mgpcpastor's blog

The Three Drovers is one of the Australian Christmas Songs composed by John Wheeler and William James.
If you attended Christmas services during the 1960s and 1970s you’d have heard this and its companions.
I wouldn’t use it as part of a church service, but I enjoy singing it as part of other functions that are held this time of year.
This isn’t really a pastiche of the wise men/magi account as much as it is a contemporary response to that narrative. It doesn’t reset it in Australia, but provides an Australian response.
I like that.
My copy is on a ABC double CD called The First Noel: A Choral Christmas.
The lyrics.
1.
Across the plains one Christmas night
Three drovers riding blithe and gay,
Looked up and saw a starry light
More radiant than the Milky Way;
And on their hearts such wonder fell,
They sang with joy. ‘Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!’
2.
The air was dry with summer heat,
And smoke was on the yellow moon;
But from the heavens, faint and sweet,
Came floating down a wond’rous turn;
And as they heard, they sang full well
Those drovers three. ‘Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!’
3.
The black swans flew across the sky,
The wild dog called across the plain,
The starry lustre blazed on high,
Still echoed on the heavenly strain;
And still they sang, ‘Noel! Noel!’
Those drovers three. ‘Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!’

Words by John Wheeler.
Music by William G.James.
© 1948 Chappell & Co Ltd., Chappell Music Ltd., London W1Y 3FA.
This is the Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir rendition.