Mad Jack’s Cockatoo

There's a man that went out, in the flood time and drought
By the banks of the outer Barcoo
They called him "Mad Jack", 'cause the swag on his back
Was the perch for an old cockatoo

By towns near and far and shed, shanty and bar
Came the arms of Mad Jack and his bird
And this tale I relate, it was told by a mate
Is just one of many I've heard

Now Jack was a bloke who could drink, holy smoke!
He could swig twenty mugs to my ten
And that old cockatoo it could sink quite a few
And it drank with the rest of the men

One day when the heat was a thing hard to beat
Mad Jack and his old cockatoo
Came in from the west to the old "Swagman's Rest"
And they ordered the schooners for two

When these had gone down he pulled out half a crown
And they drank till their money was spent
Then he pulled out a note from his old tattered old coat
And between them they drank every cent

Then that old cockatoo it swore red, black and blue
And it knocked all the mugs off the bar
Then it flew through the air and it pulled at the hair
Of a chap who was drinking "Three Star"

And it jerked out the pegs from the barrels and kegs
Knocked the bottles all down from the shelf
With a sound like a cheer it dived into the beer
And it finished up drowning itself

When poor Jack awoke not a word then was spoke
But he cried like a lost husband's wife
And with each falling tear made a flood with the beer
And the men had to swim for their life

Now poor Jack was drowned and when finally found
He was lying there stiffened and blue
And it's told far and wide that stretched out by his side
Was his track mate the old cockatoo