Bad photos and an Old Man
Australia is full of the wildest, strangest, impossible-to-ignore characters… and I’m not just talking about the people! (Coz you KNOW we’ve got that market covered… with the likes of Steve Irwin, Peter Andre, Germaine Greer and Russell Crowe… and of course my friend and her mad Dad, Kevin Bloody Wilson!).
Nope, I’m not talking about our human font of charismatic (and sometimes crazy) countrymen and women (God love ’em) who save us all from getting bored. I’m talking our amazing fauna. Take for instance our drive into our little local town for Pony Club today. There we were, minding our own business, tootling down the red dirt road in the truck. A couple of roos hopped across the road, causing barely a murmur from the passengers – but it did prompt me to remember the recent comment made by Twitterer extraordinaire Ashton Kutcher during his recent visit Down Under:
“Is it weird that quantas (sic) mascot is basically a gained (sic) jumping rat with a pouch.”
Well, no @aplusk it’s not. Perfectly normal actually. A plane company with a mascot that cannot fly… very Australian.
Anyway, there we are driving down the road, when Dash yells out suddenly:
“Look, look, LOOK… it’s Nee Mew!”
So I paused, trying to interpret, then gave up.
“Pardon darling? What is a Nee Mew?”
And he is all (wearing a puzzled, slightly frustrated expression):
“Not NEE MEW Mum! An EMU...” (insert eye roll here).
And by goodness, he was right. So after a flurry of activity as I tracked down where I had packed the Nikon, loaded the memory card (I know!) and lifted it to shoot in the right general direction, I fully expected the said bizarre bird (the one selected to feature on my nation’s coat of arms) to have hot-footed it out of sight.
But he hadn’t.
And while I fluffed around trying to make my camera FOCUS, he trotted along in front of the bullbar as if he was WAITING for me to get it together!
I’m not sure what the heck he was up to – maybe it was an old geriatric emu taking his constitutional stroll after Sunday breakfast, or a young bird who was a bit nervous to get off the beaten track in case he got lost…
But whatever the reason, the giant flightless feathered freak kept right on ostrich-stepping it out along the road ahead of us.
These are probably among the worst photos I have ever posted on this blog.
I could blame the fact that they are shot through an uncleaned lense, through a dirty truck windscreen with lots of rubbish on the dash reflecting all over the glass … but it is possibly because I was giggling the whole time. Really, how can one take an emu seriously?
They are surely some kind of weird joke played by Mother Nature.
And immediately, the following song came into my head…
And seeing as how I have it stuck in MY head, well, why the heck shouldn’t I share the craziness rattling round in my own bird brain? For those who don’t know, the singer/writer is an Aussie called John Williamson (Aussies, how YOUNG does he look here?) who is one of the few singers who doesn’t take on an American accent when singing. This is the funniest song – Williamson’s first big hit – and the words and songs and beat totally capture this ludicrious feathered freak of nature.
(Lyrics included below. Ipod download link here.)
OLD MAN EMU
Let me tell you of an interview with an Old Man Emu
He’s got a beak and feathers and things, but the poor old fella ain’t got no wings
“Aren’t you jealous of the wedge-tail eagle?” – dom ba da little da da da
(Spoken in tempo) “While the eagle’s flying round and round, I keep my two feet firmly on the ground
I can’t fly, but I’m telling you, I can run the pants off a kangaroo”.
doo dee ba doo doo doo , boo da da doot doo doo doo
He can’t fly, but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo.
Well he was the model for the fifty cents – oom ba da little da da da
The designer should have had more sense – oom ba da little da da da
If you take a look, it’ll prove to you, I ran the pants off that kangaroo.
Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo..
Take a look it’ll prove to you, he can run the pants off the kangaroo.
You can’t loop the loop like a cockatoo – Oom ba da little da da da
Swoop and toss like an albatross – Oom ba da little da da da
“You silly galah, I’m better by far, than a white cockatoo or a budgerigar;
They squeak and squawk and try to talk, why me and them’s like cheese and chalk”
Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo
He can’t fly but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo…
Well the last time I saw Old Man Emu – Oom ba da little da da da
He was chasing a female he knew – Oom ba da little da da da
As he shot past I heard him say “She can’t fly, but I’m telling you
She could run the pants off a kangaroo”. –
Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo
She can’t fly but I’m telling you, she can run the pants off a kangaroo
Well there is a moral to this ditty – Oom ba da little da da da
Thrush can sing but he ain’t pretty – Oom ba da little da da da
Duck can swim, but he can’t sing, nor can the eagle on the wing
Emu can’t fly, but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo.
Well the kookaburra laughed and said “It’s true, oom ba da little da da da,
Ha Ha Ha Ha Hah Hoo, He can run the pants off a kangaroo”
15 Comments
Jenny Talia
Love this post BB – as I do all of your ‘Aussie-est’ ones
Also – some of us (ie; ME!) would kill to take such *bad* pics!!
Tracey
Second photo – first non blurry – would have to rate up there as one of my favourites of all your photos! And I love the sequence of them all.
What I assume is a video of JW singing is just a big white rectangle, but seeing I know the song, I’m bloody going to end up serenading myself to sleep with that in my head now!
Bush Babe
Have to admit I like this one too – the sign with the wobbly arrow is perfect really! Just the technical side of things is terrible… ah well.
🙂
BB
mary
I love this post and I personally would give anything to be able to take pictures like that and call them “bad”. 🙂
John Williamson made his way into mine and Gary’s hearts many years ago when my cousin (who married an Aussie back in the 70s and lived on a sheep station for many years) sent us a cassette of his music. The cassette (worn out) is long gone, but we have fond memories of “Bill the Cat”. Gary still sings snatches of “Doin’ the Crocodile Roll” and “Boogie with m’baby”. Personally, “A Bushman can’t survive” (more recent) makes me tear up.
mary´s last blog post ..Dont help
Leenie
Oh, MY. That runs the pants off my hummingbird shots. I was almost there with you in the truck looking for my Nikon. And a memory card. Bad, bad part is I’ll have that song in my head all while I’m supposed to be thinking about other things in church today. 😀
Leenie´s last blog post ..THE GIFT OF THE MAGIC
Kelly
You may call them “bad” shots, but I call them “highly entertaining!”.
And how about that…one day short of getting to share the page with your emu header! (although that horsey eye is quite nice)
Kelly´s last blog post ..Fallen Into the Pit by Ellis Peters
Nancy in Iowa
Bad? They’re fantastic – it’s the only way I’ll see an emu running along in front of me! Love the red dirt foot….
Nancy in Iowa
Elizabeth
Mmmmm…Thanks for that BB…..
Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo…..Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo……………
She can’t fly but I’m telling you, she can run the pants off a kangaroo………….
ps….Great shots…..
…….Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo
jeanie
I didn’t even play the video and I have it stuck in my head.
(V just told me he doesn’t know the song – he he he – guess I will have to play it then, so I can have someone else inflicted)
jeanie´s last blog post ..Going Commando
Bush Babe
Do it, do it, DO IT!!!! (Cannot have too many Americans walking around humming Old Man Emu!)
🙂
BB
debby
Catchy little tune, and I’m telling you true, we ain’t got nothing here that can run the pants off a kangaroo.
Next chance I get I’ll take a picture of the emus here. How’s that?
debby´s last blog post ..Shock
Hippomanic Jen
I should have stopped reading. I knew I should have stopped because I am suseptable to songs being stuck in my head. Particularly when I don’t know all the words (was that “do ba doo be doo”?)
So thanks.
Very.
Much.
Sal
Really enjoying each of your quirky country blogs BB, love your bad photos too…hehehe…and yes, the red dirt on his foot hit a button with me too. How special is our country and all of it’s natural wonders(flora and fauna)? These just make me smile 🙂 So thanks! I had forgotten about these JW songs that were a regular part of our car journeys when we were kids. These were the first to emphasise to my brother and I JUST how bad our Dad’s attempt at singing can be! Amazing how a blog about a quickly found camera and not quite the right settings can bring back such special childhood memories for me! 🙂
Julie
I love it! I know what you mean about giggling the whole time you are taking the photos. I did that on my Faces of Wii post. Oh I could laugh just thinking about it.
Julie´s last blog post ..Morning Grasshopper!
Kate
I don’t think these are terrible!
I love them!!
Kate´s last blog post ..Scary bird