The Whiskey Trick
written by Al Parrish and Steve Ritchie
Chorus
We've been workin' all week and the boys need a drink
A couple quarts of whiskey we'd be in the pink
But we got no money and there's nothin' to sell
And a lumberjack's credit is worthless
Three long months we've been cuttin' down the pine
But we won't get our money for six weeks time
"Tonight there's no whiskey" says young Willie Klein
"And we got no money to spend"
I says "Fetch me a kettle and a lesson you'll learn
How a clever lumberjack keeps the money that he earns
Old Keller taught me this, now I'll teach you in turn
We're off to McCafferty's bar"
Chorus
Into the bar with young Willie in tow
The kettle in hand to McCafferty I go
"We'll be needing some whiskey for the boys don't you know
Three quarts in the kettle if you please"
McCafferty pours us three quarts neat
Then I tell him we'll come back and we'll pay him in a week
Says he "Stupid lumberjack you got some cheek"
And he pours his three quarts back
Chorus
Do you think a lumberjack is no brain and all brawn?
Are you thinkin' that the drink we'd got was all gone?
Well we had two quarts of water in the kettle all along
And what's left is three-fifths whiskey
We've been workin' all week now boys have a drink
Here is your whiskey now we're in the pink
We'll drink even when there's no money about
For a sly lumberjack gets his whiskey without
Hard Work
written by Al Parrish
Have you heard the worker's call?
Do any work that we can
We do the hard work though some will fall
We take our lives in our hands
Sailed the seas for the fish and the trade
Do any work that we can
Many men slipped beneath the waves
We take our lives in our hands
Chorus
From everywhere around the world
We come here to build this land
We've done the hard work through the years
With our strong backs and our skilled hands
Cut the timber in the snow and frost
Do any work that we can
Many a strong lumberjack was lost
We take our lives in our hands
Spring til fall toiling on the farm
Do any work that we can
With the big machines that can do us harm
We take our lives in our hands
Chorus
Railroad blasters laid the mountains low
Do any work that we can
Most of those navvies never went home
We take our lives in our hands
In Nanaimo, Hillcrest, Springhill and Westray
Do any work that we can
Dug the coal many died that way
We take our lives in our hands
Chorus
We have worked so hard for so long
Do any work that we can
Put our lives on the line to make this land strong
We take our lives in our hands
Chorus
Chorus
Dance Like
Flames
written by Terry Young and Joe Grant
Angèlique Labelle charm of my childhood dreams
Last year at Trois Rivières
Cryin' maybe dyin' for my leaving seemed
To bend you back against the wind
Far away from my love of the forest life
Where we the voyageurs
Savour the high wine and sing to the night
Chorus
We dance like flames beneath a sea of stars
Burn bright against the dark and the cold
Oh sweet kiss of summer will let you part again
To linger in our hearts for tomorrow
The river twists and turns like a restless dream of love
If I could hold you now comme les rayons du soleil brillant
I dream you free as the wind
You move through the pines above
And sing to me this song
In the rhythm of the paddle and in the fire beyond
Chorus
Starin' at this broken moon rippled in the waters cold
Angèlique why must you fight
Fight against my very soul
Angèlique Labelle charm of my childhood heart
A thousand miles from you
How the wind seemed to whisper we're just a breath apart
Mais ici à rendezvous I ponder is this dream enough?
For music fills the air and dark eyes are singing to me of new love
Chorus
The
Songwriter
written by Joe Grant and Bryan Weirmier
Down in the Glebe among sexy boutiques
She used to cut hair in a place that was chic
But light conversation her daily refrain
Seems most of her clients had candy-floss brains
Then came the death of her great uncle Bob
He left her a fortune so she quit her job
She travelled the world just hoping to find
Her creative side her deeper mind
On an English canal she saw her dream
A boat that was called The Songwriter
Chorus
Songwriter, Songwriter riding the waves
Taking my mind to some other place
Where the lights on the shore look stronger & brighter
From the deck of the boat they call The Songwriter
Up in west Yorkshire she met a man
His only ambition was to play in the band
He'd a fiddle a banjo and several guitars
Had years of lessons but he never got far
She said "I don't know maybe you're just afraid
What people might say if you got up onstage
But I saw this boat we could offer to buy
It's a long shot I know, but I'd love to try
Just you and me on the wild, ragin' sea
On a boat called The Songwriter"
Chorus
She'll tell you that some dreams are just meant to fail
The Songwriter - it wasn't for sale
So she spent all her money on a place by the sea
An ancient stone cottage a quaint B & B
Now travellers they come from all over the world
And bright conversation around her swirls
She married the Yorkshireman now he builds boats
Models to scale and the one he loves most
Sits high on a shelf he named it himself
It's called The Songwriter
Chorus
Paddle
Like Hell!
traditional; arranged by Steve Ritchie, Sandra Swannell and Terry Young
Originally released as C'est l'aviron/V'là l'bon vent on Canoesongs Volume
II, Portage Productions, April 2006
M'en revenant de la jolie Rochelle
M'en revenant de la jolie Rochelle
J'ai rencontré trois jolies demoiselles
C'est l'aviron qui nous mène qui nous mène
C'est l'aviron que nous mène en haut
J'ai rencontré trois jolies demoiselles
J'ai rencontré trois jolies demoiselles
J'ai point choisi mais j'ai pris la plus belle
C'est l'aviron qui nous mène qui nous mène
C'est l'aviron que nous mène en haut
J'ai point choisi mais j'ai pris la plus belle
J'ai point choisi mais j'ai pris la plus belle
J'l'y fis monter derrière moi sur ma selle
C'est l'aviron qui nous mène qui nous mène
C'est l'aviron que nous mène en haut
V'là l'bon vent v’là l'joli vent
V'là l'bon vent m'amie m'appelle
V'là l'bon vent v’là l'joli vent
V'là l'bon vent m'amie m'attend
Derrière chez nous y'a-t-un étang
Derrière chez nous y'a-t-un étang
Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant
Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant
Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant
Le fils du roi s'en va chassant
Le fils du roi s'en va chassant
Le fils du roi s'en va chassant
Avec son grand fusil d'argent
M'en revenant de la jolie Rochelle
M'en revenant de la jolie Rochelle
J'ai rencontré trois jolies demoiselles
C'est l'aviron
V'là l'bon vent v’là l'joli vent
C'est l'aviron
V'là l'bon vent v’là l'joli vent
C'est l'aviron
V'là l'bon vent v’là l'joli vent
C'est l'aviron que nous mène en haut
Boot Soup
written by Elizabeth Szekeres, Joe Grant and Steve Ritchie
Gold rush town and I the Bishop
Preaching to the schoolmarms and the drunks
The swaggering gamblers and the men out on the traplines
I've quoted scripture to a grizzly more than once
I make the rounds, on Thursday it's the ladies
Small talk and Darjeeling tea
Served up on silver an array of fine cheeses
Society Bishop that's me
Chorus
O Bishop with your voice like a cello
Tell us once again what it's like to be a man
Hungry lost and alone
Yearning for the comforts of home
Yearning for the pleasures...
Of home
Crumpets in hand I begin to regale how
I lost my way in a gale
Pretty faces like saucers around me
Intent on my sorrowful tale
Socked in for days big storm on the traplines
The supplies were looking kind of spare
A couple of crusts and a twist of tobacco
Not a squirrel to be had not a hare
Chorus
My sealskin boots with their rawhide laces
Were starting to look rather good to me
I scraped them and boiled them stewed them for hours
"Dear Bishop!" said the ladies "More tea?"
Chorus
Even in the best of circles
Moist leather has it's appeal
Vicarous thrills for Victorian damsels
Boot soup makes a wonderful meal
Chorus
Empire and
the Right (George)
written by Al Parrish
Anthem
He rules a mighty empire reigns o'er the land and sea
Bestrides the globe invincible in val'rous victory
Those who would oppose him the path of evil tread
While those who bow before him surely have nothing to dread
Bold defender of the Truth unflinching in his might
His empire everlasting ever sure and ever right
Like my father and like my grandfather before
We've lived in New England a century or more
I plowed our fields when I was a boy
Now I'm plowing the ocean for George
He says the foreign tyrant must be put to flight
And I must fight for victory for his empire and his right
At 16 I left home to sail on the sea
American merchantmen sailors were we
Til a Roy'l Navy ship fired a shot 'cross our bow
Now I'm sailing the seas for King George
The press gang says my accent comes from the Isle of Wight
And thus a subject of the Crown for King George I must fight
Under threat did I labour on "HMS Vict'ry"
Til I could escape from the Royal Navy
For George I was fighting the fierce foreign foe
Now the foe that I'm fighting is George
Those who seek to rule the world must one day defeated be
Sic semper tyrannus all will fall eventually
Anthem
Lunenburg Skies
written by Terry Young
I went down to the shore of the Lunenburg Harbour
To lend voice to the festival song
And she took me in shared what she could give
And in spirit we sang right along
She made it so easy to want her
In the pastels and blue of the dawn
Like a lover and friend with each breath taken in
I felt like I truly belonged
Chorus
And the Lunenburg skies were warm and alive
And a melody danced on the breeze
As the notes poured down all over the town
We joined in the sweet harmony
As I lay in the bed upstairs in her spare room
With the window with its back to the sea
Looking west toward home I wondered alone
If the road left me here ...could it be?
She said that with winter comes anguish
But I'd never felt so much at peace
There were pictures of friends and the message they sent
Made me wish there was a picture of me
Chorus
Now the wharf must be quiet as everything sleeps
For the marquee was struck months ago
Are her dresses and skin replaced by the wind
Do her pastels look grey in the cold?
When she held me so tight in the light of the dawn
And it felt like she'd never let go
Was it me she held tight or the spirit inside
That carries me back down this road?
And the Lunenburg skies are warm and alive
Hear the melody dance on the breeze
As the notes pour down all over the town
We join in the sweet harmony
And the Lunenburg skies are warm and alive
Hear the melody dance on the breeze
As the notes pour down all over the town
We join in the sweet harmony
When Dad & Uncle Archie
Lost the Farm
written by Steve Ritchie
We've had this place forever
The farm's been in our family
Since the 1850s land-grant from the Crown
Some of my uncles moved out west
To farm a great big spread
But our side of the family stayed around
A pig run and horse stable
Good pasture and an orchard
Oak trees elms and maples lots of charm
A happy hundred acres
Up until that awful day
When Dad & Uncle Archie lost the farm
Now Mom she grew up Baptist
She never drank or swore
Her only vice was talking on the phone
Two longs and a short
Was the ring meant for our house
But she couldn't let the other rings alone
Who was sick who was broke
Who was mad at who
Who's kid pulled the ice rink fire alarm
Small-town rural gossip
Was Momma's stock in trade
Til Dad & Uncle Archie lost the farm
"Do you know what your farm's worth these days?"
The banker told my Dad
"You could get a hundred thousand free and clear
With equity like that young man
There's so much you could do
And all you have to do is sign right here"
But Mom she didn't like it
It said right in the Bible
That a borrower would only come to harm
But they never asked Mom what she thought
So she never said a word
Til Dad & Uncle Archie lost the farm
We could hear their voices coming
Through the wall from the back kitchen
"We can borrow 50,000 right away
Have a real big operation
Just like Gerald out in Dauphin
We're finally gonna make this old place pay!
"We'll get another hundred acres
And buy a big John Deere
Put up a second silo - paint the barn"
But it was only Mom who thought
It just might be a house of cards
Til Dad & Uncle Archie lost the farm
With interest rates gone through the roof
And prices gone to hell
And the banker calling every other day
To ask how we were doing
And if we'd thought of selling out
Elsewise how would we ever pay?
One day I found Mom in the kitchen
She was staring out the window
And the telephone was swinging from the wall
The neighbourhood it seems
Already knew what she'd just learned
That Dad & Uncle Arch had lost it all
Well that was almost thirty years ago
And everyone's long gone
And I've bored you to distraction with this yarn
I should have been home hours ago
From my job at the bank
The very one that took our family farm
Maggie
written by Sandra Swannell
Ribbons of water
Around unwavering stone
A lifetime floats by
And polishes the stone
Maggie has her hands full with buckets of sweet dreams
She's heading back to boil the sap but stops up at the stream
The river has been running high and Maggie is no lass
She's eying up a fallen log the only way to pass
The Saugeen is a stallion rambunctious in the spring
It kicks at Maggie's pails of sap and pulls poor Maggie in
Maggie shakes an angry fist she's never been one for cryin'
She takes a vow to build a bridge or the devil take her tryin'
Chorus
Now Maggie's moving mountains one by one
She'll coax them gently down to where the river runs
And all the while her boots keep time to the river's song
And Maggie marches on
She'll choose the perfect pieces for her puzzle in the stream
But her rocks of indignation don't share in Maggie's dream
So Maggie grabs a crowbar to persuade her stubborn stones
They grumble and they protest as they move to their new home
Meanwhile idle gossip is pastime for the birds
Maggie knows they're mocking this foolishness of hers
They chirp about her mending and the dishes in her sink
But one thing Maggie's learned is not to care what others think
And so the bridge grows slowly, for the river's deep and wide
It takes another twenty years of Maggie's sweat and pride
She's come to lay the final stone and to see her promise done
She finally gets to cross her bridge in the setting sun
And Maggie can't remember how it all began
She hasn't tapped a single tree since starting on her plan
Maggie's done with mountains now she's just turned eighty-one
She smiles because her boots keep time to the river's song
For the Day
written by Steve Ritchie
If I listen I can hear
Through the joy and through the tears
All the children of this earth both blessed and cursed
So will I this perfect day
- should I spare a thought to pray -
Ask for only what's sufficient for the day
A little sun a little rain
A little money now and then
And the knowledge of enough to eat tomorrow
Keep the locust from our fields
Take a portion of the yield
For the folk less blessed by fortune than are we
Decent health to work my life
Wine and candles with my wife
Sufficient store laid in to get us to next harvest
A little bounty from above
And a husband I can love
A little wisdom in such portion as I earn
Time to stare into the fire
And indulge in small desires
And a moment now and then that I can savour
A little time to eat and drink
Time to pause and time to think
Just enough to curb despair and keep me whole
If the recruiter comes around
He will find me underground
The empires of ambitious men do not concern me
Calm the hearts that angry beat
Still the earth beneath my feet
Keep me from suspicion and from jealousy
Not for me the pride of place
Or entitlement to grace
Why should I be spared my share of dread and sorrow?
Keep our children from the grave
From the plague may we be saved
Make our suffering no more than we can bear