Lyrics Cattle Camp Reverie - 1996 Digital Remaster; 1974 Version - Slim Dusty

There's a rustle through the tree tops as the night wind softly sighs
The cattle rest and the bushland is so still
From the distance comes the jingle of the horses hobble chains
As they graze the grass round about at will

Then I gaze into the embers of my dying campfires glow
And the pictures that I see there make me frown
For they come along and taunt me what I might have been and done
When the cattle are all bedded and the horses hobbled down

I was once a horseman, a rider of renown
Who loved it all the glamour and the glare
The handshakes and the backslaps
And the false friends that you meet
But when the heart is young then everything seems fair

A home of friendly neighbours with kiddies running round
I threw away to wear a tinsel crown
And they always come and taunt me as I sit alone at night
When the cattle are all bedded and the horses hobbled down

For as you grow older and must give the game away
You're just a name that blazed awhile ago
And the friends you've made have left you for another name that's new
Then you take to droving cattle it's the only job you know

Then by some lonely fireside you'll be dreaming all alone
Whilst the boys are having fun they're back in town
I know because I'm here tonight with a lifetime to regret
When the cattle are all bedded and the horses hobbled down

There's a rustle through the tree tops as the night wind softly sighs
The old campfire has burned into the ground
And my dreams have slowly drifted like the smoke into the trees
When the cattle are all bedded and the horses hobbled down