ROB HIRST

Lyrics

This is the story of the Pintupi Nine
This is a tale of a cautionary kind
The Great Sandy Desert was their inland empire
Home was the flicker of a fire

This is a journey of a time before worlds
Two mothers, four brothers, three girls
This Pintupi mob been gone such a long time
Chasing the clouds ‘long the big salt lake shoreline

Working on a water bore, there was a man named Charlie Mac
Whitefella bushman, the one they call Murrahook
Charlie heard the word about some ‘debils’ living by the open
Pinta Pinta’s mob, they met ’em and ran, thought he was a ‘featherfoot men’

Whooo-oo-ee, devils in the red dust spirits in the trees
Whooo-oo-ee, dogs on the blanket kites on the breeze
Whooo-oo-ee, salt in the veins got sugar in the tea

Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, he’s a skilled survivor
Snake and lizard and wild cat provider
Long days walking in the blistering sun, following food and water
Knoowing that the Nine were the last in their line, in danger

Freddy West led the search, north through spinifex grass
Saw where they’d dropped their spears, saw where they got away fast
Came upon the camp where a coolamon had been hacked out of a tree
Followed their campfire smoke to the edge of the soak country

Charlie called the trackers up when they made first contact
Said ‘do they wanna come in, do they wanna turn back?’
Charlie brought clothes and blankets and water
And the day was saved and the mob was swayed, by the taste of sugar

Whooo-oo-ee, devils in the red dust spirits in the trees
Whooo-oo-ee, dogs on the blanket kites on the breeze
Whooo-oo-ee, salt in the veins got sugar in the tea
Whooo, sugar in the tea

It was their last night free of the modern world
Free to hunt and roam, free to cast their pearls
A Circus Oz man, traveling through, carried them to their kin
To a Kiwirrkurra Roadhouse, with the rock’n’roll music on

Now the Pintupi Nine, they’re Pintupi masters
Drawn from the art school at Papunya Tula
Works from the Western Desert they loosen the purse strings
From New York City to London, Sydney and Alice Springs

Whooo-oo-ee, devils in the red dust spirits in the trees
Whooo-oo-ee, dogs on the blanket kites on the breeze
Whooo-oo-ee, salt in the veins got sugar in the tea
Whooo, sugar in the tea

rob 2020