| |
Chorus: |
|
GINA |
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage |
|
ADD CHRISTIE |
To find the hand of Franklin1 reaching for the Beaufort Sea2; |
|
ADD MAGS, JON |
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage |
ADD DEAN, DAVID
SIMPLE ENDING |
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea. |
|
GINA SOLO |
Westward from the Davis Strait3 'tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient for which so many died;
Seeking gold and glory, leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones. |
|
"NORMAL" |
(Chorus)
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage,
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea. |
|
ADD "OOOS" |
Three centuries thereafter, I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso4, where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain. |
ALL "NORMAL," DEAN ONLY
"INTERESTING"
SIMPLE ENDING |
(Chorus)
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage,
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea. |
|
"OOOS" |
And through the night, behind the wheel, the mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie5, David Thompson6 and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts and did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser7
to the sea. |
ALL "INTERESTING"
SIMPLE ENDING |
(Chorus)
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage,
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea. |
"OOOS"
|
How then am I so different from the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life, I threw it all away.
To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again. |
1ST ½ SOLO
|
(Chorus)
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage,
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea; |
|
2ND ½ UNISON ACCOMPANIMENT DOWN
1 OCTAVE SIMPLE ENDING |
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea. |
|
"INTERESTING" MAGS & DEAN 3-NOTE
ENDING |
(Chorus)
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage,
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea. |
|
The quest by European explorers to find an economical means
to reach ports in the Far East (for the British, principally
China and India) is legendary. Many Elizabethan sailors,
Baffin,
Frobisher and
Davis among them, made their
names in their failed quests for the Northwest Passage. It
wasn't until 1906 when Roald Amundsen successfully forged a way
through in a three year expedition.
This tune is arguably one of the most popular of Stan Roger's
songs, and is a hallmark Canadian melody, widely covered by folk
and shanty singers. At the height of his popularity Stan
Rogers met a sad and untimely demise at 33, the victim of smoke
inhalation from an aircraft restroom fire on June 2, 1983.
1 Sir
John Franklin - (1786 -1847) English naval officer and
explorer who fought at Trafalgar. In 1845 he set out to
discover the Northwest Passage with two ships (The Erebus
& The Terror) fitted with steam and sail. The
expedition was lost; the ships bound in ice, the crew, maddened
by lead from tins of provisions, all died. Franklins
previous expeditions mapped great sections of Canada and paved
the way for future exploration.
2 Beaufort Sea - Named after
19th Century British rear admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, it
is the outlying sea of the Arctic Ocean situated north of Canada
and Alaska. It extends northeastward from Point Barrow, Alaska,
toward Lands End on Prince Patrick Island, and westward from
Banks Island to the Chukchi Sea.
3 Davis Strait - The wide
channel between Greenland and Baffin Island. Named
after John Davis (Davys)
(1550?-1605) early English explorer.
4 Kelso/Kelsey - Henry Kelsey
made an early trek on foot into present-day Alberta for the
Hudson's Bay Company.
5 Mackenzie - Sir
Alexander Mackenzie was the first to reach both the Arctic and
Pacific oceans over land.
6 David Thompson -
(1770-1857), London-born surveyor and explorer, he crossed the
Rocky Mountains on foot, charting important areas of Western
Canada.*
7 Fraser - River named after
Simon Fraser (1776-1862), Canadian fur trader and explorer. Born
in Vermont, educated in Montréal, apprenticed to the North
West Company in 1792. In 1805 he crossed the Rocky Mountains,
and in 1806, with explorer John Stuart, reached the Fraser River
and Stuart Lake. He established Fort Saint James and Fort Fraser
in 1806 and 1807 respectively.*
*Microsoft® Encarta®
Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved. |
