Band – Acadian Driftwood

Everlasting summer filled with ill-content
This government had us walkin’ in chains
This isn’t my turf
This ain’t my season
Can’t think of one good reason to remain

I will say that my favorite Canadian export is The Band. Combine the 4 Canadians with one southern American and you have gold…no scratch that… you have diamonds. Something I will confess about this band… after I’ve heard songs like The Weight, all of my life, sometimes I don’t realize or forget…wow that is great songwriting! I guess because those songs are so ingrained in my head and I don’t give them as much notice but I want to say something about that now. After posting Daniel and the Sacred Harp and now Acadian Driftwood…my respect for Robbie Robertson’s songwriting knows no bounds. This is songwriting at its best. Don’t get me wrong…I always knew those popular songs were great but I took The Band for granted for a while.

Robertson was inspired by the history of the Acadians, a group of French settlers in Canada who were forcibly removed from their land during the Great Expulsion (Le Grand Dérangement) between 1755 and 1764. This event scattered the Acadians across various regions, including Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns. He was also influenced by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1847 poem Evangeline, which describes the deportation of Acadians

Just like with Daniel And The Sacred Harp this song showcases the vocals of Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel. Each takes a turn singing different parts of the song, contributing to the narrative’s depth and meaning. There were some other Americana bands but none sounded like The Band.

Who would even think about writing a song about this subject? The song was on the Northern Lights – Southern Cross album released in 1975. The album peaked at #27 in Canada and #26 on the Billboard Album Charts.

Anyway…now when I listen to The Weight, Cripple Creek, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the other well-known Band songs…I will stop and listen a little more carefully.

Acadian Driftwood

The war was over and the spirit was broken
The hills were smokin’ as the men withdrew
We stood on the cliffs
Oh, and watched the ships
Slowly sinking to their rendezvous
They signed a treaty and our homes were taken
Loved ones forsaken
They didn’t give a damn
Try’n’ to raise a family
End up the enemy
Over what went down on the plains of Abraham

Acadian driftwood
Gypsy tail wind
They call my home the land of snow
Canadian cold front movin’ in
What a way to ride
Oh, what a way to go

Then some returned to the motherland
The high command had them cast away
And some stayed on to finish what they started
They never parted
They’re just built that way
We had kin livin’ south of the border
They’re a little older and they’ve been around
They wrote a letter life is a whole lot better
So pull up your stakes, children and come on down

Fifteen under zero when the day became a threat
My clothes were wet and I was drenched to the bone
Been out ice fishing, too much repetition
Make a man wanna leave the only home he’s known
Sailed out of the gulf headin’ for Saint Pierre
Nothin’ to declare
All we had was gone
Broke down along the coast
But what hurt the most
When the people there said
“You better keep movin’ on”

Everlasting summer filled with ill-content
This government had us walkin’ in chains
This isn’t my turf
This ain’t my season
Can’t think of one good reason to remain
We worked in the sugar fields up from New Orleans
It was ever green up until the floods
You could call it an omen
Points ya where you’re goin’
Set my compass north
I got winter in my blood

Acadian driftwood
Gypsy tail wind
They call my home the land of snow
Canadian cold front movin’ in
What a way to ride
Ah, what a way to go

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

40 thoughts on “Band – Acadian Driftwood”

    1. I was hoping what I wrote made sense to people… it’s funny….after hearing them a large part of my life… it took a few songs to make me to really get it.

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      2. This song taught me something I had no clue of…I don’t remember it in our history class although to be fair…I could have forgot.

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      3. Its come up in conversations with Americans before and it doesn’t appear it something that was taught. That said its a passing reference in Canadian history books at best. So most wouldn’t remember it up here either.

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    1. Yes he could…I should have known that listening to his hits…and I did somewhat but these two last songs I’ve written about…really brought it home.

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      2. Oh….I have to go out of town next week so it will be either the first or second week of August. I’ll be emailing everyone soon. I wanted to make sure everyone had enough time to write one. I think I have around 4 right now done….we will have around 14 people.
        Thanks for the reminder and I’ll be ready!

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      1. I might have told you this before but I spent a whole summer a few years back listening to nothing but The Band. I’m sure some head-shrinks could peg me with a label. But you know what? Who gives a shit. I loved every minute of it.

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      2. Well if you are a nut case…at least you have great taste!
        That would be time well served to me. I have alternated them with CCR at times….very different but rootsy with both.

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      5. CB I’ve done the same with them. Somebody way back sent me a bootleg of a live at The Carter Baron Amphitheatre in Wash. DC on 7/17/76. Have played it on repeat.

        I also finally listened to a HELL of a 2-disc live set that I picked up at the library, called, “Love for Levon: A Benefit to Save The Barn.” Released in 2012. Anyone who loves The Band will love this live concert.

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      9. You’re welcome. I don’t know if he was, but the notes say it was first broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Also it says the actual date is the 17th not what it says in other places. There were 2 shows there.

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  6. Sadly I appreciate ‘The Weight’ and the more well known ones too, but this IS one where you must read the lyrics, not hum your way through the words while listening. Twilight’ is another IMHO.

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    1. That will probably be my next one obbverse…these last two by them I’ve done…just really made me realize how great Robertson was…and of course the great voices.

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  10. These kinds of songs keep history alive. Robbie wrote a lot of history this way. Did not know the Acadians were French settlers from Canada.

    “You could call it an omen
    Points ya where you’re goin’ ”

    especially if you had no intention of leaving. Sounds like there are still Acadians living in Canada. Something to do a little research on. Great choice to post this Sunday, Max.

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