Original song by Cindy Tonkin
Go to Randy Dandy Shanties main page
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Do do do dah dah de do
Whistling in the laundry, whistling on the stairs
Washing her cares away
Daisy Irene, leaves home at 14
Eugowra to Sydney she goes
Takes a train there with Ida
To work in a laundry
And she washes her cares away.
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Do do do dah dah de do
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Washing her cares away
You first heat the water
Put in the washing
Soak them and scrub them a bit
Rub on the board
and boil in the copper
Washing her cares away
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
la la la la la la la
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Washing their cares away
Daisy Irene, meets Stan at 16
A sailor when the world is at war
Every shore leave
Means one more baby
And she washes her cares away
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Do do do dah dah de do
Whistling in the laundry, whistling on the stairs
Washing her cares away
Put in some soap flakes and
stir with the paddle
Feed through the mangle with care
Stir them again, in the boiling hot copper
Washing her cares away
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Do do do dah dah de do
Whistling in the laundry, whistling on the stairs
Washing her cares away
Daisy Irene, mother of 3
Gives birth to her 4th on the bridge
The paper reports that
The taxi’s a hero
And she washes her cares away.
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Do do do dah dah de do
Whistling in the laundry, whistling on the stairs
Washing her cares away
Now comes the rinsing
and wring out again
Then hang on the clothesline to dry
It’s a load of hard work
Her back aches and arms hurt
Washing her cares away.
Daisy Irene with a washing machine
And a Hills Hoist to hang out the sheets
Less back breaking work
But constant demand
Washing her cares away.
Whistling in the laundry, Whistling on the stairs
Do do do dah dah de do
Whistling in the laundry, whistling on the stairs
Washing her cares away
Go to Randy Dandy Shanties main page
Here’s a chorus and a verse
This is part of a series about Women’s Work I wrote for Shanties (where we sing a lot about men’s work).
Daisy Irene was my grandmother. As the song says, she left home in Eugowra with her sister Ida to work in a laundry in Sydney. It was 1939. She soon married Stanley George and they had many children over the years.
But the enduring thing was the laundry. One of my constant memories was Nana going up the 3 back steps into and out of the laundry, whistling as she’d go. She’d have some talkback radio (2sm?) going in the kitchen constantly, but what she whistled wasn’t always driven by that.
The photo below shows Daisy and some of her kids: This is Danny, Lynette, Dawn and Sue. (She gave birth to 6 kids in 8 years, 5 of whom survived).
The important thing to notice is the washing line with wooden props to keep the lines up. She had a copper and a mangle originally, then a twin tub washing machine (one to wash, one to spin), and finally a fully automatic.
Based on my photographs she got a hills hoist some time after 1970.
