Twenty Million People

Have you ever had the feeling, being introduced to someone,

That possibly you’ve already met?

Though you really can’t be certain, and the name is not familiar,

There’s something about that face you can’t forget.

And it turns out that, really, when you trace each other’s histories,

Back through work, school, kindergarten, to the cot!

Of all the people that’s around there’s only twenty million people

And twenty million people‘s not a lot.

You walk in to a bar, and a bloke says, “G'day, Charlie!”

You answer that Charlie’s not your name.

He says that he is sorry, and he's sure your name is Charlie

And he’s positive that he’s met you just the same.

And it turns out his sister’s married to your girlfriend’s second cousin -

Well of course!  Now he remembers you. 

You were sitting four places down the table, in a grey suit,

At the wedding in 1982.

And you’re at this country dance, and you’re dancing with a stranger,

To tell the truth, you wouldn’t know from Eve.

But with a faint heart,  and all that stuff, you say, “Haven’t we met someplace?”

And she answers, “Why, yes, I do believe!”

And it turns out that once you were on a train to Brisbane,

That didn’t have a dining car, was dry.

She was a waitress at South Grafton station

And you ordered black coffee and a pie,

And you’re in this one horse town, and the horse has long since bolted,

There’s nothing there but a hotel and a gaol.

And a copper, a publican, and a liver coloured Kelpie -

And the dog comes up to you and wags his tail.

And it turns out that, really, well the dog he’s never met you.

He just thought he’d wander over to say “Hi!”

But it turns out the copper and the publican they both know you,

But didn’t like to say so ‘cause they’re shy.

Twenty Million People: D. Henderson

When Don first wrote this song in 1966 it was “Eleven Million People”.  In 1974 when the South Grafton Railway restaurant closed it was “Fourteen Million People”.  While Australia is a large place, with the current population only twenty odd million, the sentiments expressed in the song are as valid as ever.