Stewie Songtext
von Redgum

Ward 8 at the QE
Somewhere down Woodville
A smokey grey Thursday
Take out your sword
Stuey was born
There was blood on the sheets
Doctor was drunk
And the sister was bored
Home was a weatherboard housing trust unit
A low cyclone fence and a sparse gravel drive
Dad was a truckie from Adelaide to Melbourne
Two trips a week just to keep ′em alive
First sentence for Stuey was going to school
In prison grey trousers he walked in the yard
His mum shed a tear at his Vaseline pushback
Clutching a ruler, his name on a card
Step four Stuart Bateson
The headmaster said
It seemed like Stuey was always in strife
Step four Stuart Bateson


The magistrate said
This time ten years, next time life
Grades one to seven passed pretty quickly
Detention and caning and one million lines
Stuey could write just enough to get by
Stuey could read all the shoplifting signs
There was a bond for a biro and a fine for some fags
Another kid's bike leading up to a car
Photographs, fingerprints, juvenile courthouse
A year in McNally′s for going too far
Step four Stuart Bateson
The magistrate said
Over pine, panel wood bent the face of the law
We think you're a threat to property and justice
Three years up the creek, while we make sure
Robbery with violence in retaliation
For beatings and bashings at the hands of the screws
Time in and time out and time in again
Is this what they mean by paying your dues?
Some people had plenty while others had none
For the same working week it seemed year after year
Worked over by coppers for tipping the scales
Life wasn't meant to be easy
Step four Stuart Bateson
The magistrate said
Over pine, panel wood bent the face of the law
We think you′re a threat to property and justice
Three years up the creek, while we make sure
Ward 8 at the QE
Somewhere down Woodville
A smokey grey Thursday
Take out your sword
Stuey was born
There was blood on the sheets
Doctor was drunk
And the sister was bored