowers
Currawongs chant in wattle tree bowers
In the blue ranges lorikeets calling
Carols of bush birds rising and falling
Orana! Orana! Orana to Christmas Day

Orana means Welcome.
There are no Woodlarks in Australia. There are Mudlarks, Songlarks and Bushlarks. There are also Woodswallows. I think the writer was a tad confused.


Next is a song by children's group Hi-5. They seem to sing this at every Carols By Candlelight.

We all love a warm warm Christmas
Sitting outside on a summer night
We're all wishing for a warm warm Christmas
Maybe Santa Claus will wear his shorts tonight

Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts tonight
Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts tonight

Brother keeps smiling sister does too
We'll put our Christmas turkey on the barbecue
Mum is happy 'cuz warm weather's cool
And dad is happy 'cuz he's swimming in the pool

Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts tonight
Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts tonight

We all love a warm warm Christmas
Sitting outside on a summer night
We're all wishing for a warm warm Christmas
Maybe Santa Claus will wear his shorts tonight

Santa wear your shorts
Santa wear your shorts
He's not very far away
Time to hang your stockings out
Tomorrow's Christmas Day


And the terribly depressing Santa Never Made It Into Darwin. About Cyclone Tracy, which hit the city on Christmas Eve in 1974.

On Christmas Eve of seventy-four
The warning sounded out
For all the broadcast stations
A great storm was near about

The girls and boys asleep in bed
Tomorrow was the day
Their mums and dads all prayed
The mighty storm would turn away

Santa never made it into Darwin
Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day
Santa never made it into Darwin
A big wind came and blew the town away

Christmas morning was a nightmare
As Cyclone Tracy struck
It ripped apart the buildings
Like an atom bomb had struck

It twisted iron girders
And it flattened all the trees
The might of such a cyclone
Must be seen to be believed

Santa never made it into Darwin
Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day
Santa never made it into Darwin
A big wind came and blew the town away

Many boats put out to sea
Very few returned
Most were foundered on the rocks
Or in deep seas overturned

Australia was shocked and saddened
As the news came through
The devastated city
Must be built anew

That suffering and heartbreak
Could happen in this way
A natural disaster
Could come on on Christmas Day

Santa never made it into Darwin
Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day
Santa never made it into Darwin
A big wind came and blew the town away

Santa never made it into Darwin
Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day
Santa never made it into Darwin
A big wind came and blew the town away
A big wind came and blew the town away