From the recording Far Hills
Perhaps one of the first songs that we all independently came to love and appreciate as nascent musicians in the genre, we wanted to pay homage to Stan Rogers’ legendary anthem. This piece has felt all the more relevant to us over the last several years. The final chorus swells as a reflection of blunt determination in the face of a fruitless reality. Honoring the reverence and power generated by Rogers’ original version was a challenge we could not have faced without help from vocalist Jesse Hann.
Jesse Michael Hann: vocals
Nathan Bishop: violin, trombone
Connor Brogan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Rob Helsel: vocals, harmonium
John Forrestal: string bass
Lyrics
Westward from the Davis Strait
'Tis there 'twas said to lie
A sea route to the Orient
For which so many died
Seeking gold and glory,
Leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones
Chorus:
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
Three centuries thereafter
I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelsey
Where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me
And 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
How then am I so different
From the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life
I threw it all away
To seek a Northwest Passage
At the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again