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