Redgum: H.M.A.S. Australia

Here I am again in the ship's post office
I want to send a telegram
Send it to the captain
Asking where the hell I am

I've been on this luxury cruise
For twenty five years or more
And I've just begun to wonder
Where we're headed for

Band keeps playing American songs from 1973
Getting wise to the officer's lies
That we've even got a country
You say we're independent
And we've even got the right to choose
Well we're sick of doing nothing
We'd like some work,
We'd like some work,
We'd like some work to do

Swimming pools, the cocktail parties
You keep us plied with drink
But when we cruised through South East Asia
It made us stop and think

We never take on passengers
Though we seem to have lots of room
And I can't escape the notion captain
That this is a floating tomb

Band keeps playing American songs from 1973
Getting wise to the officer's lies
That we've even got a country
You say we're independent
And we've even got the right to choose
Well we're sick of doing nothing
We'd like some work,
We'd like some work,
We'd like some work to do

Some of us have calculated
We must be short of oil
Someone mentioned fission
And blood began to boil

The passengers are restless, captain
This is how they feel
Angry at how it came to be you
Who sits beside the wheel

Band keeps playing American songs from 1973
Getting wise to the officer's lies
That we've even got a country
You say we're independent
And we've even got the right to choose
Well we're sick of doing nothing
We'd like some work,
We'd like some work,
We'd like some work to do

And the band keeps playing the Imperial Waltz From far across the sea
Not a long way from discontent
To open mutiny
You say we're independent
And we've even got the right to choose
Well we're sick of being passengers,
We've got some work,
We've got some work,
We've got some work to do