The late Wade Hemsworth wrote some of the best songs that ever came out of this country, yet most people I know have never heard of him. I think it’s time to celebrate a few of those tunes here on 27th Street.

Here’s the Wild Goose

Here’s Kate and Anna McGarrigle singing my favourite. This is my second choice, after Maple Sugar by Ward Allen, for a new Canadian national anthem. I can’t listen to this song without singing along.

Here’s Murray McLauchlan with Kate and Anna McGarrigle with The Shining Birch Tree. Look at Mr. Hemsworth sitting there, taking it in, and listen to that lovely accordion. This song brings tears to the eye.

Here are the lyrics. I love them:

Oh ye girls in the village, ye girls in the town!
It's a long time, a very long time
For a fella who's after bein' out on his own-
Out on his own-
Where the whisky jack's a-whistling cheerful and free

In the land of the muskeg and the shining birch tree,
The muskeg and the shining birch tree.

Now it's all very well in the full of the day
When there's no time, not very much time
For a man to keep thinking of the things that don't pay-
The things that don't pay-
Where the rapids are rushing so grand and so free

In the land of the muskeg and the shining birch tree,
The muskeg and the shining birch tree.

But in the quiet of the evening when the camp settles down
And the night is cold, so very cold
And old Rory Bory starts shifting around-
Shifting around-
He'll think of the warm lips and the laughter so free

In the land of the muskeg and the shining birch tree,
The muskeg and the shining birch tree.

Come the in-between seasons of the freeze-up or the thaw,
And it's let's go - hey, look out let's go,
For we're off for some fun with the girls of the town-
The girls in the town.
He's a popular guy when his money flows free

In the land of the muskeg and the shining birch tree,
The muskeg and the shining birch tree.

And when the huskies are a-howling in the cold winter's dawn,
Then he'll recall, oh how he'll recall
That he spent all his money with the girls in the town-
The girls in the town.
So boys save your money or you'll all be like me

In the land of the muskeg and the shining birch tree,
The muskeg and the shining birch tree.

Finally, here is Mr. Hemsworth's most celebrated song,
The Blackfly Song.