# Click Go the Shears > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Click_Go_the_Shears > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Click_Go_the_Shears.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_Go_the_Shears > Source revision: 1346899525 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Australian country song [Tom Roberts](/source/Tom_Roberts): *[Shearing the Rams](/source/Shearing_the_Rams)* (1890) "**Click Go the Shears**" is a traditional [Australian country](/source/Australian_country_music) song. The song details a day's work for a [sheep shearer](/source/Sheep_shearer) in the days before [machine shearing](/source/The_Wolseley_Sheep_Shearing_Machine_Company). ## Song The enduring popularity of the song reflects the traditional role that the [wool](/source/Wool) industry has played in Australian life. The song describes the various roles in the [shearing shed](/source/Shearing_shed), including the "ringer", the "boss of the board", the "colonial experience man" and the "tar boy". After the day's shearing, the "old shearer" takes his [cheque](/source/Cheque) and heads to the local [pub](/source/Pub) for a drinking session. The tune is from the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) song "Ring the Bell, Watchman", by [Henry Clay Work](/source/Henry_Clay_Work), and the first verse follows closely, in parody, Work's lyrics as well. It was originally named "The Bare Bellied Ewe",[1] and only became popular in the 1950s, more than half a century later. A pair of blade shears The second verse in the original 19th-century song is as follows: Click goes his shears; click, click, click. Wide are the blows, and his hand is moving quick, The ringer looks round, for he lost it by a blow, And he curses that old shearer with the bare belled ewe. The usual chorus of the song is as follows: Click go the shears boys, click, click, click, Wide is his blow and his hands move quick, The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow, And curses the old snagger with the bare-bellied yoe In June 2013, folklorist Mark Gregory discovered that a version of the song was first published in 1891 in the regional Victorian newspaper the *[Bacchus Marsh Express](/source/Bacchus_Marsh_Express)* under the title "The Bare Belled Ewe" and the tune given as "Ring the Bell Watchman." That version was signed "C. C. Eynesbury, Nov. 20, 1891,"[1] *Eynesbury* being a rural property in the [Bacchus Marsh](/source/Bacchus_Marsh) area.[2] It is possible that "C.C." was the author of the song. There was a [shearers' strike](/source/1891_Australian_shearers'_strike) in 1891 so the publication of the song in that year would have resonated with the [Australian](/source/Australians) community.[3] The song was next published in 1939 in two Australian newspapers and then, in 1946, as a traditional song "collected and arranged" by [musicologist](/source/Musicology) the Reverend Dr Percy Jones. The lyrics vary widely: "bare-bellied yoe" (yoe is a dialect word for [ewe](/source/Domestic_sheep)) is often "bare-bellied joe" or even "blue-bellied ewe". The last line in the verse about the "colonial experience" man "smelling like a whore" is often [bowdlerised](/source/Bowdlerised) to "smelling like a sewer" or completely rewritten.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] The song has been recorded by many artists, notably in 1952 by the [American](/source/United_States_of_America) [folk musician](/source/Folk_music) [Burl Ives](/source/Burl_Ives), for his album *[Australian Folk Songs](/source/Australian_Folk_Songs)*.[4] Other versions were recorded by the [British](/source/Great_Britain) [folklorist](/source/Folklorist) [A. L. Lloyd](/source/A._L._Lloyd) in 1956[5] and American singer William Clauson in 1958.[6] In January 2014, [Chloe and Jason Roweth](/source/Chloe_and_Jason_Roweth) sang the 1891 version of the song for an [ABC TV](/source/ABC_Television_(Australian_TV_network)) story.[3] 1966 government advertisement jingle on the change to decimal currency to the tune of Click Go the Shears. The full song is at 3:30. When Australia replaced the [pound](/source/Australian_pound) with the [dollar](/source/Australian_dollar) in 1966, a jingle that accompanied the changeover was written to the same tune:[7] In come the dollars; in come the cents, To replace the [pounds and the shillings and the pence](/source/%C2%A3sd), Be prepared folks, when the coins begin to mix, On the fourteenth of February, nineteen-sixty-six. In 1973, when [Gough Whitlam](/source/Gough_Whitlam), the then Australian Prime Minister, visited the [People's Republic of China](/source/People's_Republic_of_China), "Click Go the Shears" was played through loudspeakers along the route of the Prime Minister's motorcade from Peking International Airport to his hotel.[8] In 1988, Australian-British singer [Olivia Newton-John](/source/Olivia_Newton-John) included the song in her [Olivia Down Under](/source/Olivia_Down_Under) television special. ## See also - [Tom Roberts](/source/Tom_Roberts) - [Sheep shearer](/source/Sheep_shearer) - [Rolf Harris](/source/Rolf_Harris) - [Reedy River](/source/Reedy_River_(musical)) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-marsh_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-marsh_1-1) ["The Bare Belled Ewe"](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89280995). *The Bacchus Marsh Express*. 5 December 1891. p. 7. Retrieved 17 June 2024 – via Trove. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Eynesbury"](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88346409). *The Bacchus Marsh Express*. 11 April 1896. p. 1. Retrieved 17 June 2024 – via Trove. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-roweth_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-roweth_3-1) ["Click Go The Shears dates from time of shearers strike in 1890s, newly unearthed lyrics reveal"](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-31/unearthed-lyrics-reveal-early-version-of-click-go-the-shears/5230018). *ABC News*. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Still Another LP Group - New Records"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/987920404/?match=1&terms=%22Click%20Go%20The%20Shears%22%20%22Burl%20Ives%22). *The Sunday Herald (Sydney)*. 23 November 1952. p. 14. Retrieved 2 March 2025. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["A. L. Lloyd - Australian Bush Songs"](https://www.discogs.com/release/6045467-A-L-Lloyd-Australian-Bush-Songs). *Discogs*. Retrieved 2 March 2025. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["This Week's Reviews - What's new on records"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/122703240/?match=1&terms=%22Click%20Go%20The%20Shears%22%20%22Lloyd%22). *The Sydney Morning Herald*. 22 June 1958. p. 97. Retrieved 2 March 2025. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Dollar Bill Turns 50 Years Old"](https://museum.rba.gov.au/exhibitions/the-decimal-revolution/dollar-bill/). Reserve Bank of Australia. Retrieved 17 June 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Barnes, Allan (1 November 1973). ["Whitlam gets a gay China welcome"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/828406181/?match=1&terms=%22Click%20Go%20The%20Shears%22%20China%20Whitlam). *The Age*. p. 1. Retrieved 2 March 2025. Authority control databases MusicBrainz work --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Click Go the Shears](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_Go_the_Shears) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_Go_the_Shears?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.