I am revisiting a 22-day canoe trip taken with five others in 1969 using lyrics and text from others not on the trip, but these voices assist me in the examination. I went on other long trips after this one, but this group, and this trip, was the most group process challenging.

I did learn and grow.

The entrees are listed in new to old order, so if you want to start at beginning of the trip, click on “older posts (twice). To move back up toward the ending, click on “newer posts (twice).

“From the railhead to the dockyard,
from the factory to the farm,
from the mine to the millyard,
I’ve weathered the storm.
From the barroom to the bedpost
I’ve wasted my days,
all I have is my drink
and the time left to think,
while the time slips away.”
Gordon Lightfoot

“Give me a horse, a great big horse,
and give me a buckeroo,
and let me wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.
Give me a ranch, and a big pair of pants,
and give me a stetson too,
and let me wahoo, wahoo, wahho.
Give me those wide open spaces.
I’m just like a prairie flower,
growin wilder every hour.
Give me a turkey, a hunk of beef jerky
and dishup some doggie stew,
and let me wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.

I never could sing a high class thing,
good music I never knew.
But I can wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.
I never could dance cause when I dance
I ruin the ladies shoes.
But I can wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.
It’s just a gift from the prairie.
You shout it when a bad jigs,
it’s might good for calling pigs.
I never could speak a word of greek.
I could never shoo-be-do-be-do.
But I can wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.

Why did the wildcat get so wild,
he didn’t know what to do?
He couldn’t wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.
Why did the Zulu warrior lose the batttle of Timbuktu?
He couldn’t wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.
The world has wahooed for ages.
Some like to wahoo soft and low,
others like to let it go.
Why did ol’ Sitting Bull sit around feeling blue?
He couldn’t wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.”
Red Clay Ramblers

“Sailing down my golden river,
sun and water all my own.
But I was never alone.
Sun and water, oh, life giver.
I’ll have them where ever I roam.
And I was not far from home.
Sunlight gleaming on the water,
life and death are all my own,
Yet I was never alone.
Like to raise my sons and daughters,
golden sparkles in the foam.
And I was not far from home.
Sailing down this winding highway,
travellers from near and far.
Yet I was never alone.
Exploring all the little byways,
sighting all the distant stars.
And I was not far from home.
Sailing down my golden river,
sun and water all my own.
Yet I was not far from home.”
Pete Seeger

“There is a town in north Ontario, dream comfort memory to spare, in my mind I still need a place to go, all my changes were there. Blue, blue windows behind he stars, yellow moon on the rise, big bird fly across the sky throwing shadows on our eyes leave us helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless.”

“Here comes the sun here comes the sun, and I say alright.” The Beatles

“Time is a pomegranate, many chambered, nothing like what I thought.:  David Young

“Cloudy, the sky is gray and white and cloudy, sometimes I think it’s hanging down on me…Hey sunshine, I haven’t seen you in a long, long time why don’t you show your face and bend my mind.” Paul Simon

“Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river, you can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever, and you know that she’s half crazy and that is why you want to be there, and she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China.”  Leonard Cohen

“Once I ran the rock down to the seashore
Once I climbed the cliffs up to the skyline
I lay on the shore like a child
waiting for the wind to blow me wild.”
Hedge and Donna

“Yes, your birds of stone are resting in my hands, I do not mind.
I broke their wings, they cannot fly and they do not care, they may in time.
But with the fear of the flower to dust they will fall,
they are not kings, they are not gods they mean nothing at all
Ah, you don’t have to fly to be free, please understand me.”
Hedge and Donna

“One more night, the moon is shining bright
and the wind blows high above the trees.
Well I miss my darling so
I didn’t mean to see her go
but tonight no light will shine on me.
Oh its shameful and its sad
I lost the only friend I had
I just could not be what she wanted me to be
Well I miss my darling so
I didn’t mean to see her go
but tonight no light will shine on me.”
Bob Dylan

“Wheels are made for rollin
mules are made to pack
I never seen a sight that didn’t look better looking back.
Mud can make prisoner
and the plains can bake you dry
snow can burn you eyes
but only people make you cry
home is made for comin from
for dreams of going to which with any luck will never come through.”
from Paint Your Wagon

“Boy you’re gonna carry that weight, boy you’re gonna carry that weight a long time.” The Beatles

“While riding on a train going west, I fell asleep for to take my rest. I dreamed a dream that made me sad. Concerning myself and the first few friends I had. As easy as it was to tell black and white, it was all that easy to tell wrong from right. The choices were few, but the thought never hit that the one road we’d travel would ever shatter and split. I wish, I wish in vain for us to simply sit in that room once again. Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat. I would give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.” Bob Dylan

“Wooden ships on the water very free and easy. Easy, you know, the way it is supposed to be. Silver people on the shoreline let us be. Talking about very free and easy.” Crosby, Stills, Nash