Then the trees fell and the trees fell,
One by one
20 in a day
Nothin' could stand in my bucksaw's way
And the trees fell
Their souls went to heaven
My soul… still too early to tell
It was 1870 the state was young
And I myself a tender 21
When I headed up to Northern Michigan
It was 'round this time that the cuttin' began
In the virgin pinewood timber stands
The work was hard, the pay weren't much
There were months on end without a woman's touch
And a man gets ornery, a man gets mean
Without the satin comfort that a woman brings
Well we worked harder than we'd ever done before
But the timber king said that he wanted more
So the trees fell and the trees fell,
One by one
30 in a day...
We were out of our bunks before the sun could rise
Cuttin', skiddin', deckin' 'em high
They judged what we did by it's number and size.
Well it seemed like the days work would just begin
We'd be eating and sleeping and doing it again
There was somethin' bout the timber, somethin' 'bout the land
That made us work beyond the limits of a mortal man
We cursed and we sweat and we damn near died
All that saved us was the laughter and the whiskey on the side
A living machine made of muscle and bone,
Workin' together but so alone.
And the trees fell...
(40 in a day)
Well I'm sitting in my chair getting old and grey
Thinking on back to those lumberjack days
Thinking on back to my rowdy ways
There are those who say what we did was wrong
But we did what you do when you're young and strong.
We cut that timber like a fit of rage
And we put a little mark on that history page
I'm gonna give my saw to my only son's child
And bequeath my memories to the northern wilds
If I had it to do you know I'd do it again
I'd do it today like we did it back then
When the trees fell and the trees fell,
One by one
50 in a day
Nothin' could stand in my bucksaw's way
And the trees fell
Their souls went to heaven
My soul… still too early to tell
Maybe heaven, Maybe hell,
But it's much too early to tell.
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