Paul Kelly - Bradman Lyrics

Lyrics Bradman - Paul Kelly




Sydney, 1926, this is the story of a man
Just a kid in from the sticks, just a kid with a plan
St George took a gamble, played him in first grade
Pretty soon that young man showed them how to flash the blade
And at the age of nineteen he was playing for the State
From Adelaide to Brisbane, the runs did not abate
He hit 'em hard, he hit 'em straight
He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He could take on any side
They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand
A team came out from England
Wally Hammond wore his felt hat like a chief
All through the summer of '28, '29 they gave the greencaps no relief
Some reputations came to grief
They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
And in the hour of greatest slaughter the great avenger is being born
But who then could have seen the shape of things to come
In Bradman's first test he went for eighteen and for one
They dropped him like a gun
Now big Maurice Tate was the trickiest of them all
And a man with a wisecracking habit
But there's one crack that won't stop ringing in his ears
"Hey Whitey, that's my rabbit"
Bradman never forgot it
He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He could take on any side
They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand
England, 1930 ... and the seed burst into flower
All of Jackson's grace failed him, it was Bradman was the power
He murdered them in Yorkshire, he danced for them in Kent
He laughed at them in Leicestershire, Leeds was an event
Three hundred runs he took and rewrote all the books
That really knocked those gents
The critics could not comprehend this nonchalant phenomenon
"Why this man is a machine," they said. "Even his friends say he isn't human"
Even friends have to cut something.
He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He was half the side
Fathers used to take their sons 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand, in the palms of his hands.
Summer, 1932 ... and Captain Douglas had a plan
When Larwood bowled to Bradman it was more than man to man
And staid Adelaide nearly boiled over as rage ruled over sense
When Bert Oldfield hit the ground they nearly jumped the fence
Now Bill Woodfill was as fine a man as ever went to wicket
And the bruises on his body that day showed that he could stick it
But to this day he's still quoted and only he could wear it
"There's two teams out there today and only one of them's playing cricket."
He was longer than a memory, and bigger than a town
He feet they used to sparkle and he always kept them on the ground
Fathers took their sons who never lost the sound of the roar of the grandstand.
Now shadows they grow longer and there's so much more yet to be told
But we're not getting any younger, so let the part tell the whole
Now the players all wear colours, the circus is in town
I can no longer go down there, down to that sacred ground
He was more than just a batsman
He was something like a tide
He was more than just one man
He was half the bloody any side
Fathers took their sons 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand



Writer(s): Paul Kelly


Paul Kelly - The A-Z Recordings
Album The A-Z Recordings
date of release
26-08-2011

1 Adelaide
2 Your Little Sister (Is A Big Girl Now)
3 After the Show
4 Young Lovers
5 Anastasia Changes Her Mind
6 You're 39, You're Beautiful And You're Mine
7 Be Careful What You Pray For
8 Your Loving Is on My Mind
9 Beautiful Promise
10 Zoe
11 Before Too Long
12 Beggar On The Street Of Love
13 Behind the Bowler's Arm
14 Big Fine Girl
15 Blues for Skip
16 Bradman
17 (The) Cake and the Candle
18 Careless
19 Change Your Mind
20 Carlie Owen's Slide Guitar
21 Cities Of Texas
22 Coma
23 Cradle of Love
24 Deeper Water
25 Desdemona
26 Difficult Women
27 Don't Explain
28 Don't Harm the Messenger
29 Don't Stand so Close to the Window
30 Don’t Start Me Talking
31 Down To My Soul
32 Dumb Things
33 Emotional
34 Every Fucking City
35 Everybody Wants to Touch Me
36 Everything's Turning to White
37 The Foggy Fields Of France
38 Foggy Highway
39 Forty Miles to Saturday Night
40 Forty-Eight Angels
41 From Little Things Big Things Grow
42 From St Kilda To Kings Cross
43 Gathering Storm
44 God Told Me To
45 (The) Gift That Keeps on Giving
46 Glory Be to God
47 Going About My Father's Business
48 How to Make Gravy
49 I Can't Believe We Were Married
50 I Close My Eyes and Think of You
51 I Don't Know Anything Anymore
52 I Keep on Coming Back for More
53 I'd Rather Go Blind
54 If I Could Start Today Again
55 I Wasted Time
56 I Won't Be Your Dog
57 Jandamarra/Pigeon
58 Jump to Love
59 Just About to Break
60 King of Fools
61 Lately
62 Leaps and Bounds
63 Little Boy Don’t Lose Your Balls
64 Love Is the Law
65 Love Never Runs on Time
66 Luck
67 Maralinga (Rainy Land)
68 Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air
69 Midnight Rain
70 My Way Is to You
71 No You
72 Nothing but a Dream
73 The Oldest Story in the Book
74 One More Tune
75 Other People's Houses
76 Our Sunshine
77 Please Myself
78 Pretty Place
79 The Ballad Of Queenie And Rover
80 Rally Round The Drum
81 Randwick Bells
82 Saturday Night And Sunday Morning
83 Shane Warne
84 Smoke Under the Bridge
85 Somebody's Forgetting Somebody
86 Somewhere in the City
87 South of Germany
88 Standing In the Street of Early Sorrows
89 Stolen Apples
90 Stories of Me
91 Stupid Song
92 Summer Rain
93 Sweet Guy
94 Sydney from a 747
95 They Thought I Was Asleep
96 Thoughts in the Middle of the Night
97 To Her Door
98 Until Death Do Them Part
99 When I First Met Your Ma
100 Wintercoat
101 Won't You Come Around?
102 Would You Be My Friend
103 You Broke a Beautiful Thing
104 You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed
105 You Can't Take It with You




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