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Version 1[Verse 1] D A It was somewhere in September and the sun was goin' down, A7 D when I came in search of copy, to a Darling River town. A Come-And-Have-A-Drink we'll call it, 'tis a fitting name I think, A7 D and 'twas raining, for a wonder, up at Come-And-Have-A-Drink. G D Underneath the pub verandah I was resting on a bunk, E A - A7 when a stranger rose before me, and he said that he was drunk. D A He apologised for speaking, there was no offence, he swore, A7 D but he somehow seemed to fancy that he'd seen my face before. [Verse 2] D A He agreed you can't remember all the chaps you chance to meet, A7 D and he said his name was Sweeney, people lived in Sussex Street. A He was camping in a stable, that he swore that he was right, A7 D only for the blanky horses walkin' over him all night. G D He'd apparently been fighting, for his face was black and blue, E A - A7 and it looked as though the horses had been treading on him too. D A But an honest genial twinkle in the eye that wasn't hurt A7 D seemed to hint of something better, spite of drink and rags and dirt. [Verse 3] D A He was born in Parramatta and he said with humour grim, A7 D that he'd like to see the city, 'ere the liquor finished him. A But he couldn't raise the money, he was damned if he could think, A7 D what the government was doing here, he offered me a drink. [Verse 4] D A I declined, 'twas self-denial, and I lectured him on booze, A7 D using all the hackneyed arguments that preachers mostly use. A Things I'd heard in temperance lectures, I was young and rather green, A7 D and I ended by referring to the man he might have been. G D But he couldn't stay to argue, for his beer was nearly gone, E A - A7 he was glad, he said, to meet me, and he'd see me later on. D A But he guessed he'd have to go and get his bottle filled again, A7 D and he gave a lurch and vanished in the darkness and the rain. D A And of afternoons in cities, when the rain is on the land, A7 D G D visions come to me of Sweeney with his bottle in his hand.