Another cheerful ditty from Redgum's "Caught in the act" live album. The "step forward" stanzas
have a different chord progression to all the others.
Am G
Ward 8 at the QE, somwhere down Woodville
Am Em
Smokey grey Thursday, take out your sword
Am C
Stewie was born, there was blood on the sheets
G E7
Doctor was drunk and the sister was bored
Home was a weatherboard housing trust unit
A low cyclone fence with a sparse gravel drive
Dad was a truckie from Adelaide to Melbourne
Two trips a week just to keep them alive
First sentence for Stewie was going to school
In prison grey trousers he walked in the yard
His Mum shed a tear at his vaselined pushback
Clutching a ruler his name on a card
Dm Am G Am
Step forward Stewart Bedson the headmaster said
G Am
It seemed like Stewie was always in strife
Dm Am G Am
Step forward Stewart Bedson the magistrate said
G F E7 Am
This time 10 years, next time life
Grades 1-7 passed pretty quickly
Detention and caning and one million lines
Stewie could write just enough to get by
Stewie could read all the shoplifting signs
There was a bond for a biro, a fine for some fags
Another kids bike leading up to a car
Photographs, fingerprints and juvenile courthouse
A year in McNallies for going too far
Step forward Stewart Bedson the magistrate said
Over pine panneled wood leant the face of the law
We think you're a threat to property and justice
3 years up the creek while we make sure
Robbery and violence and retaliation
For beatings and bashings at the hands of the screws
Time in and time out time and again
Is this what they mean by paying your dues
Some people have plenty while others have none
For the same working week seen year after year
Worked over by coppers for tipping the scales
Life wasn't meant to be easy
Step forward Stewart Bedson the magistrate said
Over pine panneled wood leant the face of the law
We think you're a threat to property and justice
3 years up the creek while we make sure
Ward 8 at the QE, somwhere down Woodville
Smokey grey Thursday, take out your sword
Stewie was born, there was blood on the sheets
Doctor was drunk and the sister was bored