Log Driver's Waltz - Joan Lennon

The Log Driver's Waltz was one of a series of short films made by the Canadian Film Board to use as "interstitial programming" - in other words, to tuck in between other TV programmes to make the scheduling work.  The song was written by Wade Hemsworth in the sixties, the animation was made in 1979, and both became well-loved favourites.

The lyrics are:

If you ask any girl from the parish around
What pleases her most from her head to her toes
She’ll say I’m not sure that it’s business of yours
But I do like to waltz with the log driver

For he goes birling* down and down white water
That’s where the log driver learns to step lightly
Yes, birling down and down white water
The log driver’s waltz pleases girls completely

When the drive’s nearly over I like to go down
And watch all the lads as they work on the river
I know that come evening they’ll be in the town
And we all like to waltz with the log driver

For he goes birling down and down white water
That’s where the log driver learns to step lightly
Yes, birling down and down white water
The log driver’s waltz pleases girls completely

To please both my parents, I’ve had to give way
And dance with the doctors and merchants and lawyers
Their manners are fine, but their feet are of clay
And there’s none with the style of my log driver

For he goes birling down and down white water
That’s where the log driver learns to step lightly
Yes, birling down and down white water
The log driver’s waltz pleases girls completely

Now I’ve had my chances with all sorts of men
But none as so fine as my lad on the river
So when the drive’s over, if he asks me again
I think I will marry my log driver

For he goes birling down and down white water
That’s where the log driver learns to step lightly
Yes, birling down and down white water
The log driver’s waltz pleases girls completely
Birling down and down white water
The log driver’s waltz pleases girls completely

*birl - a good old Scottish word for twirl or spin.  Birling is now the name of log-rolling as a so-called "heritage sport".

The Canadian Film Board also did documentary films, such as this one about logging in Quebec in the 1950s, which was narrated and sung by Hemsworth.  In amongst being appalled at the sheer scale of the tree felling and the far too enthusiastic use of dynamite, it is still possible to be impressed by the men's physical courage, stamina and agility.

(If you just want to watch some fancy footwork, scroll to 14:12 - 15:30 and 19:41 - 21:14 - including the opening shots from the Log Driver's Waltz!)


P.S.  Thanks to my dad, I grew up watching Canadian Film Board films - see my post from way back in 2014: A Chairy Tale


Joan Lennon's website.
Joan Lennon's blog.
Silver Skin.