The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162780 Message #3876557
Posted By: GUEST,henryp
11-Sep-17 - 01:47 PM
Thread Name: Folksongs about journeys/travel
Subject: RE: Folksongs about journeys/travel
Traditional songs are going to describe travel before the age of motor vehicles, aeroplanes and space rockets.
"Lord Franklin" tells of the search for the North West Passage; his ships were fitted with steam engines.
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor sailors do sometimes go
In "North West Passage", Stan Rogers made the journey across Canada by land;
Three centuries thereafter, I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso, where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain.
And through the night, behind the wheel, the mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts and did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea.