Ward eight at the QE, somewhere down Woodville
A smoky grey Thursday take out your sword
Stewie was born there was blood on the sheets
The doctor was drunk and the sister was bored
Home was a weatherboard housing trust unit
A low cyclone fence and a sparse gravel drive
And dad was a truckie from Adelaide to Melbourne
Two trips a week just to keep them alive
The first sentence for Stewie was going to school
In prison grey trousers he walked in the yard
His mum shed a tear at his vaselined push back
Clutching a ruler, his name on a card
"Step forward Stewart Bedson" the head-master said
It seemed like Stewie was always in strife
"Step forward Stewart Bedson the magistrate said
And this time ten years - next time life"
And grades one to seven passed pretty quickly
Detention and caning and one million lines
Stewie could write just enough to get by
Stewie could read all the shoplifting signs
There was a bond for a biro and a fine for some f***
Another kid's bike leading up to a car
And photographs, fingerprints, juvenile court-house
A year in McNallys for going too far
"Step forward Stewart Bedson" the magistrate said
Over pine-panelled wood leaned the face of the law
"We think you're a threat to property and justice:
Three years up the creek while we make sure"
A robbery with violence in retaliation
For beatings and bashings at the hands of the screws
Time in and time out and time and again
Is this what they meant by paying your dues?
Some people had plenty while others had none
For the same working week, it seemed year after year
Worked over by coppers for tipping the scales
Life wasn't meant to be easy
"Step forward Stewart Bedson" the magistrate said
Over pine-panelled wood leaned the face of the law
"We think you're a threat to property and justice:
Three years up the creek while we make sure"
Ward eight at the QE, somewhere down Woodville
A smoky grey Thursday take out your sword
Stewie was born there was blood on the sheets
The doctor was drunk and the sister was bored
A smoky grey Thursday take out your sword
Stewie was born there was blood on the sheets
The doctor was drunk and the sister was bored
Home was a weatherboard housing trust unit
A low cyclone fence and a sparse gravel drive
And dad was a truckie from Adelaide to Melbourne
Two trips a week just to keep them alive
The first sentence for Stewie was going to school
In prison grey trousers he walked in the yard
His mum shed a tear at his vaselined push back
Clutching a ruler, his name on a card
"Step forward Stewart Bedson" the head-master said
It seemed like Stewie was always in strife
"Step forward Stewart Bedson the magistrate said
And this time ten years - next time life"
And grades one to seven passed pretty quickly
Detention and caning and one million lines
Stewie could write just enough to get by
Stewie could read all the shoplifting signs
There was a bond for a biro and a fine for some f***
Another kid's bike leading up to a car
And photographs, fingerprints, juvenile court-house
A year in McNallys for going too far
"Step forward Stewart Bedson" the magistrate said
Over pine-panelled wood leaned the face of the law
"We think you're a threat to property and justice:
Three years up the creek while we make sure"
A robbery with violence in retaliation
For beatings and bashings at the hands of the screws
Time in and time out and time and again
Is this what they meant by paying your dues?
Some people had plenty while others had none
For the same working week, it seemed year after year
Worked over by coppers for tipping the scales
Life wasn't meant to be easy
"Step forward Stewart Bedson" the magistrate said
Over pine-panelled wood leaned the face of the law
"We think you're a threat to property and justice:
Three years up the creek while we make sure"
Ward eight at the QE, somewhere down Woodville
A smoky grey Thursday take out your sword
Stewie was born there was blood on the sheets
The doctor was drunk and the sister was bored