Graeme Connors The Ringer And The Princess Lyrics

Everybody called him dingo
he didn't seem to mind the name
aboriginal and asian blood
ran fifty fifty in his veins
with skin like saddle leather
an inscrutable kind of smile
beneath the brim of his akubra
he had the dreaming in his eyes
She had a bloodline back to Europe
the boss' daughter Mary Ann
Home for Christmas at the station
from a boarding school in Cairns
with such a perfect face and figure,
the boys'd blush when she walked by
behind her back they called her princess
coz she had the distance in her eyes

Chorus:

oh the ringer and the princess
the dingo and the deer
i'll tell you their story
if you want to hear
december rain fell with a vengeance
from a cyclone in the gulf
bone dry gullies turned to rivers
and plains became a sea of mud
so the boss brought everyone together
the family and the station hands
to open gates and knock down fences
and give the stock a fighting chance

well the princess she was out there
riding riding along beside the men
leading horses up to safety
trying to bring the stragglers in till she heard a wild commotion
a little further down the way
a mare was trying to cross the gully
and her foal was being washed away

now the young have always been impulsive
the princess had no second thoughts
she rode her mount into that gully
trying to save the drowning horse
but in the midst of the raging waters
her pony lost its step and fell
with her foot caught in the stirrup
the princess disappeared as well

dingo saw the whole thing happen
and like a man possessed he rode
straight into that swollen gully
about a hundred yards below
and by the time the others got there
all hope of finding her was gone
till dingo staggered from the water
with the princess in his arms

Chorus (as above)

Now the princess owns the station
her dad the boss has long since died
and although she never married
dingo was always by her side
still the gossips talk about them
even after all these years
about the ringer and the princess,
the dingo and the deer
about the ringer and the princess,
the dingo and the deer ............