The Butcher and Fast Eddy (Re-Recorded)

The city of Melbourne is divided north from the south

By the mighty Yarra River

Now this is a story about two boys

One was called the Butcher, he came from the northern suburbs

And the other was a guy called Fast Eddie

And he came from south of the river

So this is the story of the Butcher and Fast Eddie

The story starts in the suburbs north of the river

That's where the smokestacks rape the air

There's gangs of short-haired boys wild in the streets

And you stayed out of their way

They were out to take their share

And the Butcher, he was a leader

And he had a reputation for being hard but fair

'Cause putting your life is just a gamble

And so he lived every day of his young life without a care

So this then is the story of the Butcher and Fast Eddie

South of the river lived Fast Eddie

And he was known to be treacherous and mean

To feed his heroin habit

He put his young sister working out on Fitzroy Street

A sliver of a lass, just sixteen

And he ran with the Frankston gang

And he bragged, "I am better than most"

And he bragged that one day he would fix Butcher

Simply, this was nothing more than a shallow braggart's boast

There's only the quick and the dead

I saw Eddie going down

"Now I'm gonna win this fight," bragged Eddie

"'Cause I'm gonna take a knife

I'm gonna hide a gun"

The Butcher turned to his mates

He said, "Boys, I got two good fists

If you know one thing about me

You know I ain't scared of anyone"

And it was a Saturday night for their meeting

"I cannot lose," bragged Eddie, "I am the best"

But the cold light of Sunday morning found Eddie

Cold with a knife buried deep in his chest

There's only the quick and the dead

I saw Eddie going down

Yeah, but that's not the end of the story

You see, there's one more part I should tell

The law, the law never did catch up with Butcher