High Open Hills

Intro (x3) I met him high on a hill when I was sixteen And my breath it was taken by the cold August wind I left school that next summer and to Melbourne we fled As the sky over Mansfield turned orange and red (x1) I asked him where he came from, he said he wasn’t quite sure He said he’d moved ‘round so often, he didn’t keep track no more But he said I was the reason that he could stand still And he kissed me that first time on the high open hill See everything changes ‘cept for the sound of the rain That comes down every time I see him again And I wish for a moment that we could once more stand On those high open hills of our youth Me and my traveling man x1 He went off to Western Australia where the pearl fishing’s good He said he’d been once to Broome and there he felt understood He said I’m gonna return with a fortune untold So just sit tight my darling for our future to unfold He came back to me to Melbourne for a week or so We were lover to lover, I didn’t want him to go But with a fire in his belly and a baby in mine I prayed when he’d come home it would be the last time See everything changes ‘cept for the sound of the rain That comes down every time I see him again And I wish for a moment that we could once more stand On those high open hills of our youth Me and my traveling man x1 I got a letter from Darwin later that month He said, “I’ve found myself a lover, in fact I’ve found quite a bunch The last thing I want to do is to hurt you or our boy But you know all I touch I go on to destroy” x1 He sent us some money, but soon that dried up too Just like the hope in my baby’s eyes blue He’d sit at the window and wait every night And I prayed that that bastard would do what is right See everything changes ‘cept for the sound of the rain That comes down every time I see him again And I wish for a moment that we could once more stand On those high open hills of our youth On those high open hills of our youth On those high open hills of our youth Me and my traveling man x3 Ooooo...... x1 Ooooo......