Paul Kelly - Bradman Lyrics
Sydney, 1926, this is the story of a manJust a kid in from the sticks, just a kid with a planSt George took a gamble, played him in first gradePretty soon that young man showed them how to flash the bladeAnd at the age of nineteen he was playing for the StateFrom Adelaide to Brisbane the runs did not abateHe hit 'em hard, he hit 'em straightHe was more than just a batsmanHe was something like a tideHe was more than just one manHe could take on any sideThey always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his handA team came out from EnglandWally Hammond wore his felt hat like a chiefAll through the summer of '28, '29 they gave the greencaps no reliefSome reputations came to griefThey say the darkest hour is right before the dawnAnd in the hour of greatest slaughter the great avenger is being bornBut who then could have seen the shape of things to comeIn Bradman's first test he went for eighteen and for oneThey dropped him like a gunNow big Maurice Tate was the trickiest of them allAnd a man with a wisecracking habitBut there's one crack that won't stop ringing in his ears"Hey Whitey, that's my rabbit"Bradman never forgot itHe was more than just a batsmanHe was something like a tideHe was more than just one manHe could take on any sideThey always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his handEngland 1930 and the seed burst into flowerAll of Jackson's grace failed him, it was Bradman was the powerHe murdered them in Yorkshire,he danced for them in KentHe laughed at them in Leicestershire, Leeds was an eventThree hundred runs he took and rewrote all the booksThat really knocked those gentsThe critics could not comprehend hsi nonchalant phenomenon"Why this man is a machine," they said. "Even his friends say he isn't human"Even friends have to cut somethingHe was more than just a batsmanHe was something like a tideHe was more than just one manHe could take on any sideThey always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his handSummer 1932 and Captain Douglas had a planWhen Larwood bowled to Bradman it was more than man to manAnd staid Adelaide nearly boiled over as rage ruled over senseWhen Oldfield hit the ground they nearly jumped the fenceNow Bill Woodill was as fine a man as ever went to wicketAnd the bruises on his body that day showed that he could stick itBut to this day he's still quoted and only he could wear it"There's two teams out there today and only one of them's playing cricket."He was longer than a memory, bigger than a townHe feet they used to sparkle and he always kept them on the groundFathers took their sons who never lost the sound of the roar of the grandstandNow shadows they grow longer and there's so mush more yet to be toldBut we're not getting any younger, so let the part tell the wholeNow the players all wear colours, the circus is in townI can no longer go down there, down to that sacred groundHe was more than just a batsmanHe was something like a tideHe was more than just one manHe could take on any sideThey always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand
