Paul+Kelly+-+Bradman

Sydney, 1926, this is the story of a man

Just a kid in from the sticks, just a kid with a plan

St George took a gamble, played him in first grade

Pretty soon that young man showed them how to flash the blade

And at the age of nineteen he was playing for the State

From Adelaide to Brisbane the runs did not abate

He hit 'em hard, he hit 'em straight

He was more than just a batsman

He was something like a tide

He was more than just one man

He could take on any side

They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand

A team came out from England

Wally Hammond wore his felt hat like a chief

All through the summer of '28, '29 they gave the greencaps no relief

Some reputations came to grief

They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn

And in the hour of greatest slaughter the great avenger is being born

But who then could have seen the shape of things to come

In Bradman's first test he went for eighteen and for one

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">They dropped him like a gun

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Now big Maurice Tate was the trickiest of them all

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">And a man with a wisecracking habit

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">But there's one crack that won't stop ringing in his ears

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">"Hey Whitey, that's my rabbit"

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Bradman never forgot it

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was more than just a batsman

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was something like a tide

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was more than just one man

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He could take on any side

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">England 1930 and the seed burst into flower

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">All of Jackson's grace failed him, it was Bradman was the power

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He murdered them in Yorkshire,he danced for them in Kent<range type="comment" id="119561">

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He laughed at them in Leicestershire, Leeds was an event

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Three hundred runs he took and rewrote all the books

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">That really knocked those gents

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The critics could not comprehend hsi nonchalant phenomenon

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">"Why this man is a machine," they said. "Even his friends say he isn't human"

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Even friends have to cut something

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was more than just a batsman

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was something like a tide

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was more than just one man

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He could take on any side

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Summer 1932 and Captain Douglas had a plan

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">When Larwood bowled to Bradman it was more than man to man

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">And staid Adelaide nearly boiled over as rage ruled over sense

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">When Oldfield hit the ground they nearly jumped the fence

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Now Bill Woodill was as fine a man as ever went to wicket

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">And the bruises on his body that day showed that he could stick it

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">But to this day he's still quoted and only he could wear it

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">"There's two teams out there today and only one of them's playing cricket."

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was longer than a memory, bigger than a town

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He feet they used to sparkle and he always kept them on the ground

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Fathers took their sons who never lost the sound of the roar of the grandstand

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Now shadows they grow longer and there's so mush more yet to be told

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">But we're not getting any younger, so let the part tell the whole

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Now the players all wear colours, the circus is in town

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">I can no longer go down there, down to that sacred ground

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was more than just a batsman

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was something like a tide

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He was more than just one man

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He could take on any side

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">They always came for Bradman 'cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand