Song or Rhymes about BC tree people

[techdave]

hi you all, I figure this is the closest to a general forum we have here.

Inspired by 1I'djak postign in the injury forum and my phrase part Tarzan and Part Bunyan, I felt I had to bust our with lyrics about the Vatos (tough dudes) who live and work in back country BC.

Big ups to all of them from the Islands to Hope and out to Revelstoke and Kamloops. Up to Quesnal and along to forts St John and Nelson, and across the Yellowhead and up the coast from Vancouver to Bella Coola and Stewart and up thru Iskut to Pink Mountain and along the hwy to the YT border.

(Ever come in beat up from the old gravelly Cassiar hwy and mow chow at the J97 cafe?? Remember the older approach and bridge across the Stikine River?)

I have found them to be generally friendly, unassuming, proud and sensible.


I feel like Red Sovine at the start of "truck drivers prayer" LOL


Anyhow here is the words


To the tune of Paddy Mulligan

(slow)
You may talk and boast about your favorite sports team and its stars
And how them Nascar Drivers risk it all to drive their cars
But i know about some fellows up north who are much tougher by far
theyre working bush-men laddies and BC is where they are

(faster)
Tarzan Climbers keep the hydro coming
Bunyan Fellers keep the mills a hummin
the trappers and the river rats who blazed the trails to start
Will always hold a special spot in every bushmans heart

(lento)
Well they fished them windy waters looking out for sinking logs
And fed us all with salmon from the king down to the dog
Their boats poled up the frazier where the cariboo now goes
And pushed on thru the blazing heat and biting winter snows

(faster)
Tough old guys from Europe and First Nations
We owe you all a big standing ovation
And while youre gone and now your time is just old history
We'd think you proud of modern guys who still work in BC

 

[safeT1st]

BC and Proud

Proud to say my father logged around Revelstoke in the late 30's before going to war . He used to tell me stories about the "steam donkeys" and the high riggers . He knew the grunts and calls they would use to signal operations in the field ; HO HO HO HUP he would say to taut the line . Remember his Paris boots in his shop , worn and the right toe cut open from a double edged axe gone amiss . Lost a toe but soldiered on . He introduced me to spurs when I was about 10 and showed me a love for ropes and rigging . How I wish I had gone in that direction but now it is a only a passion for me rather than a living and my father has long since passed . Is there anyone out here that recalls those days and can relate stories to the men and their days work ? Would like to hear about those days as I didn't get to ask my dad enough questions .

 

[techdave]

Hi safety, that's the kind of stuff i am talking about...

The memories of good old hardworking people who got after it and stayed with it!

If yo can ever find a book called "crooked river rats" geet it. I got mine in Cache Creek and it tell so of the old boatmen and settlers who first moved up into country from the Frazier up into the interior of BC.

 

[clearance]

The memories of good old hardworking people who got after it and stayed with it!

If yo can ever find a book called "crooked river rats" geet it. I got mine in Cache Creek and it tell so of the old boatmen and settlers who first moved up into country from the Frazier up into the interior of BC.

Cache Creek, cool little town, I know it. Driven through it so many times, never spent any time there until recently.
Rhymes-"I'm a bucker, I'm a trucker, I'm the meanest mother--..." Something like that, can't remember how it goes.

 

[safeT1st]

BC Logging History

Did you ever have a thought in your mind and then a day later the topic unexpectedly crops up somewhere else ? I was lying in bed early this morning listening to CBC radio and they mentioned a book about BC's logging history by an author named M . Granger . Apparently he lived the experience and wrote the end all book on the subject . Haven't had a chance to search it down yet . Does this ring a bell with anyone ?

On a different topic I was working with my climbing line and it occured to me to put knots in it as I went up to stop the Blakes should it slip . Next day that very topic and suggestion arose on the near miss accident thread . Weird!

On the silly side , remember Monty Pythons Lumberjack Song ?

I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok ,
I sleep all night and I work all day.
I cut down trees , I eat my lunch and go to the lavatory,
On Sundays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea .


That was a tribute to BC's loggers with a twist .

 

[techdave]

more Canadiana songs

to the tune of "Sink the Bismarck" by Johnny Horton

A song about old timers--all rights reserved by me!


Way back before the pavement came
Of buying what you need
The people lived on what they did
they seem a different breed

They were the early settle-rs
of "Couver and the Peace
The homesteads where they made their mark
are now fond memories

Oh they came to work on railroads
to grain farm and to fell
They mined and fished and settled
Some left their names as well

A highway named for Dempster
Recall his hero's fame
But many more were just as stout
but you dont know their names

Oh they felt the urge to move on west
to leave the life they knew
they faced up to the labours
had guts and carried through

No doctors for what ailed em
no easy jobs for cash
to buy some meagre staples
to try and stock their cache

They toiled like men of Iron
though sore they were each day
a week of hardship maybe brought
3 dollars for their pay

They did without and figured out
to do with what they had
They werent much on complainin
Even when things went bad

Oh they came out west and founded
the places lived by us!
they did with little fanfare
nobody made a fuss
So givem some respect boys
and learn their tales to tell
So others know oldtimers,
we should remember well.