Eric Bogle - Our National Pride lyrics

You ask me if I'll feel pride when our country's flag is raised Above the winner's rostrum and our national anthems played While the winners stand with flo'ers in hand and medals 'round their necks We can all share in their glory but not their sponsors' checks And the press will call them herosl; we'll puff out our collective chest For living in a land that breeds the fastest and the best And while I dip my old Akubra to their talent and their sk** I can't call them heroes and guess I never will But you asked me the question So I'll tell you no lies I'll feel many, many, things But I won't feel pride You see, last year, in Victoria, down a smoke-filled forest track Some real heroes and real h**nes tried to turn the bushfire back All through the day they fought the blaze, exhaustion, heat, and fear Ord'nary Aussie men and women; CFS volunteers But the fire turned like a cornered snake; rolled down the mountain side And in that choking, smoking, hell, five brave men died Not for medals, not for money, not for glory not for fame And tell me who amongst you now remembers their names But I want to run to mountain top and shout their names out loud They made me feel Australian, and that made me feel proud Now the volunteers got lots of press who said the tragedy had shown Australians still would give their all to save their neighbors' homes They got thanks and praise and eulogies for their true, blue, Aussie, pluck They got everything but money to buy new and safer trucks For every gold Olympic medal that we won four years ago Someone worked out each one cost fifty million dollars or so Seems like a hefty price to pay just to flaunt our pedigree Somewhere our values have gone to hell, but maybe it's just me Black smoke for the funeral pyre; white ash for the shroud Feel anger, grief, and pain and lost, but feel proud Not for medals, not for money, not for glory, not for fame They don't see themselves as heroes, and wouldn't answer to the name It's been much abused and overused but I use it non the less For every man and women in the Australian CFS No fist raised in fleeting triumph above the cheering crowd Just years of quiet courage that should make us feel proud Yes I want to run to mountain top and shout their names out loud They made me feel Australian, and that made me feel proud