I recently posted some mining songs. Let’s continuing the theme of work with some tunes about log driving. Most of you will know that log driving is the process of running logs down a river to transport them from the woods to the mill. It was a very dangerous job because log drivers would have to balance out on the logs and use big poles and hooks to free up the jams. If you were not quick enough on your feet or just not lucky that day, you could be swept under or crushed by the jam.  It was also a practice that was very nasty to the environment, but none-the-less it is a part of our cultural history. There are some excellent songs about log driving. I may have shared some of these with you before in a different context but they’re just so good I know you’ll forgive me for posting a couple of them again.

The Badger Drive is a Newfoundland tune about a log drive from Badger Newfoundland. Here’s a version of the tune by Dermot O’Reilly

Now I’d like to feature a Mac Beattie tune called the Log Driver’s Song. There is a fantastic recorded version of this tune by Mr. Beattie which I can’t find just now. However, there is also a great version performed by Charlie Gardner on the YouTube machine that I like tremendously as well.

I love that chorus…yo hip hip ho keep the logs on the go keep them rollin and twistin and send the spray high…yo hip hip ho through the rapids below where the Ottawa River flows by.

If I could only take a dozen recordings to a desert island, this next tune would be among them. It was written by Wade Hemsworth, who has written some of the best songs I’ve ever heard anywhere, and it was performed here by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. If you’re a Canadian of my generation, you grew up with this song on the National Film Board vignette contained in this video. It’s simply embedded in your genetic code. For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Hemsworth’s tunes, enjoy.

Here’s a video all about Log Driving

Finally, I’ll wish you good night with a choral version of the Log Driver’s Waltz.