One of the most poignant songs of departure I know is Ronnie MacEachern's elegaic "Go Off on Your Way." Here's what he says about it himself, in "The Cape Breton Song Collection" (1985): ...I was saying...how I was never, never going to leave Cape Breton, and that they could never drive me out, and all this kind of thing. But she said, 'Well, you're in a different position, Ronnie. You don't have six kids and no job; you're not being forced to leave...' " So he decided to write a song with actual people's names in it. The verses are filled with them, interwoven with the chorus: Here's a song now for the Andersons For the Abbasses and the Arsenaults For the Anthonys and the Annestys, For the Archibalds and the Atkinsons. Go off on your way now And may you find better things Don't wait around till you have no fare to leave. All the best if you're staying All the best if you should choose to leave Here's to kindness on your journey Here's to joy in your new home. He remembers forty or more family names on his way to the last three verses -- the first of which smiles as what might be the most common Cape Breton name: ...Let's tie one on now for the MacIntyres, The MacLeods and the MacInnises, The MacEacherns and the MacDougalls, The MacDonalds and the MacDonalds...and the MacDonalds And with each sunset, they'll be leaving When it rises, some return again Just one penny for each broken heart I'd surely be a millionaire If I said your name, I apologize If I left you out, I apologize Keep on singing if you're up to it Good luck with X, Y, and Z... You can hear Ronnie sing the chorus in this Real Audio clip from the CD Cape Breton by Request, Volume 1. (As you might guess, I too am part of the Cape Breton diaspora) Somehow this brought to mind Ronnie MacEachern's Cape Breton Island elegy, "Go Off on Your Way." If memory serves, this appeared in one of the first versions of the revue, "The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton." Lyrics and music appear in "The Cape Breton Songbook,"
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