and did you get my message
on the peoples’ radio?
i wrote it in alberta
across the prairie spine
and “i’d rather jump the border
than trail from east to west.”
then get the booking agent
to find another band

and mothers of the country
take two flags and make a sail
we’ll sail the big dominion
this song is falling…

i built my rocket in a shed
i’m gonna launch it at the sun
i’m gonna launch it from my pad
oh – could i get this?
it’s my northern wish.

meanwhile in the forest
in a parliament of trees
the ink will crack and dry all up
but the compass will swing, any-way
and we don’t need mathematics
we don’t need submarines
to tell how far that the land does go
until it hits the shore

and mothers of the country
take two flags and make a sail
we’ll sail the big dominion
this song is falling

i built my rocket in a shed
i’m gonna launch it at the sun
i’m gonna launch it from my pad
oh – could i get this?
it’s my northern wish.

wake up, raise the curtains
on your deep provincial eyes
speak out for i am certain
this song is over

the Go7 version adds a G chord between verses:
and we hauled away…
and mothers of the country… etc.

I tried to look casual sneaking round the back,
Past the shotput across the track
And to the gate beside the portables.
But a red tie and school gray slacks
Doesn’t blend in with the grass
As the teacher was changing class.

He chased me halfway through the park,
Till I ran into the woods;
And I’m very good in the woods.

So I was an Indian,
Built a fire by the creek
And dried my eyes there.”

There’s a record body count this year
There’s a record body count this year.

Joey stepped up on a block of ice,
Put a rope around his neck,
And fell asleep before he died.

e|—————-|
B|——0—3–0–|
G|—-0—2——-|
D|–0————-|
A|—————-|
E|—————-|

The moon hung high in the canopy of sky
Home Caroline Home
The coastline neared and the deckhands cheered
Home Caroline Home
The mast stood tall like the best of us all
Home Caroline Home
I thought of the clear light on your hands and on the wood
In a church? in Saskatchewan

On the shore appeared men like a welcoming parade
Banners, flags, and arsenal
But they were not what they appeared to be as their white flags fell
Banners, flags, and arsenal
I looked up at the moon? and at the water down below
Home Caroline Home
I tried to remember things? that the pastor used to say
In a church? in Saskatchewan

Everyone raced onto the deck
I tried to shoot but I just wretched
We must wrestle back what we had sown
We must wrestle back what we had left
I could not fire, and I don’t know why
Then I knew the truth
I felt I got what I de served
Then I knew the truth


I lay on the deck as the cannon balls soared by overhead
Home Caroline Home
The hull gave in water came rushing in across the deck
Home Caroline Home
I thought of the farm and the work to be done
Home Caroline Home
I thought of the clean light and the places that we’d hide
In a church in Saskatchewan

Everyone raced onto the deck
I tried to shoot but I could not
We must wrestle back what we had sown
We must wrestle back what we had left
I could not fire, and I don’t know why
Then I knew the truth
I felt I got what I de served
Then I knew the truth


end on

Do you get the urge when winter comes?
(same as above)
All the laughing scarecrows and all the cocaine dogs
couldn’t bark me down my fence into the middle of your yard
someone wants a contract and someone wants a crumb
and some will dress in greasepaint and suck a lotta cock
all the Irish armies couldn’t keep you
from hiking like an injured, aimless mule
do you get the urge when winter comes?
cut.

in the blue Canadian winter i’ll follow your trail
‘til your love becomes a snowbank hardened by gael
when ice appears on matchsticks and the salt trucks fail
and coalmen hibernate through their alarms
(same as above)
in the blue Canadian winter an iceman roams
building railroads made of iron sweat and skin
when you become thawed out
your love will swamp the tracks
and my heart will be restored with virgin blood

warm, your warm
Victoria