Northwest Passage
Stan Rogers * Track #1 On Northwest Passage
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Album Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers
Performed by
Stan RogersProduced by
Paul MillsWrited by
Stan RogersAbout
“Northwest Passage” is the opening song off of the 1981 album of the same name.
The song compares the voyages of the first European explorers in Canada to Rogers’s own touring as a musician. In a CBC radio poll, it was voted the unofficial Canadian anthem by millions of listeners. The song is one o...
Northwest Passage Lyrics
[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 1]
Westward from the Davis Strait
'Tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient
For which so many died
Seeking gold and glory,
Leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones
[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 2]
Three centuries thereafter
I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso
Where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me
Then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer
Driving hard across the plain
[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 3]
And through the night, behind the wheel
The mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie,
David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts
And did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea
[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 4]
How then am I so different
From the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life
I threw it all away
To seek a Northwest Passage
At the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again
[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
Northwest Passage Q&A
Who wrote Northwest Passage's ?
Northwest Passage was written by Stan Rogers.
Who produced Northwest Passage's ?
Northwest Passage was produced by Paul Mills.
Who holds the copyright to the song?
Stan Rogers recorded near all of his music under his own record label Fogarty Cove Music. In 2011, the licensing was passed to Borealis Records which now maintains its copyright.