All My Mates Are Gone

| C          | D          | G          | G          |

[Verse 1]
    G                C              D        D
The muscles in these arms have gone weak now,
     C               D        G        G
they wouldn't hold a horse anymore.
     C                      D          G                  C      G/B
But, girl, these hands were there when history formed its pages,
Am               C                 D                 G         G
  back when this country was still ragged, rough and raw.

[Verse 2]
     C        D            G             G
Yes, I've sat tight on the best, my girl,
              C                D             G        G
back when the fire of youth be proudly in my breast,
               C     G/B Am               G           G
back when this body, now broken, down and useless,
      C                D                G         G
could ride all day and ring it with the best.

[Verse 3]
C           D       G                   G
Girl, I was droving   on the Birdsville Track,
     C              D          G        G
when instinct was a man's only guide,
      C      G/B       Am            G                       G
where if you lost your bearings, the sand hills claimed your carcas
         C                  D            G         G
when the sun had played the life of your hide.

[Chorus]
  G                    C                 D               Am
I thank you, girl, for list'nin' to this broken ringer's ravings,
  C              D                G          G
another sunrise, girl, I'll never know.
   C          D         G                  C      G/B
My mind is projecting a film of years long gone
Am        C            D               G         G
  and I'm watching now my last picture show.

[Verse 4]
      C      D       G                    G
Once again I see the blackened quart pots boiling,
      C               D                  G        G
I can taste again the strong black billy tea,
          C      G/B      Am               G                G
taste the damper from the ashes, smell the rib bones on the coal,
        C                 D               G         G
see the saddle 'neath the tough old mulga tree.

[Verse 5]
      C               D              G               G
I can hear the cattle bellow and the cracking of the whips,
 C                D                G        G
again the harness jangles in these ears,
            C        G/B        Am                G             G
I smell the smell of well oiled leather, feel the comfort of my swag,
      C            D               G         G
as my memory races back across the years.

[Verse 6]
    C                D         G              G
And there across the desert, a lonely team of camels,
          C                 D                 G        G
stretches slowly across the brightness of the sand.
    C                  D       G             G
And there's old Gool Mohammad, Charlie and Gerard,
C                  D                G         G
nose leads hanging loosely in their hand.

[Verse 7]
      C                D           G               G
I can see the brumbies buckin', as Bob the breaker tries,
      C              D             G        G
once again to gain another working hack,
    C            G/B      Am               G             G
and there's old "One-eyed Willie" the best tailor in the North,
      C                 D                 G         G
these were the men that made the great outback.

[End-Chorus]
      G                  C                 D               Am
So, I thank you girl for list'nin' to this broken ringer's ravings,
        C              D                G          G
there's no regrets, in fact I'm glad to go.
    C             D          G                  C      G/B
Old ringers are a breed that your world doesn't need
Am            C               D                  D                G      G
  and I'll be glad to do some skitin' with those mates from long ago.
        C               D                     G                 C      G/B
There's no one left who knew me, girl, when I had you to smile upon,
Am     C            D               G      C               G
  I've lost all my identity, 'cause all my mates are gone.