Russian Joe
(Memory of stringing hydrolines in Northern Manitoba for Canadian Comstock co.)
He stood before his makeshift shop
up to his arse in snow,
He smiled from grimy ear to ear,
and loved to give a show.
They called him “Joe the welding man”
He loved to give a show
The called him ”Joe the weldingman”
When the snow goes, so goes Joe.
With torch and hammer at the quick
With crftsmanship so fine,
He’d bend and fix a broken rig,
you never saw a line….
The nights were cold,
and talk ran free.
a lot of booze would flow
And in the end
He’d smile and say, with a toothless grin:
I’ll always be “ Russian” you know.
And when springtime came
In the northern lands
all work comes to an end.
As workingmen move south again,
to get their money spent.
And Joe would stand
on Portage and Main,
On that first spring day so rare..
and carefully fold a ten dollar bill
and loose it in the air…..
I don’t know how his ending came
I’m sure he’s dead by now
But this country wouldn’t be
like it is today
If it wasn’t for guys like Joe
Oh..Russian Joe, Oh..Russian Joe
We’re in your debt forever,
T’was people like you
Who started this show
from Kingston to where ever.
(Memory of stringing hydrolines in Northern Manitoba for Canadian Comstock co.)
He stood before his makeshift shop
up to his arse in snow,
He smiled from grimy ear to ear,
and loved to give a show.
They called him “Joe the welding man”
He loved to give a show
The called him ”Joe the weldingman”
When the snow goes, so goes Joe.
With torch and hammer at the quick
With crftsmanship so fine,
He’d bend and fix a broken rig,
you never saw a line….
The nights were cold,
and talk ran free.
a lot of booze would flow
And in the end
He’d smile and say, with a toothless grin:
I’ll always be “ Russian” you know.
And when springtime came
In the northern lands
all work comes to an end.
As workingmen move south again,
to get their money spent.
And Joe would stand
on Portage and Main,
On that first spring day so rare..
and carefully fold a ten dollar bill
and loose it in the air…..
I don’t know how his ending came
I’m sure he’s dead by now
But this country wouldn’t be
like it is today
If it wasn’t for guys like Joe
Oh..Russian Joe, Oh..Russian Joe
We’re in your debt forever,
T’was people like you
Who started this show
from Kingston to where ever.
