10. Redgum - Long Run

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Description

Virgin Ground is the second album by Redgum, released in 1980.

It was originally released as on vinyl and cassette. It was available on CD between 1990 and 1992, and has been out of print ever since, although some tracks were included on the 2004 collection Against the Grain.

This album led to the band becoming more popular, giving up their day jobs, and becoming full-time musicians.

The title track tells the story of the New Australia Colony established in Paraguay in 1893 by a group of Australians led by William Lane, seeking a fresh start on "virgin ground" to establish a utopian society. Other tracks offer bleak insight into current social issues including chronic unemployment, the plight of migrant women, foreign domination of Australian business and government, and the apathy of 'middle Australia'.

Track listing
Virgin Ground
Maria
Stewie
Domination Quickstep
The Money's No Good
Nuclear Cop
Women In Change
Ted
It Doesn't Matter To Me
Long Run

Long Run

You look out your window at the cold grey dawn
It's seven o'clock on a Monday morning
Pour a cup of coffee, better make it a strong one
Weather man on the radio says it going to rain
And it's going to blow
It'll be all right, it'll be all right, it'll be all right in the long run

Australia marched out of Vietnam
Out in the streets against Uncle Sam
We won the fight, it was a long one
Uranium demo the other way
One of my mates got dragged away
As they slammed the door I heard her say
It'll be all right in the long run.

Italian bloke who works with me
We swap laughs and company
And he slapped me on the back
He said "You're wrong, son
This isn't the land I was told it would be
It's not so equal and it's not so free"
But it'll be all right, it'll be all right, it'll be all right in the long run"

From the shadow of history a convict screams
The shearers curse, the people dream
We've taken some right turns, they've been the wrong ones
Troop ships leave and the headlines blaze
Australia remembers happier days
And the faith lives on within the haze
It'll be all right in the long run

So you sit in your camp and you stare at the fire
The doubt drops away as the hopes get higher
And you sing to yourself
It'll be all right, be all right in the long run

And the sun gives ground to a long cold night
And you screw up your courage for another fight
But you know in your heart
It'll be all right, be all right in the long run

And the sun streams in with power and might
You look at your kids in a different light
You know in your heart as you kiss them goodnight
It'll be all right in the long run