Digital Tradition Mirror

Canning Salmon

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Canning Salmon
(Linda Chobotuck)

1.  The guys on the dock laze around, race the fork-lift,
    And sass the floor lady till it's time for their tea,
    Then they sit at the table by the window that opens
    And they get paid a buck more an hour than me.

cho: High is the smell, low is the pay
     Long are the hours - why do we stay?
     Somewhere outside a whole summer slips away
     While we're stuck in here canning salmon.

2.  The machinery's so loud that we say we've gone 'can-deaf',
    Our shift is long over before we can hear
    But they keep the noise level just under the limit
    So they won't have to buy us the right safety gear.

3.  First we can springs, so heavy our arms ache,
    Then we do sockeye, which we pack with ease
    Then we do pinks that are mashed up and rotten
    So they're packed up in pound cans and sent overseas.

4.  Last night we were waiting for a boat on the Fraser
    So they kept us on line, just standing around,
    But we didn't know that outside on the river
    The boat had flipped over, and two men had drowned.

Last chorus
    High is the cost...

copyright 1985 Linda Chobotuck, New Westminster, BC
JB
                                                 apr96

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!