Passin' the Time (Original Song) - Ethan Weigand

BANDCAMP: https://ethanweigand.bandcamp.com/album/dairyland-drifter

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/ethan-weigand/sets/dairyland-drifter

'Passin' the Time' is a ballad about men of a bygone era and the work songs they sang.

LYRICS:
Was a woodhick camp on a well traveled stream
Back when most things used to run on steam
Pelts were money and lumber was king
And to pass the time you had to whistle or sing
Whistle or sing

Men of the north and they're up at dawn
'Cross the trees you can hear their songs
Yips and yodels and whistlin' too
Well a well-feed Jack ain't never blue
He ain't never blue

A pastoral scene on the midwest plains
Was a little farm what's raisin' grain
With an old dirt road and wooden fence
You'll work the day for ninety cents
Ninety cents

Wirey farmhands berry brown
All day long they work the ground
But don't you worry they'll be fine
They've got their hymns and a jar of shine
Hymns and shine

Movin' on out further west
Manifest destiny was the quest
The government she's layin' rail
For movin' folk livestock and mail
Livestock and mail

Men of the old world layin' tracks
Swingin' picks breakin' their backs
But their will to work is good and strong
They fill the air with a gospel song
Singin' their songs

Mouth of the Columbia on the coast
Was a twenty-five footer fishin' boat
Nettin' salmon headin' out to sea
And shippin' 'em up to a cannery
Columbia Cannery

Was a salty sea dog and his crew
They've spent their lives on the ocean blue
Pullin' nets and hoistin' rigs
They work in time with a shanty jig
Beltin' their jig

The days were long and the work was rough
But the men hat worked were just as tough
They got through it all with a little song
Then the days didn't seem so long