How Will I Go With Him Mate? - Slim Dusty

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