Canol Road

Well you could see it in his eyes_ as they strained against the night_ And the bone-white-knuckled grip_ upon the road_ Sixty-five miles_ into town_ and a winter's_ thirst to drown_ A winter_ still with two months_ left_ to go_ His eyes_ are too far open_ his grin too hard and sore_ His shoulders too far_ high_ to bring relief_ But the Kopper_ King is hot_ e_-ven if the band_ is not_ And it sure beats shooting_ whiskey-jacks_ and_ trees_ |_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _| Then he laughs_ and says "It didn't get me this time_ not tonight_ I wasn't screaming when I_ hit the door"_ But his hands on the tabletop_ will_ their_ shaking_ never stop_ Those_ hands_ sweep_ the bottles_ to the floor_ Now he's a bear_ in a blood-red mackinaw with hungry dogs at bay_ And springtime thunder in his_ sudden roar_ With one wrong word he burns_ and the table's_ overturned_ When he's_ finished_ there's a dead man on the floor_ Well_ they watched for him in Carmacks_ Haines_ and Carcross_ With Teslin blocked there's nowhere_ else_ to go_ But he_ hit_ the four-wheel-drive in Johnson's Crossing_ Now he's thirty-eight miles up_ the Canol road_ He's thirty-eight miles up_ the Canol road_ In the Salmon Range_ at for_-ty-eight_ below_ |_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _| Well_ it's God's own neon green_ above the mountains_ here tonight_ Throwing_ brittle_ coloured_ shadows_ on the snow_ It's four more hours til dawn_ and the gas is almost gone_ And that bitter_ Yukon_ wind_ begins_ to blow__ Now you can see it in his eyes_ as they glitter_ in the light_ And the bone-white rime of frost_ around his brow_ Too late the dawn_ has_ come_ that Yukon_ winter has won_ And he's got his cure_ for cabin_ fever now_ Well they watched_ for him in Carmacks_ Haines_ and Carcross_ With Teslin blocked there's nowhere else_ to go_ But they hit_ the four-wheel-drive in Johnson's Crossing_ Found him thirty-eight miles up_ the Canol road_ They found him thirty-eight miles up_ the Canol road_ In the Salmon Range at for_-ty-eight_ below_ They found him thirty-eight miles up_ the Canol road_ |_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _|