American | Australian | Beatles | Canadian | Ceilidh | Childrens' | Chinese | Dutch | English | French | German | Gospel | Irish | NZ | Norwegian | Other | Platt | Pub | Sacred Harp | Scots | Sea Songs | Tyneside | Welsh | Yorkshire |
 
Woolloomooloo Lair
Last updated: 11.10.23
Woolloomooloo Lair is a hilarious song about a Sydney "larrikin", Australian for hooligan, who was so ugly when born that according to the song, his "mother died of fright when she saw him in the light" and his "father threw him off the pier at Woolloomooloo", Woolloomooloo being an inner suburb in Sydney. In case you're puzzled, which I was on first working through the song in The Bushwackers Australian Song Book, a lair, is in Australia and New Zealand a "flashy man who shows off" (see The Collins Concise Dictionary).
It's a great song to sing and it has a marvellous chorus with phrases you can really get your beard around such as "And I tag along in the boozin' throng, the push from Wooloomooloo".
     Performer CD Title Supplier
       
cd15.gif The Bushwackers Great Bushwackers flag15us.gif flag15uk.gif flag15de.gif flag15fr.gif flag15ca.gif flag15es.gif
     Title Performer Composer
       
youtube15.jpg Woolloomooloo Lair (3:20) The Bushwackers