Wild Goose

Wade Hemsworth, the author of this song, also wrote “The Black Fly” song and “Log Driver’s Waltz,” which you’ve probably heard. He went into the bush at the end of the Depression as a member of a survey crew, earning money for his education and his start in life. The experience marked him. He was enormously taken with what he saw.
I believe Wild Goose was his first song about the north. I’ve been up there on the Pukaskwa River, where it flows down into Lake Superior, and I can tell you that he captured it very, very well. It sure captured me.
Wade has passed on now, but he gave me permission to cover this song, and I was proud to do so. If ever anyone danced to the Wilderness Waltz, it was he.

Wild Goose    ©Wade Hemsworth

Am          Am           Am

      Am                        D7          Am
On Pukaskwa river so early this morning,
                                                D7                   Am
While mending my tumpline I hear the geese calling.
F
Over the brule, long clamoring cry,
F                                                     C
Flying formation against the grey sky

                  Am
Comes the wild goose,
       G7    Am
The wild goose,
         G7         F
High over the north shore
       E7             Am    Dm         Am           Dm
And I’m going home.

The river is open but the lake’s frozen over;
It’s time to pack out when so late in October.
Winter’s a-coming, the wild geese know,
We’ve had a long fall and its time to go

With the wild goose,
The wild goose,
High over the north shore
And I’m going home.

I’ve made lots of money, got money to burn
And when I have spent it I know I’ll return
After the freeze-up, when snow is dry,
For to work in the tall woods – I wish that I

Was a wild goose,
The wild goose,
High over the north shore
And I’m going home.

I’ve worked in the bush and spent money in town;
I’d like to get married but I can’t settle down.
At the last portage, when I’ll pack no more
Let me fly with the wild goose high over north shore

With the wild goose,
The wild goose,
High over the north shore
And I’m going home.

 

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