Henry's Songbook

Chorus:
And the pennies that she makes will help to fill the pension void
For it's not the love of working keeps her constantly employed
Seven days a week she's there just to earn her meagre pay
By selling daily papers on the corner at White Bay

There must be a million stories in that weather-beaten face
But in all the years I've watched her I've never heard her voice
Slipping in between the cars but never in the way
She sells the daily papers on the corner at White Bay
Her shoes are built for comfort as she marches up and down
Her little wizened figure scarcely more than skin and bone
She looks as though the wind's about to sweep her right away
As she sells the daily papers on the corner at White Bay

Like Sally with her costume bag or the man with his four-wheeled cart
Or the man who wrote "Eternity" she's a beat of Sydney's heart
And I wonder if she knows that people think of her this way
As she sells the daily papers on the corner at White Bay

[1986:] Written in 1984. Beatrice Bush is one of the best known of Sydney's 'characters'. Countless motorists have bought their morning and evening papers from her, and she's been part of my daily life for a number of years. Contemporary folk songs are about the people, places, and issues which colour our daily lives, and Beatrice certainly does that for me. (Judy Small Songbook 54)