NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG 		McKenzie's Ghost
Kath Tait
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"My father was an engineer on the Benmore Dam," says Kath, "and I had learnt about James McKenzie at school. I was reluctantly dragged away from the Mackenzie Country to Auckland at the age of 14, and lived in Auckland for the next 20 years.

The McKenzie Song was the first song I ever wrote, at the age of 17, after reading James McNeish's book The McKenzie Affair." 

Am    C             G                               Am        
I've mustered from Southland, through Central and North,
         C            G                      Am 
In that rough barren country of tussock and gorse.
          C           G                          Am 
And I've listened to songs that the old shearers tell,
     C           G                         Am
And passed them along with me own tales as well.

Chorus
      C         G                      Am
    McKenzie, McKenzie was that you I saw,
     C            G                      Am 
    Roaming them backhills just up from Benmore,
         C       G                          Am
    With 50 odd sheep and a good shepherd's dog.
     C           D             Am 
    Was it your ghost in the morning fog?

They tell of McKenzie, sheep stealer they say, 
He stole squatter's sheep and he drove them away,
With one strong eyed dog who hypnotised sheep, 
To a far distant land where no white man had been.

Some say you were criminal, some say a good man, 
Put down by the law and your dog it was damned.
They took you to prison but you set yourself free, 
Then they took you again, your dog hung from a tree.

Them high country gales that blow through the night, 
Where the musterers camp in the fire's dim light,
They often bring sounds way off in the dark, 
Like a lone shepherd's whistle and a lone shepherd's bark.
McKenzie Tune

 
The McKenzie Song on Record

1981 Kath Tait, 'Paths' (compilation LP )
1985 Martin Curtis, 'Back From the Hills' (LP)
1987 The Pog Band, 'Pogonorythms' (LP)
1992 The Pog Band, 'Sesqui' (CD )
1996 Kath Tait, 'Bastard' (CD)
1997? The Pog Band, 'Southern Bred' (video)
2001 Phil Garland, Swag o' Dreams, CD (titled McKenzie's Ghost)
 
Kath Tait
Kath is currently a singer-songwriter in London, noted for her sharp sense of humour. More Tait songs.

More about McKenzie

The Old Mackenzie Trail, by Bob Edwards, 1950s

There's a story that you're bound to hear
if you're down Otago way
about an outlaw and his dog that bought him fame...

McKenzie and his Dog, Traditional

John McKenzie stood in the Mataura store,
And looked at the yokes and chains.
'Twas not too dear - good bullocking gear
For transporting across the plains...

A letter in the "Otago Witness" by Mr. L. Langlands, Highfield, Burke's Pass, 1880s

On several occasions sheep in large numbers were missed from the Levels station. Mr. Rhodes came to Dunedin in the hope of hearing something about them. He told me he felt convinced they were brought into Otago, but no traces were left, was at a loss to conceive how, and had to return no wiser than when he came...

Article in "Canterbury, Old and New" by Mr. E.W. Seager, Inspector of Police, 1900

Mackenzie was a Highland shepherd, born in Ross-shire, Scotland. About the year 1845 he emigrated to Australia, and two years later arrived in New Zealand, and landed in Nelson. At first he earned a living by sheep driving, and in that way became acquainted with sheep stations in Otago and Canterbury...

 
 

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