Bushwhacker

Who has not slept in the Bush and listened to the small noises of the night? Those faint, rustling sounds….. For a child, those noises raise the question, who goes there? (Is it a Little Thing Close Up, or a Very Big Thing Far Away, perhaps getting closer?) I thought of what it was like to be a child in a tent in the dark, the only one awake, and the song wrote itself, though it ends in a way that I only wish had really happened!

Bushwhacker               ©1998 Dave Hadfield

Lying in my tent, only eight years old,
My parents are fast asleep.
Out there in the park I hear an evil noise,
I know I’m in trouble deep.
For though they lie beside me having pleasant dreams,
My flesh begins to creep:
Out there in the dark, hiding in the park,
Friendly as a shark — Bushwhacker!
 
I hear it creeping closer in the quiet night,
There’s nobody else around.
I’d like to call a ranger but they might not hear,
I don’t dare to make a sound.
When he makes his move I hope my brother’s first.
He’s much meaner than me.
Razor – sharpened claws, teeth like ripping saws,
Me within its jaws — Bushwhacker!
 
[instrumental – 1 verse]
 
I hear the leaves rustle outside our door,
My final moment has come.
It reaches out a hand under the nylon floor
Where my parents are lying numb.
Then I hear a scream that seems to split the night.
My mom is jumping around.           [pause]
In her sleeping bag, a mouse is playing tag.
A mouse that likes to brag – Bushwhacker!
 
©1998 Dave Hadfield

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