Side by side
We walk along
To the end of Gertrude Street
Then we topple in muster for a quart of wine
Thick or thin
Right or wrong
In the cold or in the heat
We cross over Smith Street to the end of the line
And we laugh and sing
And do anything
To take away the pain
Trying to keep it down as it first went round
In Charcoal Lane
Spinning yarns
And telling jokes
Now the wine is tasting good
As its getting closer and closer to it’s end
Have a sip
And roll some smokes
We’d smoke ‘Tailor mades’ if we could
Oh, we just make do with some city street blend
And we’d all chuck in
And we’d start to grin
When we had enough to do it again
But if things got tight then we’d have to bite
For Charcoal Lane
Up Gertrude Street
We walk once more
With just a few cents short
And we stop at The Builders to see who we could see
And we barter around
Until we score
A flagon of McWilliams port
Enough to take away our misery
And we’d all get drunk
Oh so drunk
And maybe a little insane
And we’d stagger home
All alone
And the next day we’d do it again
Have a reviver in Charcoal Lane
I'm a survivor of Charcoal Lane
