Teacher's Corner



Young Man From Canada

 
I'm a young man from Canada,
Some six feet in my shoes.
I left my home for Cariboo
On the first exciting news.
In New York City I met a gent,
Introduced himself to me;
Said I, "I come from Canada,
So you can't come over me!"

Chorus:
Said I, "I come from Canada,
So you can't come over me!"

Chorus

I sailed on the crazy Champion
All in the steerage too,
I thought I'd got among the fiends
Or other horrid crew.
If you had only seen them feed!
It quite astonished me,
And I'd been years in Canada
In a lumberman's shanty.

Chorus

With seventy-five upon my back
I came the Douglas way,
And at an easy-going pace
Made thirty miles a day.
I landed here without a dime
In eighteen sixty-three,
But I'd been raised in Canada -
'Twas nothin' new to me.

Chorus

In best of home-spun I was clad
So I was warmly dressed;
The wool it grew near Montreal
At a place in Canada West.
On Williams Creek they called me green
And "Johnny-come-late-lee" -
Said I, "I come from Canada;
I ain't from the old country!"

Chorus

I started out my mining life
By chopping cord wood.
But I was born with axe in hand
So I could use it good;
My chum was from the state of Maine -
Somewhere near Tennessee -
But ah, I came from Canada
And he couldn't chop with me.

Chorus

In a short time I'd made a "raise"
And bought into a claim;
There they called me engineer
Or carman-'tis the same.
The drifters then did try it on
To boss it over me-
Said I, "I come from Canada,
And I'm on the shoulder-ee.

Chorus

In two weeks I got a "div"
Which drove away all care ñ
I went over to the "Wake Up's"
And had a bully square ñ
I danced all night till broad daylight
And a gal smiled sweet on me.
Said I, "I come from Canada
And I'm on the marry-ee."

Chorus

Now all young men who are in love,
And sure I am there's some -
Don't count your chicks before they're hatched,
For they may never come.
O when I asked that gal to wed,
She only laughed at me:
"YOU may come from Canada,
But you can't come over me!"

Notes:

The Young Man From Canada. W., SAWNEY, pp. 43-5. A reworking of "I'm A Young Man From The Country But You Don't Get Over Me" (London, c. 1862). Stanzas of SAWNEY 3/4 and 9/10 conf lated, and slight emendations by PJT appear here in 1.5 (i.e. stanza 1, line 5), 2.8, 4.4, 5.5, 5.7, 6.3, 7.1, 7.3, 7.5-7. Final couplet (8.7-8) is by PJT. Tune is that of original song, indicated in SAWNEY as "Young Man from the Countree." Earlier 1 put this song to the tune of "Tramps, and Hawkers", qv. my article and song selection "B.C. Songs" in British Columbia Library Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 1 (July 1962), p. 26.

From Songs of the Pacific Northwest. Ed. Philip J Thomas. Music Transcription and Notation by Shirley A. Cox. Saanichton, B.C.: Hancock House Pub (1979.) p.39-41.


Last updated 31 August 1998.
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