CANADIAN FOLKSONG MEDLEY

by a host of Canadian folksong writers and composers

Home 9 Composers 9 Larry Nickel 9 CANADIAN FOLKSONG MEDLEY

This medley will be premiered by the Vancouver Youth Choir in April 2023
at the World Choral Symposium in Istanbul. We will add the recording here in May.

LYRICS

Yes, that old Royal Hudson is bound to ride the big steel rails again

In those dark depression years,
with the poverty and tears,
and storm clouds of war drawing near,
the royal couple came to see a land they’d heard by name
and ride across the wilderness frontier.

The engine that was named to pull the royal train
was Hudson number twenty-eight five-o.
Though now she lies interned,
her sister has returned
to ride the rocky Howe Sound mountain shore.

Yes, that old Royal Hudson is bound to ride the big steel rails again
______

And the black fly, the little black fly
Always the black fly, no matter where you go
I’ll die with the black fly a-pickin’ my bones
In north On-tar-i-o-i-o, in north On-tar-i-o
______

Le fils du Roi s’en va chassant, Avec son grand fusil d’argent,

V’là l’bon vent, v’là l’jolie vent,
V’là l’bon vent, ma mie m’appelle,
V’là l’bon vent, v’là l’jolie vent,
V’là l’bon vent, ma mie m’attend.

Avec son grand fusil d’argent, Visa le noir, tua le blanc,

V’là l’bon vent, v’là l’jolie vent,
V’là l’bon vent, ma mie m’appelle,
V’là l’bon vent, v’là l’jolie vent,
V’là l’bon vent, ma mie m’attend.
_____

If you should ask any girl from the parish around
What pleases her most from her head to her toes,
She’ll say – I’m not sure that it’s business of yours,
But I do like to waltz with a log driver.

For he goes birling down a-down the white water;
That’s where the log driver learns to step lightly.
It’s birling down, a-down white water;
A log driver’s waltz pleases girls completely.
_____

When the waves roll on over the waters
And the ocean cries
We look to our sons and daughters
To explain our lives
As if a child could tell us why
That as sure as the sunrise
As sure as the sea
As sure as the wind in the trees

We rise again in the faces of our children
We rise again in the voices of our song
We rise again in the waves out on the ocean
And then we rise again