Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers

Subject: would like lyrics to Stan Rogers, Athens
From:
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 11:04 AM

Would like the lyrics to Stan Rogers Athens Queen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: would like lyrics to Stan Rogers, At
From: Marion
Date: 23 Nov 99 - 12:17 PM

Hi, it looks like your thread title was too long and got cut off so that we can't tell what song you're looking for.

Why don't you try it again, with the title "LYR REQ: (song title)"?

And if you're new around here, welcome in.

Marion

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: would like lyrics to Stan Rogers, At
From:
Date: 24 Nov 99 - 06:28 AM

You can always go to Stan's site.

Subject: Lyr Add: AT LAST I'M READY FOR CHRISTMAS (S Rogers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Dec 07 - 07:51 PM

Allmusic.com lists only one Stan Rogers song whose title starts with "At" so it must be this one. Lyrics copied from lyricstime.com. (How appropriate that I found this just now, two days after Christmas!)

AT LAST I'M READY FOR CHRISTMAS
Stan Rogers

Last Boxing Day the wife went out the "White Sales" for to see,
In trunk-load lots bought half-price paper and tinsel for the tree.
I packed it up for use this year in a box I marked so plain.
That stuff would sure be handy now, but it's never been seen again.

CHORUS: At last I'm ready for Christmas. I've even finished the tree.
At last I'm ready for Christmas, like I thought I'd never be.
With my feet propped up by a good hot fire and a matching inside glow,
At last I'm ready for Christmas, with nearly two hours to go.

We swore this year we'd start off early, no need to rush around.
The intention was to start in August when the prices still were down;
But it was dentist-this and new-bike-that and the money melts away,
So I had to wait for Christmas bonus and did it all yesterday.

We must be fools. just look at that pile. you can hardly see the tree.
We said this year we'd keep things simple, then did our usual spree.
But it feels so good when the kids go nuts. It's worth the toil and strain.
These kids are only this young once and they'll never be so again.

[Recorded by Stan Rogers on "From Coffee House to Concert Hall," 2000.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 12:11 AM

Does anyone have the chords for this song? Or where to find them? I've looked everywhere on the net and its not in his songbook!

Thanks
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: breezy
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 08:15 AM

I do , I got them by listening to his recording.

Why not buy the CD, for Christmas, and for Stan

I travelled to Kingston Ontario to get mine, and thats a few miles from St Albans U K !

Been singing it for a over 10 years now, do it every day leading up to the 25th , just have to do some mental arithmatic each day

And we still have eight days to go

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: GUEST,Way ahead of you!
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 12:39 AM

Yeah I have the CD, but I'm just notoriously bad at playing by ear, and stan is notorious for tricking me with his tunings!!

Help would be appreciated!

Thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: peregrina
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 04:44 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: maeve
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 07:52 AM

Let's see if we can make a start on chords...refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: breezy
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 08:07 AM

Lesson 1:

Em on 'Box'ing day

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: maeve
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 08:25 AM

"On the sixth day before Christmas, we tried the E minor chord..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 09:12 AM

I start in "D" with the word "Last" but immediately go to "A" and continue. It works for me.
ad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 12:50 PM

D, A, and G.
There are probably other chords but I'm a 3 chord man with the odd minor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: breezy
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 01:53 PM

just played the opening lines after a gap of a few years

I nailed it but found a subtlety ! See below

So

Lesson 2 , which precedes Lesson 1 for Beer

The intro solo ends on the A note, its a simple little run worth learning, by ear , a good practice for all musos of any level

Em is the start chord . Do give it a try ?

It features the E note which also appears in the A chord.

Now having listened again there maybe a Bm on 'wife' before the D on 'out'

To be continued , I'm eating

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: breezy
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 02:01 PM

I was playing the 'source' from the album


btw what is a 'Laker' please, ? Is it someone who works on the great lakes?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: breezy
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 02:07 PM

Yes , its mentioned in the booklet with the lyrics which comes with the album

So glad this thread came up as I am listening once again to a great singer

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: GUEST,999
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 02:09 PM

A laker is a BIG boat that hails cargo, Breezy. The Great Lakes

Huron
Ontario
Michigan
Erie
Superior

feed the St Lawrence River, eventually. Lakers haul freight--grains--and in many ways are very important to Canada`s economy. If you Google Google`s maps and have a look at them, they are about one third of the country by distance.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: breezy
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 06:37 PM

Ta

Also, according to the liner notes it is a name applied to someone who works on the lakes.

Cheers

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 07:00 PM

My sister works on the Laker's. Ontario also bottles a beer called 'Laker" and it is gaining momentum. Not bad at all.
ad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 07:48 PM

Will give your suggestion a try Breezy and get back to you.
ad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 08:48 PM

Well Breezy it does work and I am going to try and adjust to it. After doing it my own way for years why not a change.
ad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: ollaimh
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 09:37 PM

goof ole stan ,, a guysborough county boy--at least his grand parents were from there nd he visited for summers as a child.. i was born in guysborough so i love we have a favourite grandson. theres fewer than twenty thousand people in the county so we don't many to chose from.

i don't know the song--sorry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 09:55 PM

You could always pick Hank Snow.
ad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 10:26 PM

Hank Snow wasn't born in Guysborough County but Wilf (aka Montana Slim)Carter was at Port Hilford. Stan's mother was from Canso and I think his father was from Cumberland Co. Stan himself was born in Ontario but we won't hold that against him because Canso was where his heart was.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 10:33 PM

Wow!!, Sandy, where was he born? I was told from way back when that hank was from G.
I suppose I could look it up but this can also be fun.
ad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: peregrina
Date: 20 Dec 10 - 06:05 AM

Might be useful to have the chords, kindly posted in the other thread available here in this one with song title and commentary posts above:

Subject: RE:
From: breezy -
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 01:12 PM

OK here goes


Last Bo Em xing Day the wi D fe went out
the "White Sales" for to see,
In tr G unk-load lots
bought ha D lf-price paper and ti Em nsel for the tr A7 ee.
I pa Em cked it up for u D se this year
in a box I marked so plain.
That st G uff would sure be ha D ndy now,
but it's never been se A7en aga D in

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: open mike
Date: 20 Dec 10 - 12:57 PM

the initials of the great lakes, as 999 lists them spell the word HOMES
...that's how you can remember them!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: breezy
Date: 20 Dec 10 - 01:19 PM

But not necessarily in that order so it could confusion to lead

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: At Last I'm Ready for Christmas (S Rogers
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Jan 11 - 08:13 AM

A laker is a cargo ship that plies the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River up to Montreal. In the old days, before the St. Lawrence Seaway, the lakers discharged their cargo at ports between Toronto and Prescott to "canalers" (notably of the Paterson line) that worked the St. Lawrence to Montreal.

The canalers were long, skinny critters capable of passing the Lachine Canal but unsuitable for the wilder waters of the Great Lakes or even the wider reaches of the St. Lawrence, such as Lac St-Pierre. As a child playing on Chrysler Beach near Morrisburg, I would see the canalers pass in the shipping lane, heading to the locks at Long Sault; they wore a big white P for Paterson on a black funnel.

The lakers are still with us, working the lakes from Thunder Bay to Kingston and the Seaway all the way to Quebec. The canalers are long gone, however, and the Paterson Line with them.