Tag: 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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