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The Riff Song

From the Desert Song

Lyrics

Over the ground
There comes a sound
It is the drum, drum, drum of hoof-beats in the sand.

Quiver with fear
If you are near
It is the thunder of the “Shadow” and his band.

And all who plunder learn to understand, to understand:
The cry of

Ho!
So we sing as we are riding
Ho!
It’s a time you best be hiding Low,
It means the Riffs are abroad,
Go,
Before you’ve bitten the sword.
Ho!
That’s the sound that comes to warn you.
So!
In the night or early morning, you know,
If you’re the “Red Shadow’s” foe,
The Riffs will strike with a blow,
That brings you woe.

Ho!
So we sing as we are riding
Ho!
It’s a time you best be hiding Low,
It means the Riffs are abroad,
Go,
Before you’ve bitten the sword.
Ho!
That’s the sound that comes to warn you.
So!
In the night or early morning, you know,
If you’re the “Red Shadow’s” foe,
The Riffs will strike with a blow,
That brings you woe.

Here is a version by the Columbus Light Opera

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The choir is a registered charity

The Ku-ring-gai Male Choir acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past, present and emerging – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.