Young Man from Canada

Young Man from Canada

1. I’m a young man from Canada
some six feet in my shoes
I left my home for Cariboo
on the first exciting news
In New York City I met a gent
introduced himself to me
Said I, “I come from Canada
so you can’t come over me.”

2. I sailed on the crazy Champion
all in the steerage too
I thought I’d got among the fiends
or other horrid crew
If you had only seen them feed,
it quite astonished me
And I’d been years in Canada
in a lumberman’s shanty

3. With seventy-five upon my back
I came the Douglas way
And at an easy-going pace
made thirty miles a day
I landed here without a dime
in 1863
But I’d been years in Canada,
’twas nothing new to me

4. In best of homespun I was clad
so I was warmly dressed
The wool it grew near Montreal
in a place called Canada West
On Williams Creek they called me green
and Johnny come lately
But, ah, I came from Canada,
I ain’t from the old country

5. I started out my mining life
by chopping cord wood
But I was born with axe in hand
so I could use it good
My chum was from the state of Maine,
somewhere near Tennessee
But, ah, I came from Canada
and he couldn’t chop with me

6. In a short time I’d made a raise
and bought into a claim
There they called me engineer or carman,
’tis the same
The drifters then did try it on
to boss it over me
Said I, “I come from Canada
and I’m on the shoulderee.”

7. In two weeks I got a div
which drove away all care
I went over to the wake-ups
and had a bully square
I danced all night till broad daylight
and a gal smiled sweet on me
Said I, “I come from Canada
and I’m on the marry-ee.”

8. Now all young men who are in love
and sure I am there’s some
Don’t count your chicks before they’re hatched
or they may never come
O when I asked that girl to wed
she only laughed at me
“You may come from Canada
but you can’t come over me.”