Weevils in the Flour was one of the earliest protest songs that was part of the Folk Revival in Australia at the start of the 1960’s. At the time the author Dorothy Hewett was living in Western Australia and the strength of this song lies in the relevance of the time it was written to the modern times with pollution and irreverence of the land. Martyn
Weevils in the Flour
A poem by Dorothy Hewett©1963 Dorothy Hewett
music by Mike Leyden©Mike Leyden 1965
On an island in a river
How that bitter river ran
I grew on scraps of charity
In the best way that you can
On an island in a river
Where I grew to be a man.
Chorus
For dole bread is bitter bread
Bitter bread and sour
There’s grief in the taste of it
There’s weevils in the flour
There’s weevils in the flour
In those humpies by the river
Where we lived on dole and stew,
While just across the river
Those greedy smokestacks grew,
And the hunger of the many
Filled the bellies of the few.
Chorus
And just across the river
Stood the mighty B.H.P.,
Poured pollution on the waters,
Poured the lead of misery
And its smoke was black as Hades
Rolling hungry to the sea.
Chorus
On an island in a river
How that bitter river ran
It broke the banks of charity
And it baked the bread of man
On an island in a river
Where I grew to be a man.
Last chorus:
For dole bread is bitter bread
There’s a weevils in the flour
But men grow strong as iron upon
Black bread and sour,
Black bread and sour.
To learn more about these times in Australian history I have put a link to Mark Gregory who is an expert on Folk Songs/ Union Songs etc. A font of knowledge. CLICK HERE
