Ballad of a Lunatic
Listen to Rupert McCall reciting the ballad
In the midst of life’s great journey
I’ve been down a track or two
I’ve been on the odd slow pony
I’ve been known to have a brew
I’ve been through some situations
Weathered fires, floods and storms
And I’ll tell ya, I’ve seen lunatics
In many different forms
I’ve seen blokes with white line fever
I’ve met madmen on the sauce
I knew one that climbed a flagpole
It’s a move I don’t endorse
But of all the head knock merchants
With a screw loose in their plans
There was one who came along and said
“I’m gonna walk from Cairns”
Well the room paused for a second
With the news he came to bring em
“Walk from Cairns to where?” I said
Expecting maybe Ingham
But he stood up with conviction
And his back looked pretty stiff
When he qualified his vow -
“I’ll walk from Cairns down to the ‘Cliffe
Now if you don’t think I’ll make it
Get your money out to bet!”
And his face looked quite determined
As he stubbed a cigarette
Then he looked towards his bar fridge
His good mate for many years
He walked across with gritted teeth
And holding back the tears
Remembering the love they shared
So many times before
He said one final prayer
Then placed a padlock on the door
Well you could have heard a pin drop
As he binned his amber bliss
What on earth could drive a man
To do a thing like this?
What could cause your average bloke
To swap his life of leisures
For the blisters of a walking shoe
In catastrophic measures?
The answer came in three words
And with ample inspiration
He spoke without a doubt
Redcliffe Hospital Foundation
Redcliffe Hospital Foundation
It was written on the street
Redcliffe Hospital Foundation
He refused to see defeat
And in that atmosphere of shaking heads
Adversity to burn
He thought about perspective
And he looked to Doctor Chern
Then he pulled the map of Queensland out
He ran his pen down through it
And confirmed his proclamation
“I believe that I can do it”
Yes the world is full of lunatics
Make no mistake at that
But when it comes to Ronny Jelich
I’ll be taking off my hat
There’ll be mountains, there’ll be hurdles
There’ll be pain and there’ll be doubt
There’ll be blisters on his blisters
But I wouldn’t back him out
Three words of inspiration
Redcliffe Hospital Foundation
© Rupert McCall 2007