PROGRAMME LINER NOTES A FLOOD IS COMING
Mssrs. Lecoq, Nehua & Kaan 1
Wairarapa, damnable bog To trudge one mile is half a day’s slog Hot sun, wet rain, often in fog Just fish your eels and drink your grog
2
A flood is coming, mark my words A flood is coming, watch them birds A flood is coming, take it from me To flush us bog men out to sea
3
Midges bitin’ me all night long I used my net and now it’s gone I used my net to catch some eels I scratch a lot but at least eat meals
4
A flood is coming, mark my words A flood is coming, watch them birds A flood is coming, take it from me To flush us bog men out to sea
5
Soggy breeches, drenching rain Bitin’ creatures, drive you insane Priests and preachers want my soul Save your speeches, I’m damned I know
6
A flood is coming, mark my words A flood is coming, watch them birds A flood is coming, take it from me To wash us bog men out to sea
Whilst many of the early Pākeha settlers to the lower Wairarapa from Wellington were industrious and ambitious types eager to bend the land to their will and make something of themselves in their new country, there were also many wayfarers and itinerants that had for a variety of different reasons drifted into the district and coalesced near the boggy shores of the Wairarapa Moana. There they could guarantee a regular and easy supply of eel and fish. For most, the exile was self-imposed. There were exseaman, old sawyers, soldiers, prospectors and miners who had lived their entire lives out of doors and who could not or would not acculturate into ‘normal’ urban life in the city or larger provincial towns. There were ship-jumpers, vagabonds, deserters, escaped convicts and more than a few of
Unknown ‘Bog Men’, c.1903 the certifiably pōrangi. Considered by all ‘decent’ folk as a thoroughly godless and unsavoury lot, the ‘Bog Men’–as they came to be known as collectively–were generally left alone out on the swampy wetlands. In return for this tolerance, the Bog Men kept out of the surrounding towns and hamlets, only entering the likes of Featherston when they needed to stock up on basic necessities such as flour, oats, sugar and replacement parts for their ‘gut-rot’ stills. A Flood Is Coming (also known as the Damn Bog Ditty and Wairarapa Damnable Bog) was a drinking song regaling life out on the swamp. The lake and surrounding lands were prone to heavy seasonal floods and more than a few Bog Men were lost to these deluges in the winters before the Ruamahanga River was diverted. It was an Old Testament fate often prophesied for them by local clergymen hence the song’s cheeky chorus warning listeners to watch out for the impending floods. It is not known who the original composer of the song was (if indeed it can be attributed to a single composer); however, the most popular rendition was almost certainly that of Guillaume ‘GG’ Lecoq, Billy Nehua and George ‘Smiles’ Kaan featuring harmonica, guitar and tea chest bass.
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