When The Rain Tumbles Down In July
Slim Dusty
Let me wander north to the homestead
Way out further on there to roam
By a gully in flood let me linger
When the summery sunshine has flown
Where the logs tangle up on the creek bed
And the clouds veil the old northern sky
And the cattle move back from the lowlands
When the rain tumbles down in July
The settlers with sad hearts are watching
The rise of the stream from the dawn
Their best crops are always in flood reach
If it rises much more they'll be gone
The cattle string out along the fences
As the breeze from the south races by
And the limbs from the old gums are falling
When the rain tumbles down in July
The old sleeping gums by the river
Awaken to herds straying by
From the flats where the fences have vanished
As the storm clouds gather on high
The wheels of the wagons stop turning
And the stock horse is turned out to stray
And the old station dogs are a-dozing
On the husks in the barn through the day
The drover draws rein by the river
It?s been years since he's seen it so high
And that's just a story of homeward
When the rain tumbles down in July