page 7

Cockies' Chorus

(Air: "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't be Wrong.")

We're students of the bucket,
We cultivate the Cow.
Our brows get wet with honest sweat,
We don't know why or how.
We're men of fixed opinions,
We hold 'em hot and strong.
Though frequently in error,
We never know we're wrong.

Chorus
Though you may feed us fat or starve us thin,
Draw us out or take us in,
Fifty thousand farmers can't be wrong!
We put our heads together when ignored:
Heads together—Dairy Board—
Fifty thousand farmers can't be wrong!
One rule we obey:
Keep grumbling away,
For it's the only staple product sure to pay.
And if New Zealand hears we're grumbling still,
God's Own Country foots the bill—
Fifty thousand farmers can't be wrong!

Before the last election,
Our course was very plain—
We'd turn our votes to storm-proof Coates
To Ward off Liberal's reign.
We knew that there were items
That Cockies can't afford;
We'd risk a pianola—
But not Sir Joseph Ward.

Chorus
So though Sir Joseph's come, and come to stay—
A fact we can't explain away—
Fifty thousand farmers can't be wrong!
And if we've changed our minds a shade or two
And think we'll make Sir Joseph do,
Fifty thousand farmers can't be wrong!
Political gales
May damage his sails,
Election promises may turn explorers' tails;
Whatever Fate decrees there's one thing clear—
With fifty thousand farmers near,
Seventy million quidlets can't go wrong!

page 8

In far poetic ages
We used to rise at dawn,
With hodden-grevs and roundelays,
And tread the dewy lawn.
But now we rise in darkness,
With language that's a crime;
And all since Mr. Sidey
Invented Summer Time.

Chorus
But though we're forced to earn our daily bread
While Mr. Sidey's still in bed,
Fifty thousand farmers can't be wrong!
And though we work a half-hour more per day,
Just to let the worker play,
Fifty thousand farmers can't be wrong!
With calmer eyes
Each Cockie descries
That Mr. Sidey's quite an angel in disguise;
For when the whistle blows on Judgment Day,
With thirty minutes still to play,
Fifty thousand farmers won't go wrong!