Nonsense Song

Here are links to sheet music lyrics, with chords, and practice tracks for my Nonsense Song.

Click here for the latest version of the sheet music.

Click here for lyrics for the Seat of Whitlam event.

Practice Suggestion: Practice your part, singing all the choruses of the song, with the practice track for your part.  Then practice your part against the “All Parts”.

Chorus: All Parts, Sung

Chorus: Melody, Sopranos and Altos

Chorus: Tenors

Chorus: Bass

Verse and Chorus: Instrumental, All Parts

Verse and Chorus: Instrumental, Melody (Soprano and Alto)

Verse and Chorus: Instrumental, Tenor

Verse and Chorus: Instrumental, Bass

Lyrics: Douglas McPherson & Friends

A Nonsensical One Term Government Song V. 2.1

  1. Once we were ruled by a mad Abbott, 2 Bishops and a dodgy party,
    They said they were good for Australia, but it all seemed like nonsense to me.

Well it was nonsense, nonsense, it all seemed like nonsense to me, to me
Nonsense, nonsense, it all seemed like nonsense to me!

  1. Now we’ve got Mr Harbourside Mansion, but the policies remain the same,
    Government for the rich, by the rich, most of us in the ditch, money bag Malcolm’s to blame.

Oh well it’s nonsense, nonsense, it all seems like nonsense to me, to me,
Nonsense, nonsense, it all seems like nonsense to me!

  1. We’ve got a refugee issue, and we’re sending them back overseas,
    For a nation of convicts and migrants, that all sounds like hypocrisy.

Oh well it’s nonsense, nonsense, it all seems like nonsense to me, to me,
Nonsense, nonsense, it all seems like nonsense to me!

  1. Now I like women and I like men, and everyone who’s in between,
    But if I can’t marry the one that I love, it all seems like nonsense to me.

Oh well it’s nonsense, nonsense, it all seems like nonsense to me, to me,
Nonsense, nonsense, it all seems like nonsense to me!

  1. They’ve been just a terrible government, with policies simply the worst,
    We’ve got the stamina, so send them to Panama, In July let’s put people first!

Let’s end this nonsense, nonsense, it all seems like nonsense to me, to me,
We’ve got the stamina, to send them to Panama, In July let’s put people first!


Music: Traditional: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”, adapted and arranged: Dougie McPherson

Musical Note: Scholars suggest the original song, (which this song is very loosely based on), is in fact both a protest song and a lament for the exiled Bonnie Prince Charlie following the massacre of Scots subsequent to a military defeat at the battle of Culloden in 1746.[1]

Lyricist/Arranger’s Note: I’ve only marched in the streets three times in 59 years. The first time was during the Moratoriums against the Vietnam War in Melbourne, and the second time was the second ever Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, when it was still very much a protest march and we marched in fear of a repeat of the previous year when protesters were arrested and beaten by police.

And the last one was the  “March in March” protest against the atrocities of the Abbott Government; suffice to say I’m not happy with a lot of what is happening in Australia at the moment.


[1] Herman Finer (1956). Governments of greater European powers: a comparative study of the governments and political culture of Great Britain, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union, Volume 1. Holt. p. 178.,-cited by Wikipedia. Viewed 20th March 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bonnie_Lies_over_the_Ocean

By admin

An educator, musician, music composer and arranger, and broadcaster.

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