They're shifting old North Sydney, Perhaps 'tis just as well,They're carting off the houses Where the old folks used to dwell.Where only ghosts inhabit They lay the old shops low;But the Spirit of North Sydney, It vanished long ago.
The Spirit of North Sydney, The good old time and style,It camped, maybe, at Crow's Nest, But only for a while.It left about the season, Or at the time, perhaps,When old Inspector Cotter Transferred his jokes and traps.
A brand new crowd is thronging The brand new streets aglowWhere the Spirit of North Sydney Would gossip long ago.They will not know to-morrow, Tho' 'twere but yesterday,Exactly how McMahon's Point And its ferry used to lay.
The good old friendly spirit Its sorrows would unfold,When householders were neighbours And shop-keeping was old;But now we're busy strangers, Our feelings we restrain,The Spirit of North Sydney Shall never come again!