Verse 1
Sunrise cuttin’ through the paperbark trees,
Old ute rattlin’ down the track with ease,
Shotgun ridin’ by the muddy old gate,
Dogs in the tray and we’re runnin’ late.
Goose wings whistlin’ over swamp water black,
Coffee in a thermos and the boys out back,
Laughin’ loud while the fire burns slow,
Out here’s the only kind of life we know.
Chorus
Cold mornin’ smoke and red dirt roads,
Family beside me where the wild grass grows,
Pig dogs barkin’ somewhere in the night,
Mates shoulder to shoulder underneath moonlight.
We don’t need much, just the bush and time,
A couple tall stories and a country rhyme,
From the geese in the wetlands to the riverbank pines,
This old rough life’s what keeps us alive.
Verse 2
Kids runnin’ barefoot round the campfire glow,
Grandad tellin’ stories everybody knows,
Talkin’ hunts from back in ’93,
And the boars he chased through the bloodwood trees.
Brother’s cookin’ steaks on a rusted hotplate,
Mum yellin’ “Dinner!” while the dogs all wait,
Stars so bright they could split the sky,
Makes a hard man stop and smile sometimes.
Chorus
Cold mornin’ smoke and red dirt roads,
Family beside me where the wild grass grows,
Pig dogs barkin’ somewhere in the night,
Mates shoulder to shoulder underneath moonlight.
Bridge
One day we’ll all grow old and grey,
But these tracks and memories won’t fade away,
Every laugh, every hunt, every song we sang,
Still echoes loud through the ironbark plains.
Final Chorus
Cold mornin’ smoke and red dirt roads,
With the people I love and the life we chose,
From the swamps full of geese to the creek beds wide,
There ain’t nowhere else I’d rather ride.