Canadian Folk Songs -- Traditional Folk Music of Canada

Canadian Folk Songs

Collected by Michael Mitchell

More music of Canada appears on our Canadian Social Studies page.

THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER

Alexander Muir (Public Domain)

This song was one of the contenders for selection as Canada's national anthem.

In days of yore, from Britain's shore,

Wolfe the dauntless hero came,

And planted firm Britannia's flag

On Canada's fair domain.

Here may it wave, our boast and pride,

And join in love together

The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine

The maple leaf forever.

The maple leaf, our emblem dear,

The maple leaf forever

God save our Queen and heaven bless

The maple leaf forever.

Our fair dominion now extends

From Cape Race to Nootka Sound

May peace forever be our lot,

And plenteous store abound

And may those ties of love be ours

Which discord cannot sever;

And flourish green o'er freedom's home

The maple leaf forever.

Repeat Chorus

____________________________________________

THE YORK BOAT BRIGADE

Michael Mitchell performs this song on Canada Is...

For good men and stout

The call first went out

For men who could brave the North Sea

From our Orkney Isle home

To the New World's unknown

With the good Hudson's Bay Company

A new kind of gold more precious tenfold

Lay waiting in Edmonton's fort

Fine beaver pelts, from which came the felt

For the hats for our gentry to sport

CHORUS:

And it's quick with the oars boys, don't give up now

We've ten miles to go and not more

There'll be women and rum when this day is done

When the York Boats are safely on shore

There'll be a quart for the steersman

A pint for the bowsman

A half-pint for Joseph and me

And the piper will play long into the day

When the York Boat Brigade comes ashore

Sailing and tracking, portaging and packing

We've a month to make two thousand miles

Eight men and a boat that we prayed we could float

Through those rapids we cursed all the while

Forty-four feet from her head to her feet

With a forged iron keel for a spine

She's not pretty this maid of the York Boat Brigade

But she's strong and she's swift and she's mine

At the first crack of dawn we're up and we're gone

With a breakfast of porridge and tea

The rests are too few for this bone-weary crew

And we yearn for the wide open sea

If a man's got some pluck and a bit of good luck

And a love for a land that's still wild

Throw your lot in like me with the old HBC

It's no place for the meek and the mild

And the piper will play at the end of the day

For the men of the good Hudson's Bay

_____________________________________________

BOUND DOWN FOR NEWFOUNDLAND

On St. Patrick's Day the 17th, from New York we set sail

Kind fortune it did favour us with a sweet and a pleasant gale

We bore away from Amerikay, the wind being off the land

And with courage brave, we ploughed the waves, bound down for Newfoundland

Now when three days out to our surprise, our captain he fell sick

In short he was not able, to take his turn on deck

The fever raged which made us think, that death was near at hand

So we bore away from Halifax, bound down for Newfoundland

Now at 3 o'clock we sighted a light, that we were glad to see

The smallpox had been raging, that's what it proved to be

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, as sure as God's command

Oh he passed away off Arichat, bound down for Newfoundland

All that night long we did lament, for our departed friend

And we were praying unto God, for what had been his end

We prayed that God would guide us, and keep us by his hand

And send us fair winds while at sea, bound down for Newfoundland

______________________________________

ROLLING DOWN TO OLD MAUI

Traditional (popularized by the late Stan Rogers)

Michael Mitchell performs this song on CANADA IS...

It's a damn tough life full of toil and strife

We whalermen undergo

And we won't give a damn when the gale is done

How hard the winds did blow

'Cause we're homeward bound from the Arctic ground

With a good ship taut and free

And we won't give a damn when we drink our rum

With girls of Old Maui.

CHORUS:

Rolling down to Old Maui me boys

Down to Old Maui

We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground

Rolling down to Old Maui.

Once more we sail with the northerly gale

Through the ice and wind and rain

Them coconut fronds, them tropical lands

We soon shall see again

Six hellish months we've passed away

On the cold Kamchatka Sea

But now we're bound from the Arctic ground

Rolling down to Old Maui

Once more we sail with the northerly gale

Towards our island home

Our mainmast sprung our whaling done

And we ain't got far to roam

Our stun's'l bones is carried away

What care we for that sound

A living gale is after us

Thank God we're homeward bound.

How soft the breeze through the island trees

Now the ice is far astern

Them native maids, them tropical glades

Is a waiting our return

Even now their big brown eyes look out

Hoping some fine day to see

Our baggy sails running 'fore the gales

Rolling down to Old Maui.

_______________________________________________

STAR OF LOGY BAY

Ye ladies and ye gentlemen, I pray you lend an ear

While I locate the residence of a lovely charmer fair

The curling of her yellow locks first stole my heart away

And her place of habitation is down in Logy Bay

It was on a summer's evening, this little place I found

I met her aged father, who did me sore confound

Saying: "If you address my daughter, I'll send her far away

And she never will return again, while you're in Logy Bay"

How could you be so cruel as to part me from my love

Her tender heart beats in her breast as constant as a dove

Oh Venus was no fairer, nor the lovely month of May

May heaven above shower down its love, on the star of Logy Bay

'Twas on the very next morning he went to St. John's town

And engaged for her a passage in a vessel outward bound

He robbed me of my heart's delight, and sent her far away

And he left me here downhearted for the star of Logy Bay

Oh now I'll go a-roaming, I can no longer stay

I'll search the wild world over in every country

I'll search in vain through France and Spain, likewise Americay

'Till I will sight my heart's delight, the star of Logy Bay

Now to conclude and finish, the truth to you I'll tell

Between Torbay and Outer Cove, is there my love did dwell

The finest girl e're graced our isle, so every one did say

May heaven above send down its love, on the star of Logy Bay

_______________________________

Squid-Jiggin Ground

Oh this is the place where the fishermen gather

In oilskins and boots and cape anns battened down

All sizes of figures with squid lines and jiggers

They congregate here on the squid-jiggin ground

Some are working their jiggers while others are yarning

There's some standing up and there's more lying down

While all kinds of fun, jokes and tricks are begun

As they wait for the squid on the squid-jiggin ground

There's men of all ages and boys in the bargain

There's old Billy Cave and there's young Raymond Brown

There's a red ranting Tory out here in a dory

A-running down squires in the squid-jiggin ground

There's men from the harbour; there's men from the tickle

In all kinds of motor boats, green, grey and brown

Right yonder is Bobby and with him is Nobby

He's chawin hard tack on the squid-jiggin ground

God bless my sou'wester, there's skipper John Chaffey

He's the best hand at squid-jiggin here I'll be bound

Hello! What's the row? Why he's jiggin one now

The very first squid on the squid-jiggin ground

The man with the whiskers is old Jacob Steele

He's getting well up, but he's still pretty sound

While Uncle Bob Hawkins wears six pairs of stockings

Whenever he's out on the squid-jiggin ground

Holy smoke, what a scuffle, all hands are excited

'Tis a wonder to me that there's nobody drowned

There's a bustle, confusion, a wonderful hustle

They're all jiggin squids on the squid-jiggin ground

Says Bobby "The squids are on top of the water

I just got me jiggers about one fathom down

But a squid in the boat squirted right down his throat

And he's swearing like mad on the squid-jiggin ground

There's poor Uncle Billy, his whiskers are splattered

With spots of the squid juice that's flying around

One poor little boy got it right in the eye

But they don't give a darn on the squid-jiggin ground

Now if ever you feel inclined to go squiddin

Leave your white shirts and collars behind in the town

And if you get cranky without your silk hanky

You'd better steer clear of the squid-jiggin ground

(The squid is a cuttlefish used as bait. It moves in along the Newfoundland coast from August

to October and fishermen head out with their jiggers - fish hooks, to catch them in dorys)

_________________________________________________________

The Ryans and the Pittmans

We'll rant and we'll roar like true Newfoundlanders

We'll rant and we'll roar on deck and below

Until we see bottom inside the two sunkers

When straight through the channel, to Toslow we'll go

My name it is Robert, they call me Bob Pittman

I sail in the Ino with skipper Tom Brown

I'm bound to have Dolly, or Biddy, or Molly

As soon as I'm able to plank the cash down

I'm a son of a seacook and a cook in a trader

I can dance, I can sing, I can reef the mainboom

I can handle a jigger, and cuts a fine figure

When ever I gets in a boat's standing room

If the voyage is good then this fall I will do it

I wants two pounds ten for a ring and a priest

A couple of dollars for clean shirts and collars

And a handful of coppers to make up a feast

There's plump little Polly, her name is Goldworthy

There's John Coady's Kitty and Mary Tibbou

There's Clara from Brule and young Martha Foley

But the nicest of all is my girl from Toslow

Farewell and adieu to ye, fair one of Valem

Farewell and adieu to ye, girls in the cove

I'm bound to the westward to the wall with the hole in

I'll take her to Toslow, the wild world to rove

Farewell and adieu to ye, girls of St. Kyrans

Of Paradise and Presque, Big and Little Bona

I'm bound unto Toslow to marry sweet Biddy

And if I don't do so, I'm afraid of her da

_____________________________________

THE GREENLAND WHALE FISHERIES

In eighteen hundred and seventy four, of March the eighteenth day

We hoisted our colours to the top of the mast

And for Greenland bore away, brave boys, and for Greenland bore away

The lookout on the mainmast he stood, his spyglass in his hand

'There's a whale, there's a whale, there's a whalefish,' he cried

'And he blows at every span, brave boys, and he blows at every span'

The captain stood on the quarter deck, the ice was in his eye

'Overhaul, overhaul, let your jib sheets fall

And go put your boats to sea, brave boys, and go put your boats to sea'

The boats were lowered and the men put out, the whale was full in view

Resolved, resolved was each whalerman bold

For to steer where the whalefish blew, brave boys, for to steer where the whalefish blew

The harpoon struck and the line paid out, with a single flourish of his tail

He capsized our boat and we lost five men

And we did not catch that whale, brave boys, and we did not catch that whale

The losin' of them five jolly men, it grieved our captain sore

But the losin' of that sperm whale fish

Ot it grieved him ten times more, brave boys, oh it grieved him ten times more

'Up anchor now,' our captain he cried, 'For the winter stars do appear

And it's time we left this cold country

And for the homeland we did steer, brave boys, and for the homeland we did steer

Well Greenland is a barren land, a land that bears no green

Where there's ice and snow and the whalefishes blow

And the daylight's seldom seen, brave boys, and the daylight's seldom seen

______________________________________________

Feller From Fortune

Oh there's lots o' fish in Bonavist Harbour

Lots of fish right in around here

Boys and girls are fishing together

Forty-five from Carbonnear

CHORUS:

Oh catch a-hold this one, catch a-hold that one

Swing around this one, swing around she

Dance around this one, dance around that one

Diddle-dum this one, diddle dum dee

Oh, Sally got a bouncin' new baby

Father said that he didn't care

Because he like the feller from Fortune

What was down here fishin' last year

Oh, Sally goes to church every Sunday

Not to sing nor for to hear

But to see the feller from Fortune

What was down here fishin' last year

_________________________________________________________________________________

About Michael Mitchell

Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Michael Mitchell has lived a fascinating life that included a 24-year stint in the Canadian military, from which he retired in the rank of Major. Much of that time was spent as a reserve or full-time member of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, perhaps the most famous Scottish regiment in the world. His career was so distinguished that the Governor General of Canada awarded him the Order of Military Merit in the class of Officer. This award merits a ranking one level higher than Member of the Order of Canada. When he wasn't working full-time in the armed forces, Michael pursued a career in banking, sales and marketing, and personnel consulting before pursuing his true calling, in the early 1980's : music.
Michael has become such a fixture on the Canadian music scene that his Canada is for Kids concerts have become one of the most popular school performing arts programs in Canada, with more than 250 shows booked every year. His repertoire is distinctly Canadian, and includes Something to Sing About, Canada Is, The Log Driver's Waltz, Alberta Bound, and the Canuck version of This Land is Your Land, as well as his own popular compositions such as Canada in My Pocket, Little Trees, and Fly High.

Learn more about Michael and his music at Michael-Mitchell.ca



		Songs for Teaching
		Canadian Folk Songs Collected by Michael Mitchell More music of Canada appears on our **Canadian Social Studies page. THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER** Alexander Muir (Public Domain) This song was one of the contenders for selection as Canada's national anthem. In days of yore, from Britain's shore, Wolfe the dauntless hero came, And planted firm Britannia's flag On Canada's fair domain. Here may it wave, our boast and pride, And join in love together The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine The maple leaf forever. The maple leaf, our emblem dear, The maple leaf forever God save our Queen and heaven bless The maple leaf forever. Our fair dominion now extends From Cape Race to Nootka Sound May peace forever be our lot, And plenteous store abound And may those ties of love be ours Which discord cannot sever; And flourish green o'er freedom's home The maple leaf forever. Repeat Chorus ____________________________________________ THE YORK BOAT BRIGADE Michael Mitchell performs this song on Canada Is... For good men and stout The call first went out For men who could brave the North Sea From our Orkney Isle home To the New World's unknown With the good Hudson's Bay Company A new kind of gold more precious tenfold Lay waiting in Edmonton's fort Fine beaver pelts, from which came the felt For the hats for our gentry to sport CHORUS: And it's quick with the oars boys, don't give up now We've ten miles to go and not more There'll be women and rum when this day is done When the York Boats are safely on shore There'll be a quart for the steersman A pint for the bowsman A half-pint for Joseph and me And the piper will play long into the day When the York Boat Brigade comes ashore Sailing and tracking, portaging and packing We've a month to make two thousand miles Eight men and a boat that we prayed we could float Through those rapids we cursed all the while Forty-four feet from her head to her feet With a forged iron keel for a spine She's not pretty this maid of the York Boat Brigade But she's strong and she's swift and she's mine At the first crack of dawn we're up and we're gone With a breakfast of porridge and tea The rests are too few for this bone-weary crew And we yearn for the wide open sea If a man's got some pluck and a bit of good luck And a love for a land that's still wild Throw your lot in like me with the old HBC It's no place for the meek and the mild And the piper will play at the end of the day For the men of the good Hudson's Bay _____________________________________________ BOUND DOWN FOR NEWFOUNDLAND On St. Patrick's Day the 17th, from New York we set sail Kind fortune it did favour us with a sweet and a pleasant gale We bore away from Amerikay, the wind being off the land And with courage brave, we ploughed the waves, bound down for Newfoundland Now when three days out to our surprise, our captain he fell sick In short he was not able, to take his turn on deck The fever raged which made us think, that death was near at hand So we bore away from Halifax, bound down for Newfoundland Now at 3 o'clock we sighted a light, that we were glad to see The smallpox had been raging, that's what it proved to be At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, as sure as God's command Oh he passed away off Arichat, bound down for Newfoundland All that night long we did lament, for our departed friend And we were praying unto God, for what had been his end We prayed that God would guide us, and keep us by his hand And send us fair winds while at sea, bound down for Newfoundland ______________________________________ ROLLING DOWN TO OLD MAUI Traditional (popularized by the late Stan Rogers) Michael Mitchell performs this song on CANADA IS... It's a damn tough life full of toil and strife We whalermen undergo And we won't give a damn when the gale is done How hard the winds did blow 'Cause we're homeward bound from the Arctic ground With a good ship taut and free And we won't give a damn when we drink our rum With girls of Old Maui. CHORUS: Rolling down to Old Maui me boys Down to Old Maui We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground Rolling down to Old Maui. Once more we sail with the northerly gale Through the ice and wind and rain Them coconut fronds, them tropical lands We soon shall see again Six hellish months we've passed away On the cold Kamchatka Sea But now we're bound from the Arctic ground Rolling down to Old Maui Once more we sail with the northerly gale Towards our island home Our mainmast sprung our whaling done And we ain't got far to roam Our stun's'l bones is carried away What care we for that sound A living gale is after us Thank God we're homeward bound. How soft the breeze through the island trees Now the ice is far astern Them native maids, them tropical glades Is a waiting our return Even now their big brown eyes look out Hoping some fine day to see Our baggy sails running 'fore the gales Rolling down to Old Maui. _______________________________________________ STAR OF LOGY BAY Ye ladies and ye gentlemen, I pray you lend an ear While I locate the residence of a lovely charmer fair The curling of her yellow locks first stole my heart away And her place of habitation is down in Logy Bay It was on a summer's evening, this little place I found I met her aged father, who did me sore confound Saying: "If you address my daughter, I'll send her far away And she never will return again, while you're in Logy Bay" How could you be so cruel as to part me from my love Her tender heart beats in her breast as constant as a dove Oh Venus was no fairer, nor the lovely month of May May heaven above shower down its love, on the star of Logy Bay 'Twas on the very next morning he went to St. John's town And engaged for her a passage in a vessel outward bound He robbed me of my heart's delight, and sent her far away And he left me here downhearted for the star of Logy Bay Oh now I'll go a-roaming, I can no longer stay I'll search the wild world over in every country I'll search in vain through France and Spain, likewise Americay 'Till I will sight my heart's delight, the star of Logy Bay Now to conclude and finish, the truth to you I'll tell Between Torbay and Outer Cove, is there my love did dwell The finest girl e're graced our isle, so every one did say May heaven above send down its love, on the star of Logy Bay _______________________________ Squid-Jiggin Ground Oh this is the place where the fishermen gather In oilskins and boots and cape anns battened down All sizes of figures with squid lines and jiggers They congregate here on the squid-jiggin ground Some are working their jiggers while others are yarning There's some standing up and there's more lying down While all kinds of fun, jokes and tricks are begun As they wait for the squid on the squid-jiggin ground There's men of all ages and boys in the bargain There's old Billy Cave and there's young Raymond Brown There's a red ranting Tory out here in a dory A-running down squires in the squid-jiggin ground There's men from the harbour; there's men from the tickle In all kinds of motor boats, green, grey and brown Right yonder is Bobby and with him is Nobby He's chawin hard tack on the squid-jiggin ground God bless my sou'wester, there's skipper John Chaffey He's the best hand at squid-jiggin here I'll be bound Hello! What's the row? Why he's jiggin one now The very first squid on the squid-jiggin ground The man with the whiskers is old Jacob Steele He's getting well up, but he's still pretty sound While Uncle Bob Hawkins wears six pairs of stockings Whenever he's out on the squid-jiggin ground Holy smoke, what a scuffle, all hands are excited 'Tis a wonder to me that there's nobody drowned There's a bustle, confusion, a wonderful hustle They're all jiggin squids on the squid-jiggin ground Says Bobby "The squids are on top of the water I just got me jiggers about one fathom down But a squid in the boat squirted right down his throat And he's swearing like mad on the squid-jiggin ground There's poor Uncle Billy, his whiskers are splattered With spots of the squid juice that's flying around One poor little boy got it right in the eye But they don't give a darn on the squid-jiggin ground Now if ever you feel inclined to go squiddin Leave your white shirts and collars behind in the town And if you get cranky without your silk hanky You'd better steer clear of the squid-jiggin ground (The squid is a cuttlefish used as bait. It moves in along the Newfoundland coast from August to October and fishermen head out with their jiggers - fish hooks, to catch them in dorys) _________________________________________________________ The Ryans and the Pittmans We'll rant and we'll roar like true Newfoundlanders We'll rant and we'll roar on deck and below Until we see bottom inside the two sunkers When straight through the channel, to Toslow we'll go My name it is Robert, they call me Bob Pittman I sail in the Ino with skipper Tom Brown I'm bound to have Dolly, or Biddy, or Molly As soon as I'm able to plank the cash down I'm a son of a seacook and a cook in a trader I can dance, I can sing, I can reef the mainboom I can handle a jigger, and cuts a fine figure When ever I gets in a boat's standing room If the voyage is good then this fall I will do it I wants two pounds ten for a ring and a priest A couple of dollars for clean shirts and collars And a handful of coppers to make up a feast There's plump little Polly, her name is Goldworthy There's John Coady's Kitty and Mary Tibbou There's Clara from Brule and young Martha Foley But the nicest of all is my girl from Toslow Farewell and adieu to ye, fair one of Valem Farewell and adieu to ye, girls in the cove I'm bound to the westward to the wall with the hole in I'll take her to Toslow, the wild world to rove Farewell and adieu to ye, girls of St. Kyrans Of Paradise and Presque, Big and Little Bona I'm bound unto Toslow to marry sweet Biddy And if I don't do so, I'm afraid of her da _____________________________________ THE GREENLAND WHALE FISHERIES In eighteen hundred and seventy four, of March the eighteenth day We hoisted our colours to the top of the mast And for Greenland bore away, brave boys, and for Greenland bore away The lookout on the mainmast he stood, his spyglass in his hand 'There's a whale, there's a whale, there's a whalefish,' he cried 'And he blows at every span, brave boys, and he blows at every span' The captain stood on the quarter deck, the ice was in his eye 'Overhaul, overhaul, let your jib sheets fall And go put your boats to sea, brave boys, and go put your boats to sea' The boats were lowered and the men put out, the whale was full in view Resolved, resolved was each whalerman bold For to steer where the whalefish blew, brave boys, for to steer where the whalefish blew The harpoon struck and the line paid out, with a single flourish of his tail He capsized our boat and we lost five men And we did not catch that whale, brave boys, and we did not catch that whale The losin' of them five jolly men, it grieved our captain sore But the losin' of that sperm whale fish Ot it grieved him ten times more, brave boys, oh it grieved him ten times more 'Up anchor now,' our captain he cried, 'For the winter stars do appear And it's time we left this cold country And for the homeland we did steer, brave boys, and for the homeland we did steer Well Greenland is a barren land, a land that bears no green Where there's ice and snow and the whalefishes blow And the daylight's seldom seen, brave boys, and the daylight's seldom seen ______________________________________________ Feller From Fortune Oh there's lots o' fish in Bonavist Harbour Lots of fish right in around here Boys and girls are fishing together Forty-five from Carbonnear CHORUS: Oh catch a-hold this one, catch a-hold that one Swing around this one, swing around she Dance around this one, dance around that one Diddle-dum this one, diddle dum dee Oh, Sally got a bouncin' new baby Father said that he didn't care Because he like the feller from Fortune What was down here fishin' last year Oh, Sally goes to church every Sunday Not to sing nor for to hear But to see the feller from Fortune What was down here fishin' last year _________________________________________________________________________________ About Michael Mitchell Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Michael Mitchell has lived a fascinating life that included a 24-year stint in the Canadian military, from which he retired in the rank of Major. Much of that time was spent as a reserve or full-time member of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, perhaps the most famous Scottish regiment in the world. His career was so distinguished that the Governor General of Canada awarded him the Order of Military Merit in the class of Officer. This award merits a ranking one level higher than Member of the Order of Canada. When he wasn't working full-time in the armed forces, Michael pursued a career in banking, sales and marketing, and personnel consulting before pursuing his true calling, in the early 1980's : music. Michael has become such a fixture on the Canadian music scene that his Canada is for Kids concerts have become one of the most popular school performing arts programs in Canada, with more than 250 shows booked every year. His repertoire is distinctly Canadian, and includes Something to Sing About, Canada Is, The Log Driver's Waltz, Alberta Bound, and the Canuck version of This Land is Your Land, as well as his own popular compositions such as Canada in My Pocket, Little Trees, and Fly High. Learn more about Michael and his music at Michael-Mitchell.ca
		Many thanks to Michael Mitchell for sharing his songs and commentary. © Michael Mitchell. All rights reserved.