Cold Chisel produced the canonical example of Australian pub rock, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and they are acknowledged as one of the most popular and successful Australian groups of the period, although this success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to Australia. The band formed in Adelaide in 1973 as a heavy metal band called Orange around keyboard player Don Walker and original bassist Les Kascmarek and while hard rock remained at the core of their sound Cold Chisel displayed a remarkable versatility. When Kascmarek left in 1975, Walker became the major creative force of the band. Built around Walker's superb songwriting, the group also featured the dazzling guitar and vocal talents of Ian Moss and the enormously powerful lead vocals of Scottish immigrant Jimmy Barnes. While typically classified as a hard-driving rock and roll band, the Chisel repertoire included such Australian anthems as the landmark Vietnam War song "Khe Sanh", "Bow River", "Flame Trees" and "Saturday Night", but also included thoughtful ballads like "Choir Girl" (written about the subject of abortion), pop-flavoured love songs like "My Baby" and caustic political statements like "Star Hotel", an attack on the late-70s government of Malcolm Fraser and inspired by a riot at a Newcastle pub.
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Houndog Lyrics
Cold Chisel
Hump that coffin up round one more bend
Hump that coffin up round one more bend
If your head needs a bandage
Try a roadhouse open sandwich
Dodge the waitress and hit the road again
I got dog's disease and asphalt on my shoes
I got dog's disease and asphalt on my shoes
I got the houndog sittin' on the side of the road
Houndog sittin' on the side of the road
Houndog sittin' on the side of the highway blues
Yeah the highway blues
I coulda flown East-West
But the ticket was outa my range
I coulda gone rail
But they said I looked a little strange
The Budget girl's just got the sack
The interstate bus just breaks my back
I'm sick of getting home
Counting my remaining change
I got the houndog . . .
Ride the line to Hornsby station
Find my circus animals again
Undenied
Don't need no communication
Through the ghost-towns, and fade away
I'm outside
The railway don't come out here no more
And it's cold
Through Nambucca, up the coast
Grass is greener
Girls are sweeter
I did it all the last ten summers
Leave the waves and change the culture
Choose a far off name that suites ya
Bali, Bangkok, overland
Asian highway, Amsterdam
Always some town unexplored
And in the end
It's the motion is it's own reward
It's just the motion
I've had petrol-heads and country hicks
Bible-freaks and lunatics
Fifty miles to go and I'll be home
I'll be home
I got the houndog sittin' on the side of the road
Houndog sittin' on the side of the road
Houndog sittin' on the side of the highway blues